The European Council on Jan. 22 created a new sanctions framework targeting Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement. The bloc also sanctioned six people under the new regime, including various Hamas financiers and a senior Hamas “operative.”

The European Council and Parliament struck a provisional deal on parts of its anti-money laundering package, which will "for the first time" harmonize AML rules throughout the EU and close loopholes used by criminals to evade sanctions and finance terrorism, the council said this week.

The European Commission is urging anyone with information on Russia- or Belarus-related sanctions evasion to submit tips under its online EU sanctions whistleblower tool (see 2203080030). The online tool allows whistleblowers to submit reports anonymously, the bloc said in a Jan. 14 post on the social media platform X.

The European Council added one person to the EU Terrorist List for his role in leading the Oct. 7 attack against Israel, the council announced. Yahia Sinouar, the political leader of Hamas, is now subject to an asset freeze, and EU operators are no longer allowed to make economic resources available to him.

The European Council last week established a new sanctions regime to target parties undermining democracy in Guatemala following the nation's 2023 elections. The regime will allow the EU to impose restrictions on people and entities "responsible for actions that undermine democracy, the rule of law and a peaceful transfer of power in Guatemala," the council said. Examples of sanctionable activity include intimidating public officials and "financial misconduct concerning public funds and the unauthorised export of capital."

The U.K. on Jan. 15 corrected one entry under its Russia sanctions regime, one under its Belarus sanctions regime and two entries its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida sanctions regime.

The European Commission on Jan. 11 set duties on bulb flats from Turkey and China, the Directorate-General for Trade announced. Bulb flats are steel products used to fortify ship hulls in passenger cruise ships and military vessels. The AD rate will be 23% for imports from China and 13.6% for imports from Turkey.

The U.K. amended various entries under its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida and North Korea sanctions regimes in a pair of Jan. 8 notices.

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on Jan. 9 published its "Asset Reporting Privacy Policy," outlining how the agency will use personal data of designated parties under the Russia sanctions regime. The agency collects the sanctioned parties' names, email addresses, residential addresses and financial information.

The European Commission recently updated its more than 350 pages of frequently asked questions on Russia-related sanctions to provide guidance on its latest sweeping sanctions package announced in December (see 2312180070). The updated FAQs, dated Dec. 22, address how the EU will enforce new restrictions on Russian iron and steel products and their effective dates, how sanctions apply to certain divestments related to Russia, information on the EU’s new import ban on Russian diamonds and more.