The European Parliament on Oct. 17 adopted new fisheries control rules requiring all EU fishing vessels to be monitored and their catches to be electronically reported. The measures are meant to establish "full traceability" under the EU's new fisheries control system and were adopted on a 438-146 vote, with 40 abstentions.
The European Council moved to maintain its nuclear nonproliferation sanctions regime against Iran, the council announced. The EU reviewed the sanctions as required under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and ultimately found that since Iran had not fulfilled its commitments under the deal, the restrictions were still required, the council said Oct. 17. The decision follows a similar decision from the U.N. Security Council. The sanctions cover individuals and entities engaged in ballistic or nuclear missile activities or affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Certain sectoral sanctions are also a part of the package.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on Oct. 13 expanded its general sanctions license covering payments to utility companies for gas and electricity by sanctioned parties who own or rent in the U.K. Originally set to expire on Oct. 16, the license no longer has an expiry date, the agency said. Additionally, the agency amended the license to allow a person to make permitted payments for or on behalf of a designated party.
The EU's top trade official, Valdis Dombrovskis, said EU and U.S. negotiators haven't given up on their Oct. 31 deadline to address both non-market overcapacity in steel and aluminum and ways to privilege trade in cleaner metals.
A U.K. appeals court last week granted an injunction blocking a Gazprom subsidiary from suing its lenders in a Russian court over an abandoned gas project. The England and Wales Court of Appeal said it was the proper place to bring RusChemAlliance's claim against Germany-based Deutsche Bank, adding that there was no good reason not to impose the injunction.
Fifteen trade groups in the U.S. and the EU, led by a German machinery manufacturing organization, are asking the EU and the U.S. to settle their differences over American tariffs on steel and aluminum, and if they cannot by the end of the year, "at the very least, ensure that tariffs will not be reimposed if an agreement is not reached by the January 2024 deadline, even if this means that the deadline is extended." Technically, the two sides gave themselves an Oct. 31, 2023, deadline, but said that even if a deal was not reached by then, tariffs could not return until January 2024.
Switzerland added five Russian companies to its sanctions list to align with the EU's decision to add the entities in September, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs announced, according to an unofficial translation. The five companies -- RT Balkan, Oriental Review, New Eastern Outlook, Katehon and Tsargrad -- are Russian broadcasters.
A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with a recent EU sanctions decision on those who undermine Ukraine's sovereignty, the European Council announced. On Sept. 14, the council renewed for six months, until March 15, the sanctions regime. North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway also imposed the decision, the council said.
The European Council on Oct. 9 extended its sanctions regime on Nicaragua until Oct. 15, 2024. The restrictions apply to 21 people and three entities involved either in "serious human rights violations or abuses," the repression of civil society or in actions that undermine democracy and the rule of law in the Central American nation.
The European Council on Oct. 9 introduced a new sanctions regime covering people and entities that threaten the "peace, stability or security of Sudan," including those that bar the political transition in the African nation. The restrictions also apply to parties that obstruct the delivery or distribution of humanitarian aid or engage in acts that constitute serious human rights abuses.