The European Commission sent the EU-Kenya Economic Partnership Agreement to the European Council for its signature and conclusion, the commission's Directorate-General for Trade announced. The deal would liberalize the EU market for Kenyan products and includes climate protection and labor rights language, among other "strong trade and sustainability commitments." Also in the deal are sections on gender equality, environment and climate change, the commission said. If the council approves the agreement, the EU will sign it with Kenya, then it will be sent to the European Parliament for consent. At that point, it can enter into force.

The European Commission appointed Miranda de Meijer of the Netherlands to be a new prosecutor in the European Public Prosecutor's Office. De Meijer is a former public prosecutor and criminal lawyer, most recently serving as a senior advocate-general at the Netherlands' Public Prosecution Service. Her term as a European prosecutor will run for six years beginning Nov. 1 and is nonrenewable. The European Public Prosecutor's Office investigates and prosecutes crimes pertaining to the EU's financial interests, including fraud, corruption and major cross-border value-added tax fraud.

A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with a recent sanctions move from the European Council under its restrictions list pertaining to those who commit serious human rights abuses. On Sept. 8, the council added six individuals to this list. The countries of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway also imposed the decision.

The U.K. amended three entries under its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida sanctions regime Sept. 22. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation updated aliases in the listings for Taha Ibrahim Abdallah Bakr Al Khuwayt, former ISIL governor of the al-Jazira province; Amir Muhammad Sa'id Abdal-Rahman Al-Salbi, ISIL leader; and Nurjaman Isamuddin Riduan, senior leader of Jemaah Islamiyah.

The U.K. issued a new general license under all its sanctions regimes allowing sanctioned parties, except those sanctioned by the U.N., to take funds from frozen bank accounts in the U.K. to be used for utility payments for water or sewerage services. Any party can make a payment to a water company for or on behalf of a sanctioned entity or individual, and water companies are allowed to receive the payments, the license said. The water companies can also make return payments to frozen bank accounts. The license runs through Sept. 20, 2025.

The EU General Court on Sept. 20 rejected Russian businessman Alexey Mordashov's application to annul his sanctions listing, according to an unofficial translation. The court said the EU didn't err in finding that Mordashov is an influential businessman in sectors of the Russian government, rejecting his challenges to the process, reasoning and proportionality.

The Netherlands' Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) arrested an employee of the Dutch defense department along with another individual for allegedly circumventing the nation's sanctions on Russia, FIOD announced Sept. 15, according to an unofficial translation. The agency said it conducted a search of the second man's home, business premises and storage space, finding large sums of cash, aircraft parts, weapons, cartridge holders and ammunition. The searches came as part of an investigation of an unnamed Dutch company that exports aircraft parts to Russia in violation of the Netherlands' sanctions regime.

The Russian government imposed a temporary restriction on the export of motor gasoline and diesel fuel on Sept. 21, according to an unofficial translation. The government said the move was made to "stabilize fuel prices on the domestic market," reducing prices for consumers. As part of the announcement, daily monitoring of fuel purchases for agricultural producers with "prompt adjustment of volumes" has also been established.

The U.K. suspended its collection of antidumping duties on ceramic tableware and kitchenware from China for exporter Hunan Jewelmoon Ceramics Co. after conducting an additional exporter review. The suspension takes effect Sept. 21 and excludes "ceramic condiment or spice mills and their ceramic grinding parts, ceramic coffee mills, ceramic knife sharpeners, ceramic sharpeners, ceramic kitchen tools to be used for cutting, grinding, grating, slicing, scraping and peeling, and cordierite ceramic pizza-stones of a kind used for baking pizza or bread."

The U.K. on Sept. 19 amended one entry under its Russia sanctions list and corrected three others to "remove reference to transport sanctions." The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended the listing for Mikhail Fridman to show that he is sanctioned, given that he worked as a director of Alfa Group, which operates in the Russian financial services sector. The corrections were issued for Zarakh Iliev, owner of transport company Kievskaya Ploshchad; Igor Makarov, director of Reywood Holdings; and Iskander Makhmudov, president of Ural Mining and Metallurgical Co.