The U.K. Home Office on Sept. 15 designated the Russian mercenary organization Wagner Group as a terrorist group. The decision "comes into force with immediate effect" and makes supporting the group a criminal offense with a potential maximum sentence of 14 years in prison, which can be issued alongside a fine.

A recent increase in the U.K.’s alcohol tax rate may “challenge” U.S. alcohol exports to the country, although it’s “too early to tell” how much of an impact the change will have, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service said in a Sept. 18 report. The new duty, effective Aug. 1, is an excise tax charged at the point of production or importation of drinks exceeding 1.2% alcohol by volume, USDA said, and could lead to a shift toward more purchases of “alternative alcoholic beverage categories.” Drinks with ABV above 8.5% now face a $35.67 tax for each liter of pure alcohol in the product, the agency said, adding that products with lower alcohol content but that previously faced higher taxes due to their type of alcohol will now face lower taxes.

The EU General Court's Grand Chamber on Sept. 13 rejected the Venezuelan government's challenge of the EU's Venezuela sanctions regime. The court said the European Council "relied on credible and reliable information" to assess the situation in Venezuela, which included "brutal repression" by the government. The court also said Venezuelan reports showing its government prosecuted these human rights abuses weren't enough to reveal a "manifest error" in the council's decision. The sanctions regime itself didn't violate international law, the court added, nor was it an illegal countermeasure because the sanctions weren't meant to be a reaction to an "internationally wrongful act imputable" to the Venezuelan government.

A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with a recent sanctions decision from the bloc involving the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol. In June, the European Council extended the sanctions until June 23, 2024. The countries of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway also imposed the decision, the council said.

The European Commission on Sept. 15 updated the EU's dual-use export control list to align it with the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement, Missile Technology Control Regime and Nuclear Supplier Group, the Directorate-General for Trade announced. The changes update controls for manufacturing equipment, high-performance computers and lasers, propulsion motors for submersible vehicles, technology for aircraft gas turbine engine development and more, the EC said. The changes also update technical definitions, notes and descriptions and make "editorial" revisions, the commission said. If the EC and European Parliament don't object, the regulation will enter into force in two months on the day after it's published.

The EU added another four people and six entities to its Iran sanctions regime for "serious human rights violations in Iran," the European Council announced. The sanctions package was issued to mark the anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini -- who was arrested for not wearing a hijab -- in the custody of the country’s Morality Police last year. The sanctions were coordinated with the U.S. (see 2309150023).

The European Council extended its restrictive measures imposed on the parties responsible for undermining the sovereignty of Ukraine for another six months, setting up the restrictions to expire now on March 15, 2024. The measures are made up of travel restrictions, asset freezes and a bar on making funds available for listed parties. Nearly 1,800 individuals and entities are sanctioned under the regime.

The European Parliament approved draft legislation to support the supply of strategic raw materials. The Critical Raw Materials Act would "cut red tape, promote innovation along the entire value chain, support [small and medium-sized enterprises] and boost research and the development alternative materials and more environmentally-friendly mining and production methods." The act was adopted Sept. 14 by vote of 515-34, with 28 abstentions. Negotiations will now begin between the parliament and Spanish presidency of the European Council.

The EU will open a countervailing duty investigation on electric vehicles from China, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during her 2023 state of the union address to the European Parliament. The bloc "must defend" itself "against unfair practices," including Chinese state subsidies that keep its electric vehicles at artificially low prices, von der Leyen said. She also clarified that the EU's policy is one of "de-risk" and not decoupling, insisting that open lines of communication will remain open with Chinese leadership.

Jane Hartley, U.S. ambassador to the U.K., this week said the U.S. could do more "smaller" things to develop the trade relationship with the U.K. rather than tackle a broader free trade agreement. The "time frame of the political calendar," more so in the U.S. than across the pond, and broader challenges, both policy-wise and temporally, may restrict the development of a larger deal, she said during an interview with Bloomberg TV.