A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with two recent sanctions moves byff the EU, the European Council said. Under the bloc's restrictions regime against Iran, the council amended the list of people and entities subject to sanctions. The countries of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway also imposed the decision.

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation issued a new Russia-related general license authorizing certain transactions involving bond amendments and restructurings. The license lets a company, entity or institution that has issued a bond that has or may have bondholders who are sanctioned parties "effect the terms of any Bond restructuring or amendments agreed between itself and its Bondholders" through March 28, 2025. This permission only applies if no funds or economic resources are made available to a designated party as part of any such bond restructuring and any funds that a designated party would be entitled to are frozen and not made available to the designated party until they are no longer sanctioned. The license also permits a British person or entity to take any steps needed to "effect a bond restructuring," as long as the same two conditions listed previously also apply.

The EU plans to launch a new project with nine member states to root out gaps in the bloc's Russia sanctions regime and boost coordination between national authorities when imposing penalties, Bloomberg reported March 29. The project, which will deepen ties between the European Commission and member state governments, could lay the groundwork for a new EU body to coordinate sanctions implementation, the officials said. The new project, to run for two years starting around June, would be the first instance of the EU's executive wing backing member states on sanctions enforcement at this scale, the Bloomberg report said.

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appointed Member of Parliament Gareth Johnson to be trade envoy to the United Arab Emirates. Sunak also reappointed David Mundell trade envoy to New Zealand, Heather Wheeler trade envoy to Cambodia and Laos, and Laurence Robertson trade envoy to Angola, Zambia and Ethiopia. Thirty-five trade envoys now cover 65 markets, the Department for International Trade said.

The European Council, Parliament and Commission struck a deal March 28 on an anti-coercion instrument that will look to shield the EU and its member states from economic coercion by third countries (see 2208160034 and 2211170015). The agreement outlines "principles to be adopted into legislation," which will be ironed out during a "final political trialogue" at "a later date," the commission said.

The EU and Timor-Leste inked a deal wrapping up bilateral market access talks on goods and services as part of Timor-Leste's bid to join the World Trade Organization, the EU Directorate-General for Trade said. The agreement sets lower tariffs for goods and opens up the services market. It will apply to all WTO members when Timor-Leste joins the global trade body. The Southeast Asian nation also is negotiating deals with Indonesia and the U.S. Nations seeking to join the WTO are required to sign bilateral deals with interested WTO members that include both agriculture and tariffs on non-agricultural products, and that also cover some service sectors.

Switzerland on June 1 will begin the first phase of a new “goods traffic system” to digitize certain customs procedures, KPMG said in a March 27 alert. The first phase will focus on modernizing “transit and export” procedures, KPMG said, and phase two will cover imports in 2025. The system, called Passar, will allow traders to electronically link their transport and other declarations and could “speed up the border process.”

The U.K. Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation this week added two people and one entity to its Myanmar sanctions list: Khin Phyu Win, director of Shoon Energy; Tun Min Latt, director of Star Sapphire Trading Co.; and Shoon Energy. The U.S. sanctioned Tun Min Latt and Star Sapphire last week (see 2303240024).

Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti approved sanctions on the Wagner Group to align with the U.S. designation of the mercenary group fighting in Ukraine (see 2301260023). Kosovo also updated its dual-use goods list to align with the European Commission's list.

Finland permitted a Russian fertilizer shipment to be shipped through EU territory and exported to a third country to "promote food security," the country said last week. Although EU sanctions don't prohibit imports or the transit of fertilisers from Russia, Finland said it seized the shipment earlier this month because the country suspected it of being owned by a sanctioned Russian person, and member states "must freeze the funds and economic resources owned or controlled by sanctioned individuals." The country's foreign ministry released the shipment after receiving a "request for authorization" from the purchaser. The authorisation was "granted under the condition that the fertilisers are exported to a third country to promote food security," Finland said.