The European Commission adopted a series of measures to support the European Union agricultural sector during the COVID-19 pandemic and released a question-and-answer guidance for industry May 4. The measures include funding for “agri-food businesses” and private storage aid for dairy and meat sectors, which will allow those producers to temporarily withdraw their products from the market “for a minimum of 2 to 3 months, and a maximum period of 5 to 6 months,” the commission said. The private storage, which will apply to skimmed milk powder, butter, cheese, beef and sheep and goat meat, aims to “rebalance markets by reducing available supply.” Industry can apply for the scheme beginning May 7.

The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade corrected several errors in its guidance for trading with developing nations under the U.K.’s Generalized Scheme of Preferences, according to a May 1 notice. The corrections add Samoa and Tonga to the standard GSP listing and remove Jordan, Nicaragua and “Occupied Palestinian Territories.”

The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade updated its import controls guidance with a new open general license and an explanatory note on its use and a notice to importers, according to an April 28 notice. The license “permits the importation of all goods into the United Kingdom, subject to the various exceptions it sets out,” the U.K. said, including restrictions on imports of certain toxic chemicals, nuclear materials, “prohibited munitions” and more.

Claire Bassett, the United Kingdom’s director of the Trade Remedies Investigations Directorate, resigned, according to an April 28 notice from the U.K. Department for International Trade. Bassett also served as the chief executive designate of the Trade Remedies Authority, the U.K. body that will be responsible for investigating unfair trading practices after Brexit. The authority will be led by Simon Walker, the chair designate of the TRA, while it searches for a new chief executive. Bassett will be the new deputy director general of operations at the Independent Office for Police Conduct, according to an April 22 notice.

The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade issued an April 24 privacy notice describing how it collects and uses information of traders. The notice includes information on the data the DIT collects from users, why it collects that data, how it shares that data, data retention periods and more.

The United Kingdom’s Export Control Joint Unit updated its export license application forms for firearms, according to an April 23 notice. The forms now include a “supplementary EC4 form,” which is a “continuation sheet” for the EC3 form. The EC3 form is required for exporting firearms to European Union countries.

The European Commission is narrowing the scope of European Union-wide export controls and expanding export exemptions to more territories, according to an April 24 notice. The measures, announced as draft regulations earlier this month (see 2004160033), apply for 30 days. The commission said it would also notify World Trade Organization partners about the changes “along with other EU coronavirus trade-related initiatives.”

The European Commission approved a French aid package that will provide €150 million for small and medium-sized exporters impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an April 24 notice. The aid will help those exporters “continue their activity” during and after the coronavirus outbreak by providing guarantees on loans, the notice said.

Dutch potato producers, which depend “heavily” on exports, are faced with full warehouses due to the COVID-19 pandemic response measures, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service report released April 23. About 1.5 million metric tons of the Netherlands’ 2019 potato harvest is still in storage, the report said. Due to “worldwide lockdowns,” Dutch potato growers have lost the equivalent of $186 million to $241 million and are “quite concerned about their inability to identify buyers,” especially as storage costs continue to add up.

The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade updated its COVID-19 guidance for U.K. traders with a new section on the export control process for personal protective equipment, according to an April 21 notice. The update provides a link to a guidance for PPE export controls issued by the Department of Health and Social Care.