A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with the bloc's recent sanctions decision concerning Libya, the European Council announced. On July 10, the council required member states to take the necessary steps to facilitate the disposal of arms and related material seized by the EUNAVFOR MED IRINI naval mission on the high seas. The council also barred vessels flying a third-country flag, bound to or from Libya, from carrying arms and other goods covered by the EU Common Military List to or from Libya. The countries of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Liechtenstein and Norway also imposed the decision.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on July 26 updated its general guidance on financial sanctions to update the section on the refusal of a license. See page 37 of the guidance for the updated language.
The U.K. High Court of Justice Administrative Court recently dismissed an application from Russian businessman Sergei Naumenko and companies Dalston Projects and Prism Maritime, legal owners of the Phi superyacht, seeking to regain control of the vessel. The British secretary of state for transport in March 2022 seized the yacht under its Russia sanctions regime.
The U.K. amended two entries under its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida sanctions list in a July 25 notice. The listings of Faysal Ahmad Bin Ali Al-Zahrani, ISIL's lead oil and gas division official, and Yazid Sufaat, founding member of Jemaah Islamiyah, were updated. Al-Zahrani's listing was changed to reflect that he is reportedly deceased; Sufaat's was changed to say he completed detention Nov. 20, 2019, and then served a two-year restricted residence order in Malaysia until Nov. 21, 2021. The measures follow similar actions by the U.N. Security Council this week (see 2307240016).
The EU and Singapore launched talks on a digital trade agreement, the EU's Directorate-General for Trade said in a July 20 statement. The deal will seek to "provide legal certainty for end-to-end digital trade and enhance protection for our people and companies in digital transactions," the release said, building on the EU-Singapore Digital Partnership and Digital Trade Principles reached at the start of the year.
The EU levied a seventh round of sanctions against the parties responsible for the continuing violence and human rights violations in Myanmar, the European Council announced July 20. The designations target union ministers for immigration and population, labor, and health and sports; two members of the State Administration Council; and the quartermaster general. The lone sanctioned entity is No. 2 Mining Enterprise, a state-owned company generating revenue for the Myanmar Armed Forces, the council said. The sanctions regime now covers 99 people and 19 entities.
The European Council in a July 20 notice extended the sanctions framework on Lebanon for another year. The restrictions will now expire July 31, 2024. The framework allows for the imposition of sanctions on people and entities responsible for "undermining democracy or the rule of law in Lebanon" by obstructing the political process, undermining the implementation of plans approved by Lebanese authorities or "serious financial misconduct."
The EU last week sanctioned 18 people and five entities under its Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime due to their human rights violations in Afghanistan, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Ukraine and Russia.
The European Council on July 20 established a new framework for sanctions following Iran's support of Russia's war in Ukraine. The regime bars the export from the EU to Iran of parts used in the construction and production of unmanned aerial vehicles while also providing for sanctions against people responsible for Iran's UAV program, the council said. It also added six Iranian people, all of whom are currently listed under two existing sanctions regimes, for their roles in Iran's support of both Russian and Syrian aggression.
The European Council on July 20 renewed and expanded the temporary suspension of all tariffs and the entry-price system on seven agricultural products from Moldova for another year. The measures will now lapse July 24, 2024. The seven agricultural goods subject to the measures, which allow imports of the products to the EU, are plums, table grapes, apples, tomatoes, garlic, cherries and grape juice. The council's expansion of the measures also includes "more stringent reporting obligations" and says the Committee on Safeguards, rather than the Customs Code Committee, likely will be involved in implementing the safeguard mechanism.