The European Parliament passed a series of new rules requiring EU-based companies to identify and, where needed, end the "negative impact of their activities on human rights and the environment." Such activities include child labor, slavery, pollution and environmental degradation. In addition, these companies would have to "monitor and assess the impact on their value-chain partners," including suppliers, distribution and storage, the parliament said June 1.

The EU added seven people to two different sanctions regimes for their role in threatening the sovereignty of Ukraine, the European Council announced.The designated parties are "politicians and businessmen with Moldovan or Russian nationality that have engaged in destabilising activities," the council said. Some are tied to a "Bank Fraud" case that led to "huge losses" for the Moldovan state, while others were listed for their role in the Russian plot to destabilize Moldova through the planning of "violent demonstrations, financial misconduct, unauthorised export of capital and support for the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) projects," the council said.

The U.K.'s Export Control Joint Unit released a notice detailing the compound penalties issued since January. Revenue and Customs issued settlement offers to four exporters related to unlicensed exports of dual-use and military goods, with the largest -- more than $1.1 million -- related to dual-use goods. Another settlement involved dual-use export violations and resulted in a fine of about $270,000, while the other two involved illegal exports of military goods and resulted in fines of about $5,000 and $3,600.

The EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council agreed on export control and investment screening concepts, but no specific policies were arrived at during the fourth meeting of the group that ended May 31 in Sweden.

The U.K.'s Export Control Joint Unit is hosting training programs June to December for strategic export control compliance. The ECJU said the training is for "companies of all sizes," all knowledge levels and "different learning paths." The sessions include events titled "Licence Workshop," "Making Better Licence Applications" and "Are my items controlled?"

The U.K. last week updated guidance on how people and entities can request reviews of their counter-terrorism sanctions designations, including how they can ask to be removed from the sanctions list. The guidance covers who can apply for revocation, how to submit a sanctions review request form, the evidence needed to submit, how long it may take and further requests once a decision has been rendered. OFSI said decisions on applications will be made "as soon as reasonably practicable."

The EU renewed its suspension of all customs duties, quotas and trade defense measures on Ukrainian exports to the EU for another year, until June 2024, the European Council said May 25. The temporary trade liberalization measures were initially imposed to aid Ukraine's economy through Russia's invasion.

A European Parliament committee is pushing for new rules that could allow the bloc to more quickly and efficiently seize sanctioned assets. The rules, approved as part of a draft position by the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee this week, would harmonize the authorities of individual European Union member states’ asset recovery offices to “make cross-border investigations more efficient” and increase information sharing, including on “beneficial ownership registries, securities and currency information, customs data and annual financial statements of companies,” the Parliament said in a May 23 press release. They also would close “loopholes” by “ensuring assets can be frozen quickly, with temporary urgency measures where necessary” and “crack down” on those evading asset seizures through help from a third party. Confiscated assets could also be used to compensate victims or put toward “social or public interest purposes.”

The U.K. Department for Business and Trade released new guidance covering Russia-related sanctions circumvention. The guidance addresses ways companies can conduct sanctions due diligence, how companies try to "covertly" acquire goods through the procurement cycle and several red flags and "risk indicators."

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended the listings of three individuals and one entity on its Russia sanctions regime. The entries for Ilya Klebanov, Valery Shantsev and AFK Sistema were corrected with the latest information on date of birth or other date and address information, while the "non-Latin script language" for Vladimir Lepin was updated.