The United Kingdom, in a pair of financial sanctions notices, replaced one individual on its Libya sanctions list and took three entities off its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida sanctions regime. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation added Quren Salih Quren Al Qadhafi, replacing the entry for the same individual who served as the Libyan ambassador to Chad under the regime of Moammar Gadhafi. The individual remains subject to an asset freeze. OFSI also removed the Al-Haramain Foundation (Indonesia), Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation and Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation (Somalia) from the ISIL sanctions regime, and thus lifted the asset freeze on the three.

The United Kingdom added two Russian individuals to its Global Human Rights sanctions regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said Jan. 13. Both former members of the Russian military, Dmitry Vadimovich Kovtun and Andrey Konstantinovich Lugovoy were sanctioned for their role in the killing of Alexander Litvinenko through deliberate poisoning in 2006. The pair were also listed under the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, but OFSI gave notice Jan. 17 that the designations of the two Russians expired under that regime but are still subject to asset freezes as the two individuals' listings have been moved to the Global Human Rights sanctions regime.

The European Union imposed a definitive countervailing duty on imports of optical fiber cables from China, the European Commission said in a Jan. 19 regulation. Following a complaint from Europacable, the commission initiated the investigation and found that the imports of fiber optic cables from China were harming the EU industry. The duties will apply to "single mode optical fibre cables, made up of one or more individually sheathed fibres, with protective casing, whether or not containing electric conductors." The following rates apply: 10.3% CVD rate for FTT Group, consisting of FiberHome Telecommunication Technologies Co., Ltd., Nanjing Wasin Fujikura Optical Communication Ltd. and Hubei Fiberhome Boxin Electronic Co., Ltd.; 5.1% for ZTT Group, made up of Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology Co., Ltd. and Zhongtian Power Optical Cable Co., Ltd.; 7.8% for other companies cooperating in both anti-subsidy and antidumping investigations listed in Annex I; 10.3% for other companies cooperating in the antidumping investigation but not in the anti-subsidy investigation listed in Annex II; and 10.3% for all other companies.

Switzerland sanctioned six individuals and three entities linked to the private Russian military organization the Wagner Group, aligning it with EU actions. Now subject to Switzerland's Russia sanctions list are Dimitriy Valerievich Utkin, Denis Yurievich Kharitonov and Sergey Vladimirovich Shcherbakov, while Aleksandr Sergeevich Kuznetsov was added to the Libya sanctions list. Andrey Nikolaevich Troshev, Andrey Mikhailovich Bogatov, Velada LLC, Mercury LLC and Evro Polis LLC were added to Switzerland's Syria sanctions list. In imposing its sanctions in December 2021, the EU said the Wagner Group has trained and sent private military operatives to hot spots around the world to fuel violence and intimidate civilians, among other things, in violation of international law (see 2112130009).

The European Commission gave notice Jan. 18 of its decision to conduct an expiry review of the antidumping duties on sodium gluconate from China, following a request from French company Jungbunzlauer SA. European Union manufacturers can submit written comments over elements of the investigation within 37 days of the notice's publication. The review period runs Jan. 1, 2021 to Dec. 31, 2021.

The European Union extended the antidumping duties on grain-oriented flat rolled products of silicon-electrical steel (GOES) from China, Russia, the U.S., Japan and South Korea for another five years, the European Commission said. The decision to extend the duties came after the commission conducted an expiry review and found that a lapse in the duties would amount to serious harm to EU GOES producers. The AD measures will continue to be implemented as a minimum import price, above which imports will be allowed to enter the EU without any antidumping duties. If the import prices are below this level, the commission will set the AD rates at the difference between the import price and the minimum import price, up to a maxim range of 21.5% to 39%. "The measures will thus continue to ensure a level playing field for EU GOES producers while providing stable supply on the import side of high quality GOES, needed in particular for the production of premium quality transformers, generators and motors," the commission said.

Liquefied natural gas terminal developer Hanseatic Energy Hub has delayed the development of a proposed LNG terminal in Germany amid large price swings, Bloomberg reported. Danielle Stoves, commercial and regulatory director for Hanseatic, said the company decided to hold off on a key step toward a final investment decision when it postponed offering transportation capacity to would-be consumers this month, Bloomberg said. Germany has proposed three LNG terminals in a bid to wean off Russian gas, and Hanseatic's delay is just one of many setbacks facing all three terminals. The plan for Hanseatic was to build an onshore storage and regasification unit with 12 billion cubic meters a year of capacity. Hanseatic also said a final investment decision queued up for the first quarter of 2023 may also be shifted, Bloomberg said.

A group of non-European Union countries aligned themselves with a series of EU sanctions decisions, the European Council said in several news releases. North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Georgia adopted the EU's decisions to extend its Syria sanctions regime until June 1 and update the information for a listed individual. Montenegro, Albania, Norway and Ukraine aligned themselves with the EU's December decision to amend the list of individuals and entities subject to the sanctions regime relating to actions undermining the territorial independence of Ukraine.

The European Union will host a stakeholder meeting Feb. 8 to discuss reforming investment dispute resolution, which includes establishing a multilateral investment court, the European Commission said. The meeting's goals are to "update stakeholders on the latest developments in this area at the EU and international level and to exchange views on the latest relevant EU policy developments," the commission said. The meeting will be conducted virtually. Registration to attend ends Feb. 1.

The European Union extended its economic sanctions targeting certain economic sectors in Russia relating to the situation in Ukraine for another six months, until July 31, the European Council said Jan. 13. The sanctions were initially imposed in 2014 following Russia's failure to fully implement the Minsk Agreements that were negotiated to end fighting in the Donbas region of Ukraine. As part of this sanctions regime, the EU has also imposed individual restrictive measures in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol along with its destabilization efforts toward Ukraine.