The European Commission gave notice March 9 of the impending expiry of the antidumping duties on trichloroisocyanuric acid from China, unless a review of the duties is initiated. EU manufacturers can submit a written request for a review up until three months before the Dec. 6, 2022, expiration date.

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation added one entry to its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida sanctions regime and amended and corrected entires under the Iran (Nuclear) sanctions list in a pair of notices March 8. Under the ISIL sanctions list, OFSI added Khatiba Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad, a terrorist organization operating under the Al-Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, which operates mainly in Syria. Under the Iran sanctions regime, OFSI amended the entries for Mohammad Hejazi and the Passive Defence Organisation, and it corrected the entries for Jelvesazan and the Centre for Innovation and Technology Cooperation.

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended three entries under its North Korea sanctions regime. The entries for Yong Chol Kim, vice chairman of the Workers Party of Korea; Kyong Hui Kim, a North Korean army general; and Yong Nam Kim, agent of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, were updated.

Margrethe Vestager, the European Union's commissioner for competition, connected overreliance on China to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in a speech in Paris on March 7. Vestager didn't mention China by name, but spoke of the need to have more European production of semiconductors, and said if Europe then partners "with like-minded democracies we can stabilize our supply chain. Because, crisis or not, Europe cannot do it alone."

News operations in Europe reported that the EU began the process on March 4 of ending most favored nation tariffs on Russian goods. A European Commission spokesperson confirmed the reports to Export Compliance Daily on March 7. "There was broad support within the Trade Policy Committee regarding actions taken by Russia that would justify the non-application of MFN vis-à-vis Russia," the spokesperson said. "There was strong support to work with likeminded countries on a joint statement and a willingness to take appropriate trade measures as an action. This is now work in progress. From the EU perspective, such measures would be adopted on the same procedures as those that were used to adopt the previous rounds of sanctions."

The European Commission gave notice March 4 of the impending expiry of the antidumping duties on hand pallet trucks from China and Thailand, unless a review of the duties is initiated. EU manufacturers can submit a written request for a review up until three months before the Dec. 1 expiration date.

The U.K. appointed two new trade envoys -- David Duguid as envoy to Angola and Zambia and Yvonne Fovargue as envoy to Tunisia and Libya, the Department for International Trade said. As trade envoys, members of Parliament Duguid and Fovargue will promote the U.K. as a landing spot for investment in these nations while helping exporting businesses branch out into their assigned markets. The U.K. now has 36 trade envoys, covering 76 countries, the DIT said.

The EU initiated a "new exporter" review of its antidumping duty on bicycles from China for one Chinese exporter, Zhejiang Feishen Vehicle Industry Co., the European Commission said March 3. The duties cover "bicycles and other cycles (including delivery tricycles, but excluding unicycles), not motorised," and currently sit at a 48.5% dumping rate. Zhejiang Feishen gave adequate evidence that it didn't export subject bikes during the investigation period -- Jan. 1, 2011, to Dec. 31, 2011 -- so the commission decided to start the review.

Switzerland signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.K. on customs cooperation, the Swiss Federal Council announced Feb. 28. The MOU is meant to bolster modernization and digitization efforts for customs proceedings between the two countries while facilitating greater collaboration between the two nations' customs authorities. The U.K. is interested in Switzerland's experience with implementing digitalization solutions to its customs sector, the council said. Deeper cooperation will be sought "in various areas such as development and interoperability of single trade windows for easier information gathering, the use of supply chain data, the digitisation of paper-based customs and trade documents, e-commerce, risk management and analysis."

The European Commission gave notice Feb. 28 of the impending expiry of the antidumping duties on ceramic tiles from China, unless a review of the duties is initiated. EU manufacturers can submit a written request for a review up until three months before the Nov. 24 expiration date.