The United Kingdom announced various changes to its strategic export controls licensing statistics and strategic export controls reports and statistics website, the U.K. Department for International Trade said Jan. 28. The changes stem from the introduction of data on Standard Individual Export Licenses processed by the new LITE licensing system being used a "small number of beta users," the DIT said. Changes include a new release date for the official statistics covering Q3 of 2021, which is now Feb. 11; the unavailability of some data from the 29 licenses processed in LITE for Q3; and various missing types of data including SIEL end-user types and processing times.

Eight countries aligned with the European Union's decision to add one individual to its Libya sanctions regime, the European Council said Jan 31. The council on Dec. 13 added Aleksandr Sergeevich Kuznetsov to the sanctions list due to his position in the Wagner Group, a Russia-based private military entity (see 2112130009). Kuznetsov, commander of the Wagner Group's 1st Attack and Reconnaissance Co., was injured in Libya while fighting alongside the Libyan National Liberation Army in 2019, the council said. North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Ukraine and Georgia also imposed sanctions on Kuznetsov -- a move welcomed by the EU, the council said.

Switzerland designated seven individuals and three entities as part of its Nicaragua sanctions regime, following the EU, which listed the same parties Jan. 10. The listed individuals are Camila Antonia Ortega Murillo and Laureano Facundo Ortega Murillo, advisers to the president; Brenda Isabel Rocha Chacon, Supreme Electoral Council (SEC) president; Cairo Melvin Amador Arrieta, SEC vice president; Lumberto Ignacio Campbell Hooker, SEC member; Nahima Janett Diaz Flores, director of the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Post Services (TELCOR); and Luis Angel Montenegro Espinoza, superintendent of the Superintendency of Banks and other Financial Institutions of Nicaragua.

After conducting an expiry review, the EU imposed a definitive antidumping duty on acesulfame potassium from China, the European Commission said Jan. 28. Requested by Celanese Sales Germany, the review covered imports of "acesulfame potassium (potassium salt of 6-methyl-1,2,3- oxathiazin-4(3H)-one 2,2-dioxide; CAS RN 55589-62-3)" from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020. The following rates apply: 4.58% for Anhui Jinhe Industrial Co.; 4.47% for Suzhou Hope Technology Co.; 2.64% for Anhui Vitasweet Food Ingredient Co.; and 4.58% for all other companies.

Seven countries aligned themselves with the European Union's December decision to renew the existing restrictive measures on individuals and entities that have committed serious human rights violations, the European Council said Jan. 26. North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Ukraine will implement in their national policies the EU's decision to extend the human rights sanctions regime for another 12 months, until Dec. 8, 2022.

The European Union kicked off an expiry review Jan. 26 of the antidumping duties on stainless steel tube and pipe butt-welding fittings, whether or not finished, from China and Taiwan, the European Commission said.

The European Council condemned recent aggressive action from Russia that has heightened tensions with Ukraine. In Jan. 24 conclusions on the European security situation, the council promised "massive consequences and severe costs" for any greater Russian military aggression against Ukraine, which includes "a wide array of sectoral and individual restrictive measures" that would be taken up by the European Union and its partners.

The European Commission, in a Jan. 25 regulation, extended the antidumping duties on imports of certain tube and pipe fittings, of iron or steel, from China following an expiry review. The duties apply to "tube and pipe fittings (other than cast fittings, flanges and threaded fittings), of iron or steel (not including stainless steel), with a greatest external diameter not exceeding 609,6 mm, of a kind used for butt-welding or other purposes" from China. All companies will be subject to a 58.6% dumping rate. The duties were extended to cover tube and pipe fitting imports from Taiwan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, whether declared as originating in any of these countries or not. In a second notice, the commission initiated a partial interim review of the ADD measures on monosodium glutamate from China.

Following the U.K.'s departure from the European Union, the Dublin Port noted a drop in trade volumes for the fourth quarter of 2021, the port operator said. The decline came after a surge in activity in Q4 2020 due to the impending imposition of Brexit border controls. Overall trade volumes at the Dublin Port fell in Q4 2021 by 10.3% to 9.1 million gross tonnes, the port said. It also cited an 11.9% drop in the number of containers and trailers year on year from a pre-Brexit high of 418,000 in Q4 2020 to 369,000 units in Q4 2021.

The European Commission gave notice Jan. 21 of the impending expiry of the antidumping duties on certain hot-rolled flat products of iron, non-alloy or other alloy steel from Brazil, Iran, Russia and Ukraine, unless a review of the duties is initiated. EU manufacturers can submit a written request for a review up until three months before the Oct. 7 expiration date.