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.

The United Kingdom amended its Burundi sanctions regime in a January regulation following the largely peaceful transfer of power in the African nation resulting from the May 2020 elections. The changes "revoke and replace" the 2019 Burundi sanctions regime with its new sanctions parameters, drop the criteria for listing individuals or entities over their obstruction of the search for a peaceful solution to Burundi's political situation, and remove language encouraging the Burundi government to bring about a peaceful solution to its political situation. The U.S. has already revoked its Burundi sanctions regime to reflect the same changes.

The European Union initiated an expiry review of the antidumping duties on imports of certain aluminum road wheels from China following a request from the Association of European Wheel Manufacturers, the European Commission said in a Jan. 20 regulation. The review will cover "aluminium road wheels of the motor vehicles of headings 8701 to 8705, whether or not with their accessories and whether or not fitted with tyres" brought into the EU from Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021. Interested parties wishing to submit comment on the review must do so within 37 days of the publication of the notice of initiation of the review, the commission said.

Seven countries aligned with the EU's Dec. 13 decision to add two individuals and three entities to its Syria sanctions regime, the European Council said in a Jan. 19 news release. The countries are North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Georgia.

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).