The European Union sanctioned an additional eight individuals for “actively supporting actions and implementing policies that undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,” the European Council said Oct. 11. These eight individuals include judges and prosecutors responsible for enforcing Russian law in Crimea and Sevastopol, the council said. The total number of sanctioned parties is 185 individuals and 48 entities.
The United Kingdom kicked off a 14-week consultation period ahead of negotiations over a trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Department for International Trade said. The consultation calls for the public and businesses to share their views about the nearly $41 billion trade relationship before negotiations start in earnest in 2022. The U.K.'s secretary of state will hold a bilateral meeting in London with the GCC Secretary General Nayef Falah Al-Hajraf and Bahraini Assistant Undersecretary for Domestic and Foreign Trade Hamad Bin Salman Al-Khalifa to signal the start of the consultation, DIT said. The consultation will wrap up in January.
Ukraine imposed sanctions on 95 individuals and four entities relating to the Russian elections in occupied territories of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an Oct. 5 decree, according to an unofficial translation. The listings include candidates for the Russia State Duma party and members of the election commissions. Seven operatives of the Russian Federal Security Service allegedly responsible for poisoning opposition leader Alexei Navalny were also designated, according to the first annex to the decree: Alexey Alexandrov, Vladimir Panyaev, Ivan Vladimirovich Osipov, Vladimir Mikhailovich Bogdanov, Kirill Vasilyev, Stanislav Valentinovich Makshakov and Alexei Semenovich Sedov. The U.S. and the United Kingdom sanctioned the seven in August (see 2108200017).
Members of the European Parliament, along with Irish politicians, pushed for Portuguese bank Novo Banco to release a payment from the Venezuelan Economic and Social Development Bank (BANDES) to the Pan American Health Organization for medical supplies and vaccines for children in Venezuela, in a letter to the Novo Bank CEO. Novo declined to process the transfer because BANDES is subject to U.S. sanctions, even though it is not subject to EU sanctions, the Intercept reported. The MEPs blasted Novo for being “over-compliant” with U.S. sanctions, even though the U.S. sanctions themselves have exceptions for humanitarian aid. No “legal or extra-legal obstacle” stands in the way of releasing BANDES's transfer from a Brazilian bank account for the purchase of the needed humanitarian health goods, the letter said.
The Southwark Crown Court convicted energy services company Petrofac Ltd. on seven separate counts of failing to prevent bribery between 2011 and 2017, the United Kingdom's Serious Fraud Office said. The court ordered the company to pay more than $104 million in fines. Petrofac pleaded guilty to failing to stop former senior executives of the Petrofac subsidiaries from using “agents” to bribe foreign officials with the goal of winning oil contracts in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Petrofac Group's former sales chief, David Lufkin, was sentenced to a two-year custodial sentence, which was suspended for 18 months.
A number of third countries are joining the European Union in extending existing sanctions on individuals and entities responsible for undermining the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, the European Council said Oct. 5. Montenegro, Albania, Norway and Ukraine aligned themselves with the sanctions extension, which will run until March 15, 2022 (see 2109100026).
The European Commission will host a stakeholder meeting 8 a.m. (EST) Nov. 11 to provide updates on the multilateral reform of investment dispute resolution, including setting up a multilateral investment court, the commission said. The virtual event will also serve as a forum to exchange views on the most recent EU policy developments.
A former professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology has been charged in Norway with violating sanctions on Iran, export control regulations and the country's data breach laws, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corp. reported, according to an unofficial translation. The professor allegedly invited four guest researchers from Iran, giving them laboratory access at the university in 2018-19. The four also were given access to defense information without obtaining the necessary license from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the report said. Norway alleges the visitors could have gained knowledge beneficial to Iran's nuclear program.
The European Council greenlighted a decision to start negotiations over a European Union-United Kingdom agreement on Gibraltar that was not included in the scope of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the two parties, the council said Oct. 5. The trade talks would establish a “broad and balanced agreement” between the EU and the U.K. on the “particular geographical situation and specificities of Gibraltar.”
The United Kingdom adjusted the quota amounts and allocations pertaining to its tariff rate quotas on certain steel products, the Department for International Trade said. The TRQs were put in place July 1 and run until June 30, 2022. The full list of the tariff-rate quotas can be found here.