Exports of legal services from the United Kingdom to Australia are expected to see big gains under the new trade agreement between the two countries, the U.K.'s Department for International Trade said Aug. 13. Due to guarantees from Australia, British lawyers can continue to provide their services in Australia “using their existing qualifications with more clarity and certainty,” the U.K. said. Covered services include arbitration, conciliation and mediation. Bureaucratic hurdles in obtaining the necessary licenses will be slashed as well, the U.K. said. Eligibility for junior lawyers seeking to work in Australia was increased to 35 years old from 30, the news release said.
Tarif Akhras, founder of the Akhras Group and chairman of Syria's Homs Chamber of Commerce, was removed from the United Kingdom's Syrian sanctions regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Notice said in a financial sanctions notice Aug. 12. The delisting notice provided no explanation for his removal.
The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation updated six total listings under their Belarus and Global Anti-Corruption sanctions regimes Aug. 12, changing four and two listings, respectively, in two financial sanctions notices. The altered listings under the Belarus sanctions scheme were for Mikhail Safarbekovich Gutseriev, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and his son, Viktor Aliaksandravich Lukashenko, and Igor Petrovich Sergeenko. The changes under the global anti-corruption sanctions were for Alvaro Enrique Pulido Vargas and Alex Nain Saab Moran.
The European Union's blocking statute should be revised due to the increasing complexity and proliferation of extra-territorial sanctions and the bloc's "strong exposure to certain third countries," the European Commission suggested in a recently published impact assessment of the statute. The blocking regulations are meant to protect EU businesses from extra-territorial sanctions, including those imposed by the U.S., which are increasingly leading to global sanctions compliance issues in Europe (see 2108020030 and 2002190038).
Russia imposed sanctions on a “proportionate” number of British citizens in response to the United Kingdom's anti-corruption sanctions listings on Russian individuals (see 2104270017), the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Aug. 9, according to an unofficial translation. The sanctions include a travel ban, but the Russian government did not specify how many or which individuals are sanctioned. “We consider these groundless attacks by London to be a clear demonstration of the true intentions of the country's leadership with regard to further building its course in the Russian direction, namely, the desire to conduct destructive activities on the bilateral track,” the foreign ministry said. “We state that after leaving the [European Union], Great Britain stepped up even more in building up sanctions tools, including for demonstrating leadership in the campaign of denigrating Russia.”
The International Dairy Foods Association lauded the delay in new health certificate requirements for dairy and infant formula, and said the extra months give U.S. and European officials more time to discuss how to implement the regulatory change. IDFA had said that the certificates could have disrupted supply chains for nutrition support drinks and infant formula even if European consumers were not the ultimate customers, as long as the exports went through Europe (see 2107260033).
The European Council removed Navy Cmdr. Bion Na Tchongo and Capt. Paulo Sunsai from its Guinea-Bissau sanctions regime in an Aug. 5 implementing regulation. Both listings were originally made in 2012 in response to their roles in “threatening the peace, security or stability of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau.”
The United Kingdom removed the antidumping duty on welded tubes and pipes from Russia as part of changes made to the duties in two trade remedies notices published Aug. 9. The changes also varied the AD duties on the subject goods from Belarus and China, in line with the Trade Remedies Authority's recommendations on the duties. The new rates of the AD duties applicable to the net, free-at-the-frontier price before other import duties of welded tubes and pipes is 38.1% from Belarus and 90.6% from China. However, neither of these is the actual dumping rate, since the U.K. accompanied this change with a partial suspension of the AD duties on welded tubes and pipes from Belarus to avoid double trade barriers. The payable duty rate on the covered goods from Belarus is 13.1%. The suspension does not cover Chinese products that were already granted an exception to the tariff-rate quota on steel goods.
The European Council announced that certain third countries aligned themselves on Aug. 6 with the council's decision to extend the EU terrorist list for a further six months. Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland and Liechtenstein will also extend the list that established restrictive measures against 14 individuals and 21 entities (see 2107200023). The sanctions, reviewed at least every six months, are now set to expire in January 2022. The terrorist list is separate from the EU's al-Qaida and ISIL sanctions regime.
The European Commission in an Aug. 6 notice announced the impending expiration of antidumping duty measures on certain lightweight thermal paper from South Korea, unless a review of the duties is initiated. European Union manufacturers can submit a written request for a review up to three months before the duty's May 4, 2022, expiration date.