European professors speaking about the future of the trans-Atlantic trade relationship said that while it's logical for democratic, rule-of-law countries to coordinate trade policy against an authoritarian rival, that's easier said than done.
The European Union will remove tariffs on two-thirds of product lines for goods from Uzbekistan as part of the Central Asian nation receiving Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus benefits. Uzbekistan received the extra benefits in exchange for implementing the 27 core international conventions under the EU's sustainable development and good governance (GSP+) incentive program, the EU said in an April 9 news release. Among these conventions, the EU singled out Uzbekistan's progress on business climate, the judicial system, security services, labor conditions and administrative accountability. Child labor, for instance, was a practice the nation has sought to systematically eliminate. GSP+ status applies effective April 10.
The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation published an update to its sanctions on ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida, amending the entry for Abu Bakar Ba'asyir. In an April 7 trade notice, OFSI noted that Ba'asyir was released from prison in Indonesia on Jan. 8, 2021, after serving his sentence.
The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced changes to its sanctions on Yemen and the Central African Republic: an amendment to the entry for Sultan Saleh Aida Aida Zabin, the director of Yemen's Criminal Investigation Department, in an April 6 notice; and removal of the Bureau D'Achat de Diamant en Centrafrique/Kardiam of the Central African Republic from the sanctions list, meaning it is no longer subject to an asset freeze, in a separate April 6 notice.
The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation published updates to its sanctions listings. For its ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida listings, OFSI amended the information for Noureddine Ben Ali Ben Belkassem Al-Drissi. For Xinjiang, China-related restrictions, the agency amended the information for Mingguo Chen, Mingshan Wang, Junzheng Wang and Hailun Zhu.
The United Kingdom sanctioned Myanmar Economic Corp. for its role in making funds available to the Myanmar military and its association with senior military figures, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced in an April 1 news release. MEC becomes the latest to be sanctioned following the military coup in the Southeast Asian nation and the subsequent crackdown on peaceful protests (see 2102190057). The conglomerate's assets in the U.K. will be frozen, and U.K. nationals will be barred from dealing with funds owned or controlled by MEC, the release said. “The UK’s latest actions target one of the military’s key funding streams and impose a further cost on them for their violations of human rights,” Raab said.
The European Union extended its sanctions against Bosnia and Herzegovina for one year until March 31, 2022, according to a March 26 European Council decision. Although no one is listed under the sanctions regime, the EC said it is reserving its right to add names to the list should an individual or entity threaten Bosnia and Herzegovina's sovereignty or security. The council also extended until March 31, 2023, the mandate of Operation Irini -- an effort in the Mediterranean to implement the United Nations arms embargo on Libya. The extension of the operation, which also works to monitor and gather information on illegal Libyan exports of oil, was announced in a March 26 news release.
Build-a-Bear Workshop lost an appeal of a lower court challenge to the classification of accessories for its stuffed bears imports, as the United Kingdom's Upper Tribunal Tax and Chancery sided with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs agency in a March 29 opinion. Hoping to get the tax court to find that its bear accessories should be given an alternate classification eliminating its import duties, Build-a-Bear took its case to the upper tax court. Despite having found the lower court erred in its findings, the Upper Tribunal Tax and Chancery still applied the 4.7% duty rate on the accessories. Ultimately, the toy retailer lost the appeal on the classification of its component for building a bear: clothing and wigs, footwear, plastic and textile hearts and animal accessories.
The United Kingdom's Department of International Trade published guidance on how academics should comply with export control measures for their research. The agency is especially concerned with how research could be co-opted for military purposes or for the development or delivery of weapons of mass destruction, and targeted its guidance to researchers who work with overseas colleagues on research, take their work overseas or export their technology. The guidance covers the areas in which research is at risk of requiring an export license, including aeronautical and space technology, nuclear technologies, applied physics, biotechnology, and telecommunications and information technology.
Italy on April 1 launches an online registration portal for value-added taxes, KPMG said in a blog post. Traders will be able to use the portal to register and report VAT for “remote” sales of goods between European Union member states and for certain goods imported from third countries that don’t exceed about $175 in value.