With large purchase agreements yet to be filled, the European Union extended its vaccine export control regime until the end of June, the European Commission announced March 11. The controls apply only to companies with which the EU has negotiated an advance purchase agreement and require these companies to notify their member state authorities of their intention to export COVID-19 vaccines. To date, only one export of vaccines has been denied, with the EU blocking a shipment of more than 250,000 vaccine doses from British vaccine developer AstraZeneca to Australia (see 2103080006). The EC said it has granted 249 export requests to 31 different countries for a total of over 34 million doses since they did not threaten underlying APAs with the EU.

The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation published guidance on levying monetary penalties for financial sanctions breaches. The guidance explains HM Treasury's powers in the Policing and Crime Act 2017 that gave the agency the power to levy fines for sanctions violations, summarizes OFSI's compliance approach, provides an overview of the agency's assessment practices, details the process for deciding the level of penalty and explains how businesses or individuals can comply with the fines, including how to pay and appeal them. Penalties and guidelines come into effect April 1.

European Council President Charles Michel criticized the United Kingdom in a March 9 newsletter for blocking COVID-19 vaccine exports to the EU while justifying the controls the EU set up in January (see 2102010012). “The United Kingdom and the United States have imposed an outright ban on the export of vaccines or vaccine components produced on their territory,” Michel said. “But the European Union, the region with the largest vaccine production capacity in the world, has simply put in place a system for controlling the export of doses produced in the EU.” A U.K. government spokesperson said Great Britain has not blocked the export of a single vaccine. In a statement, the spokesperson said, “Any references to a UK export ban or any restrictions on vaccines are completely false. This pandemic is a global challenge and international collaboration on vaccine development continues to be an integral part of our response,” Reuters reported.

The United Kingdom and Cameroon signed an Economic Partnership Agreement, making Cameroon yet another nation to ink a post-Brexit deal with Great Britain. The EPA will grant greater market access for U.K. and Cameroon businesses to build on a trade relationship worth around £200 million in 2019, a March 9 news release said. Under the accord, trade between the two nations can continue, “supporting Cameroonian businesses to increase operations, enabling UK exporters to sell more goods and boosting prosperity for both countries as we together recover from the Covid-19 pandemic,” U.K. Minister for Africa James Duddridge said.

The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation updated its sanctions list for Somalia and Sudan, adding three individuals to the Somali sanctions and removing one individual from the Sudanese restrictions. In a March 2 notice, OFSI subjected Somali nationals Abukar Ali Adan, Maalim Ayman and Mahad Karate each to an asset freeze for “engaging in or providing support for acts that threaten the peace, security or stability of Somalia.” In a March 8 notice, the U.K. also removed Adam Shareif (see 2103080009) from its Sudan sanctions list.

Suriname became the 14th Caribbean nation to join the CariForum-U.K. Economic Partnership Agreement, the United Kingdom's Department for International Trade announced in a March 5 news release. Once the deal comes fully into effect, it will provide duty-free and quota-free access for goods between Suriname and the U.K., including machinery, whiskey and cars from the U.K. to Suriname, and bananas and rum from Suriname to the U.K. The agreement also includes trade liberalizing measures in services, including provisions on intellectual property, procurement and competition. The other 13 states party to the EPA are Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Bahamas, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Italy blocked a shipment of 250,700 AstraZeneca vaccine doses headed for Australia, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in a March 4 news release. Italy cited three reasons for the imposition of the export controls: Australia is considered “non-vulnerable,” there is an ongoing shortage of vaccines in the EU and Italy with delays of shipments between AstraZeneca and the EU and Italy and the number of doses in the shipment was comparable to the quantity of doses supplied to Italy so far. The move marks the first time an EU member state has used the EU's new vaccine export controls, which passed Jan. 29. Before Italy's use of the controls, experts had said that the controls were meant only to send a message to AstraZeneca, which was making large commitments with many non-EU nations, including the U.K. and Australia, leaving it in danger of falling short of its EU commitments (see 2103010022).

The acting U.S. trade representative, María Pagán, said that after two years of negotiations at the World Trade Organization, the European Union has agreed to adjust its tariff rate quotas since Great Britain and Northern Ireland are no longer in the EU. “Once implemented, this agreement will provide market access certainty for U.S. producers and exporters to the EU,” Pagán said.

The United Kingdom has announced the location of eight new “freeports” -- streamlined ports and airports with “simpler planning, infrastructure funding and cheaper customs” based off the U.S. foreign-trade zone model. In a March 3 speech to Parliament, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced the locations to be East Midlands Airport, Felixstowe and Harwich, Humber, Liverpool City Region, Plymouth, Solent, Thames and Teesside. The U.K. announced the idea of the freeports in August 2019, pledging to create up to 10 (see 1908020025). The sites were selected via a Freeports Advisory Panel composed of the ministers of the Department of International Trade and HM Treasury, along with trade and business experts.

The European Union extended by one year sanctions against people responsible for the misappropriation of Ukrainian state funds, the European Council said March 4. Now expiring March 6, 2022, the sanctions continue to impose asset freezes on seven people and also extend sanctions against one person until Sept. 6, 2021. The sanctions were last extended in March 2020 until March 6 this year.