Cyprus recently extended its deadlines for payments of certain value-added taxes, according to a March 2 KPMG post. The country deferred VAT payments for the periods ending Dec. 31, 2020, and Jan. 31, 2021, to later this year, KPMG said, with only certain taxpayers eligible. Cyprus is allowing VAT payers to pay the charges in three equal installments, and as long as certain conditions are met, the country will not impose late penalties or interest. The payments are now due in April, May and June.

An Asia expert said that just as China's Made in China 2025 national strategic plan on manufacturing was a wake-up call for American policymakers, it did the same for Germany and German industries. “We are not so different from where the U.S. was the last four years,” Gudrun Wacker said during a joint webinar March 4 with the Hudson Institute and her think tank, the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

The United Kingdom on March 2 signed a trade partnership agreement with Ghana, it announced in a press release. The agreement secures tariff-free trade for certain goods for both countries and reinstates the terms of the economic partnership between the European Union and Ghana when the U.K. was a part of the EU. Ghanaian bananas, tinned tuna and cocoa will enjoy tariff-free access to the British market while U.K. machinery, electronics and chemical products will now enter Ghana duty-free. “This deal secures tariff-free access for products that British shoppers love -- and supports jobs in Ghana -- paving the way for further economic growth as we build back better from COVID-19,” Ghana's Minister for International Trade Ranil Jayawardena said at a virtual event marking the signing.

For U.S. biodiesel companies exporting fuel to the United Kingdom with a specified overseas exporter duty rate, a declaration must now be submitted with their valid commercial invoices, the U.K. added in a taxation notice on March 1. If the declaration is not made, then the standard duty amount applicable to biodiesel from the U.S. will be applied. The declaration must be dated and signed by an official of the entity issuing the invoice. A sample declaration is provided.

The European Union added four Russian individuals to its sanctions list for serious human rights violations, including the arbitrary arrest of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the crackdown on the subsequent protests, the European Council announced in a March 2 press release. The sanctioned individuals are Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation; Igor Krasnov, the Prosecutor-General; Viktor Zolotov, head of the National Guard; and Alexander Kalashnikov, head of the Federal Prison Service. The restrictive measures consist of a travel ban and asset freeze, and people and entities in the EU are forbidden from making funds available to the listed individuals. These sanctions mark the first use of the new EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime, established on Dec. 7, 2020, that permits the EU to use sanctions for human-rights related purposes including genocide, slavery, arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings and other violations.

The United Kingdom announced further sanctions on six members of Myanmar's State Administration Council -- the ruling body established following the Feb. 1 coup. The move expands the sanctions list to all military members of the council, stopping them from traveling to the U.K. and preventing businesses and institutions from interacting with them, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced Feb. 25. The six individuals are Commander-in-Chief Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, Secretary of the SAC Lt. Gen. Aung Lin Dwe, Joint Secretary of the SAC Lt. Gen. Ye Win Oo, Gen. Tin Aung San, General Maung Maung Kyaw and Lt. Gen. Moe Myint Tun. The U.K. also will temporarily suspend all promotion of trade with Myanmar while a Trade Review is conducted to “work with British businesses and civil society to reshape our approach to trade,” the news release said.

The European Commission initiated an investigation to assess whether to extend beyond June 30 safeguard measures on imports of certain steel products. The investigation, announced in a Feb. 26 news release, will explore whether the measures continue to be necessary to protect the EU steel industry. In effect since July 2018, the safeguard measures include tariff-rate quotas above which a 25% duty is levied. Companies and individuals have 15 days to publish comments on the safeguard measures, and the commission will issue questionnaires to insdustry stakeholders, the release said. Member states will ultimately vote on the proposal, with a final decision before the end of June.

Germany will now generally issue export permits electronically, using the platform to issue permits, null notifications, trade information and extensions, and changes to notices in foreign trade law, the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control said, according to an unofficial translation. The switch, effective March 1, takes place on Germany's ELAN-K2 filing portal. The German government will still issue general permits, permits for repeated export after previous import and transit permits in writing, and it reserves the right to issue any approval in writing if it is needed, it said.

The European Union is extending sanctions it has in place on 88 individuals and 7 entities until Feb. 28, 2022, for their roles in enacting electoral fraud and the current regime's violent repression of the opposition and protesters in Belarus. In a Feb. 25 press release, the European Council announced the continuation, which includes President Alexandr Lukashenko and consists of a travel ban and asset freeze on listed individuals and an asset freeze on the entities. The sanctions were initially put in place following the fraudulent presidential election in August 2020 and ensuing wave of violently repressed demonstrations.

The European Union Foreign Affairs Council recommended placing restrictive measures on the individuals responsible for the arrest and persecution of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, European Commission High Representative Josep Borrell announced in a Feb. 22 press briefing. The sanctions, which include an asset freeze and travel ban, would mark the first use of the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime that became law in December (see 2012070010). The decision to impose these sanctions will now be subject to an administrative review by the European Council where they will likely be ultimately decided and imposed within a week, Borrell said.