The EU launched an antidumping duty investigation May 22 on polyethylene terephthalate from Vietnam. The European Commission said it may impose antidumping duties on the covered goods if it finds the EU PET industry is injured by dumped imports. The investigation will run for up to 14 months, though provisional duties may be imposed within eight months. The EU said it currently has antidumping duties on PET plastic from China and countervailing duties on the same goods from India.

The European Parliament this week approved a European Commission proposal to raise tariffs on certain agricultural products, including nitrogen-based fertilizers, from Russia and Belarus by 50% (see 2501290037). The new duty, if approved by EU foreign ministers, would apply to Russian and Belarusian agricultural goods that haven't yet been subject to "extra customs duties," Parliament said. Along with certain fertilizers, the tariffs would apply to sugar, vinegar, flour and animal feed.

The EU on May 21 opened an antidumping duty investigation on passenger car and light truck tires from China, the European Commission announced. The commission said the investigation will be concluded within 14 months and that provisional antidumping duties may be imposed within eight months if dumping and injury to the EU industry are found. The bloc currently has AD and countervailing duties in place on imports of tires for buses and trucks from China.

The U.K.’s Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation will begin accepting formal whistleblower disclosures June 26, the agency announced this week. OTSI will accept reports about a person or business “you think is committing a breach of trade sanctions that are implemented and enforced by” the agency. OTSI, a new agency launched in October, oversees and enforces trade restrictions for controlled goods and services moving or being provided outside the U.K. (see 2502140007, 2410100010, 2409130015 and 2502040042).

Poland seized 5 tons of Boeing commercial aircraft tires that were scheduled to illegally transit through Russia and Belarus in possible violation of EU sanctions, the country’s customs agency said this week, according to an unofficial translation. Customs authorities discovered the tires after inspecting a truck in Koroszczyn, near Poland’s border with Belarus, and found that the truck wasn’t transporting its declared car and bus tires. The sender of the tires was a company based in Spain, and the recipient was listed in Azerbaijan, the agency said. Poland is investigating the case for sanctions violations, it said, and also launched “tax criminal proceedings” for “customs fraud.”

The U.K. last week launched the Ministry of Defense security approval form 680 (F680) for its new online export licensing system. “This will allow applications for F680s to move away from the current system, SPIRE,” or the Shared Primary Information Resource Environment (see 2411080020).

The Council of the European Union on May 13 reached an agreement that it said would improve the collection of value-added taxes "by making suppliers liable for the VAT paid on imports." The change will "likely" encourage foreign traders or platforms to use the "VAT import one-stop-shop," which is the EU's point of contact for importers of goods from third countries into the EU.

The EU has agreed to a 17th package of sanctions against Russia, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said May 14 on social media. The package includes more restrictions on Russian access to "battlefield technology" and the designations of 189 so-called shadow fleet vessels helping Russia move energy exports, she said. "This war has to end," von der Leyen said. "We will keep the pressure high on the Kremlin." The EU didn't immediately release more information about the measures, which are expected to be formally released in the coming days.

The European Commission opened a public consultation regarding a list of U.S. imports that could become subject to tariffs in response to the flurry of U.S. trade action, should talks with the White House fall through, the commission announced. The list covers over $107 billion worth of U.S. imports, including a "broad range of industrial and agricultural products," it said.

Several European think tanks this week launched a new project with an interactive dashboard of graphics and analyses to help industry and governments better monitor the economic and trade relationship between China and Russia. The dashboard includes regularly updated charts and information about key trade between the two countries, including in fossil fuels, dual-use goods and machine tools. The project was created by the Centre for Eastern Studies, the Mercator Institute for China Studies, and the Swedish Institute of International Affairs' Swedish National China Centre and Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies.