The EU this week updated its dual-use export control list to align it with decisions taken by the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement, Missile Technology Control Regime, Australia Group and Nuclear Supplier Group in 2024. The update "also includes commitments that Member States have accepted, as members of the Wassenaar Arrangement, to control additional items uniformly," the European Commission said.

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation reminded industry this week that the new, lower price cap for Russian oil took effect Sept. 2 (see 2507180017). The new $47.60 cap is down from the previous $60 cap announced about two years ago (see 2212050014). The U.K. added that there is a 45-day wind-down period, ending Oct. 17, for existing contracts to comply with the new cap.

Kemppi, a Finland-based welding equipment manufacturer, has launched an internal investigation after millions of dollars’ worth of the company’s products were reportedly sold to Russia following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

The U.K. last week released its latest round of data on Israel-related export licenses more than eight months after the U.K. suspended a range of licenses for Israel over concerns they were being used to ship items for the Israeli military in Gaza (see 2409030023).

EU member states need to strengthen customs controls and cooperation, particularly to deal with the "rapid growth of e-commerce," the European Commission said in a new report this week.

The U.K.'s Export Control Joint Unit informed traders that the EU recently expanded its lists of export-controlled goods that can be used for "capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." The move expands the "scope of controlled items in Annexes II and III" of the EU regulation, the U.K. said. The change took effect Aug. 20 and "applies directly to Northern Ireland under the Windsor Framework," the agency said, which is a post-Brexit agreement that kept Northern Ireland in the EU single market for goods. "The implications for Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) are under consideration and a further update will be published in due course."

The EU this week posted new guidance about ownership and control to its Sanctions Helpdesk website, describing the rules that apply to entities owned or controlled by a sanctioned party, how the EU defines ownership and control, how EU companies can rebut the presumption of ownership or control, and more. The guidance also recommended that EU companies take several due diligence steps to make sure their customers, suppliers and counterparties aren't controlled by a sanctioned entity or person, including by collecting information to verify their ownership structure, checking any possible "red flags" and asking questions to "resolve any remaining concerns."

The EU last week issued new guidance on a requirement created in 2024 that calls on EU parent companies to make “best efforts” to ensure that their third-country subsidiaries aren’t enabling sanctions evasion (see 2411220014 and 2406240024). Although this “legal obligation applies only in the context of sanctions on Russia and Belarus,” the European Commission said it’s encouraging all EU parent companies “to seek to ensure that all entities they own or control do not undermine EU sanctions anywhere in the world.”

Switzerland is asking exporters to strengthen their compliance procedures to protect against sanctions evaders that are increasingly looking to buy Swiss-origin machine tools, the country said in new guidance published this week.

Switzerland is "strengthening" its humanitarian exemptions under its sanctions regimes to "provide greater clarity" to aid groups, the Swiss Federal Council said this month. The changes, which will take effect Sept. 15, build on the U.N.'s humanitarian exemptions that Switzerland adopted in 2023 (see 2304280023) and are "consistent with Switzerland's humanitarian tradition and its longstanding commitment to protecting humanitarian activities in situations affected by sanctions."