A rare cuneiform tablet with a portion of the ancient literary work Epic of Gilgamesh was returned to Iraq after a federal district court ordered that retail giant Hobby Lobby forfeit the tablet, the Justice Department said. A repatriation ceremony was held Sept. 23 at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. The tablet originated in Iraq but then was illegally entered into the U.S. by an auction house that then sold it to Hobby Lobby. The retail chain purchased the tablet to display it at the Museum of the Bible, also in Washington, D.C. Law enforcement seized the tablet, which was ordered July 27 to be returned to Iraq (see 2107280028).
Although President Joe Biden’s new executive order authorizing sanctions against Ethiopia (see 2109170036) allows for a potentially broad scope of designations, it also signals that the administration will take a slow, cautious approach to its new authorities, law firms said. Companies shouldn’t expect immediate U.S. action against Ethiopia, the firms said, as the administration seems primarily concerned about deterring bad behavior and assuring humanitarian access can still flow to the region.
Taiwan has formally asked to join the new Trans-Pacific Partnership, a few days after China asked to join the trade pact, a Taiwanese wire service reported.The trade agreement was originally designed to counter China's influence in Asia, and has been ratified by Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. It is now known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control deleted 16 people and 37 entities from its Specially Designated Nationals List this week, all of which were originally designated for counter-narcotics reasons. OFAC delisted the 16 people because they changed the behavior that led to their designations, a spokesperson for the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence said Sept. 22. “These individuals demonstrated a change in behavior and circumstances,” the spokesperson said. “Currently, they are no longer engaged in sanctionable activities.” OFAC removed sanctions from the 37 companies because they were originally designated only for being owned or controlled by the people OFAC delisted. “These companies, most of which are defunct, are not independently linked to any individuals who remain on the SDN List,” the spokesperson said. The OFAC notice also includes aliases for the people and entities.
The United Kingdom's sanctions on the Democratic Republic of the Congo will enter into force on Oct. 7 under its 2021 regulations, with amendments to align with and enable implementation of a United Nations resolution adopted June 29 that extends the financial and travel sanctions outlined in the original 2008 resolution to apply to individuals and entities designated for "planning, directing, sponsoring or participating in attacks against medical personnel or humanitarian personnel."
The European Commission commenced, on its own initiative, a partial interim review of the countervailing duties on imports of rainbow trout from Turkey, it said Sept. 20. The commission is reviewing product described as “rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) live weighing 1, 2 kg or less each; or fresh, chilled, frozen and/or smoked: in the form of whole fish (with heads on), whether or not gilled, whether or not gutted, weighing 1,2 kg or less each; or with heads off, whether or not gilled, whether or not gutted, weighing 1 kg or less each; or in the form of fillets weighing 400 g or less each originating in the Republic of Turkey.” The commission said it is conducting the review because “there is sufficient evidence” that the circumstances with regard to subsidization “on the basis of which the existing measures were imposed have changed and that these changes are of a lasting nature.” The Turkish government enacted these changes in 2016, specifically making "significant changes on the structure and the terms of implementation of the subsidies granted by the Turkish Government to producers of rainbow trout." Those changes "led to a decrease of direct subsidies received by Turkish rainbow trout producers," the notice said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a large virtual currency exchange for helping to facilitate transactions related to illegal ransomware attacks, and updated an advisory on the risks associated with facilitating ransomware payments. The Sept. 21 designation targets SUEX OTC, S.R.O., which has processed transactions involving illegal proceeds from at least eight ransomware variants, OFAC said. The agency said that more than 40% of SUEX’s “known transaction history is associated with illicit actors.”
An antidumping duty on stainless steel cold-rolled flat products from China and Taiwan will be imposed, following an expiry review of the original duty order, the European Commission said in a Sept. 15 implementing regulation. The European Steel Association requested the review in May 2020, representing more than 25% of the total EU production of the subject merchandise. The dumping order specifically covers “flat-rolled products of stainless steel, not further worked than cold-rolled (cold-reduced).”
Argentina recently announced new certification requirements for certain domestically produced and imported ceramic tiles and plates, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Sept. 17. The tiles and plates must disclose certain information on their “body or primary packaging,” regardless of their quality, HKTDC said. The new required information includes the name and unique tax identification code of the domestic producer or importer, the country of origin, the nominal content, the nature of the surface, information on any surface treatment applied after firing, and the manufacturer’s production identification or batch number, HKTDC said. Imported tiles and plates must comply with these and certain other requirements by Jan. 8, although some imports that fail to meet the requirements may be released to the importer as long as the goods enter into compliance within 30 days of their customs clearance date.
A day after the White House's primary spokesperson said that if there's an opportunity to renegotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership, that's a discussion the U.S. could join, a former White House trade negotiator said the path to reentering the TPP is so steep that he doesn't think it's likely in the next few years.