The U.S. this week sanctioned two ship owners in Hong Kong and the Marshall Islands, along with their two vessels, for helping to ship Iranian “commodities” on behalf of sanctioned Houthi financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal. The designations target Hongkong Unitop Group Ltd., Reneez Shipping Limited and their ships, the Panama-flagged Eternal Fortune and the Palau-flagged Reneez, respectively.
The U.K. this week removed sanctions from Igor Viktorovich Makarov, who was originally designated for his ties to companies in Russia’s energy sector. The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said Makarov was a director or involved with Reywood Holdings Limited (formerly ARETI International Group), Vikay Industrial Limited and Selaco Limited, all of which do business “in a sector of strategic significance to the Government of Russia.” OFSI didn’t say why it delisted Makarov.
The European Council and Parliament reached a deal on a new set of rules to ban imports suspected of being made with forced labor, including how the ban will be enforced and how the bloc will investigate and penalize violations.
The U.S. this week repealed its sanctions authority for Zimbabwe and instead announced new designations under its Global Magnitsky human rights program, part of an effort to highlight the people and entities most responsible for abuses and corruption in the country, the Treasury Department said.
The EU General Court last week rejected Belarusian nitrogen compound producer Grodno Azot's application for delisting from the EU's sanctions regime on Belarus.
The Bureau of Industry and Security added a Chinese electronics company and a Canada-headquartered technology software company to the Entity List for trying to illegally acquire U.S. items or for being involved in other activities that are “contrary” to U.S. national security and foreign policy, the agency said Feb. 26. It also removed one United Arab Emirates-based entity from the Entity List.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week eliminated some license requirements for exports of certain cameras, systems and related components, which the agency said will help U.S. exporters better compete with foreign firms and reduce licensing burdens. The final rule, released Feb. 22, also introduces a new control for certain high-speed cameras that BIS said pose proliferation risks.
A World Trade Organization dispute panel on Feb. 20 found a U.S. attempt to revisit part of its countervailing duty laws as they pertain to subsidies on agricultural products violated the nation's WTO commitments. The panel said the U.S. failed to implement the findings of a previous dispute panel ruling, which said these same laws cut against the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in relation to a subsidy finding on ripe olives from Spain.
The U.K. Parliament’s Business and Trade Committee this week published a report on the country’s upcoming accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, outlining what the committee views as the trade deal's benefits and impact on U.K. trade, and recommendations for the government. It also includes testimony from U.K. government officials on the deal’s expected impacts on rules of origin procedures, expanded market access and goods sectors that may “lose” as a result of the partnership.
DOJ this week completed the forfeiture of a U.S.-origin Boeing 747 after a monthslong effort to seize the plane from Mahan Air, a sanctioned Iranian airline.