The European Union Nov. 18 announced countries that had aligned with the bloc's restrictive measures responding to developments in Ukraine. The countries are: Montenegro, Albania, Norway and Ukraine, which imposed the restrictive measures that added eight individuals subject to the sanctions regime for people who undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.
The European Union initiated an antidumping proceeding on imports of aluminum road wheels from Morocco, following an Oct. 4 complaint from the Association of European Wheel Manufacturers, the European Commission said. The commission will look into "aluminium road wheels of the motor vehicles of headings 8701 to 8705, whether or not with their accessories and whether or not fitted with tyres." Scope comments are due by Nov. 27. The investigation will cover the period Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021. Comments on the complaint are due within 37 days of the publication of the notice.
Gerassimos Thomas, director-general for taxation and customs union at the European Commission, said American observers of the carbon border adjustment mechanism are wrong to focus on the lack of a U.S. cap and trade or carbon tax when thinking about how the CBAM will affect U.S. exporters. The main threshold exports to the Euopean Union have to reach is if the goods are made with the same amount or less carbon intensity than EU-produced goods, he said during an online program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, The CBAM will only apply to steel, aluminum, cement, fertilizer and electricity, not to finished products made with these goods.
The United Kingdom announced a new 12-point export strategy, "Made in the UK, Sold to the World," to boost U.K. exports to 1 trillion pounds ($1.3 trillion), the Department for International Trade said. The plan, published Nov. 17, includes an Export Support Service to offer advice and a U.K. trade show designed for businesses to promote their products globally, DIT said. DIT's Export Academy will expand from England to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The academy provides masterclasses, roundtables and networking events for owners and managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The plan also expands the U.K. Export Finance, the nation's export credit agency. The UKEF's Export Development Guarantee permits UKEF to give 80% guarantees on loans of 25 million pounds and up to support companies' "general expenditure, including facilities, research and development and general operations." These resources will be expanded to companies that do not currently export.
The European Court of Justice ruled that the freezing of funds and economic resources prevents the implementation of measures that establish a right to be paid on a priority basis in favor of a certain creditor in relation to others, because those measures alter the destination of the frozen funds, potentially allowing their use. The decision came in response to a preliminary ruling from the French Court of Cassation on questions arising from the case Bank Sepah v. Overseas Financial Ltd. and Oaktree Finance Ltd. The case dealt with creditors' ability to enforce action against assets frozen under the EU's Iran sanctions regime, the EU Sanctions blog reported Nov. 15. The French court asked the ECJ whether EU sanctions prevent a "non-earmarking" judicial lien from being imposed over frozen assets without a license and whether it is relevant that the debt is unrelated to the Iranian ballistic missile program and came about before the bank's United Nations sanctions designation. On the latter question, the ECJ said that "the fact that the grounds for the claim for recovery from the person whose funds are frozen are unrelated to the Iranian ballistic missile programme is not relevant to that question," EU Sanctions said.
The European Union expanded the listing criteria under its Belarus sanctions regime to target the "instrumentalisation of human beings carried out by the Belarus regime for political purposes," the European Council said Nov. 15. The EU can now target individuals and entities that help the EU external border crossings between Poland and Belarus. The move comes as a direct response to Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko's allegedly deliberate attempts to herd thousands of migrants, primarily from Iraq and Afghanistan, to the Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian borders. "Today's decision reflects the determination by the European Union to stand up to the instrumentalisation of migrants for political purposes," said Josep Borrell, the council's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy. "We are pushing back on this inhuman and illegal practice. At the same time, we continue to underline the unacceptable ongoing repression by the regime against its own population at home, and we will respond accordingly."
The United Kingdom announced the Clean Growth program to boost U.K. green exports, the Department for International Trade said. Officially launched at COP26 by International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the program will seek to boost promotion of the U.K.'s "green export capability by trade and investment teams in embassies around the world and via DIT's digital platforms." It is intended to encourage British exporters to ship their "clean-growth related goods or services globally," DIT said. “Using green technology is crucial to combatting climate change," Trevelyan said. "Through opening up new markets and providing export support, my department’s Clean Growth programme will help unleash the potential of UK businesses who are creating ground-breaking innovations in this area.”
The European Union imposed a definitive antidumping duty on mono ethylene glycol from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, in a Nov. 15 regulation, following up on provisional measures enacted in May. Preliminary AD rates on subject merchandise were applied in June (see 2106140015). The measures apply to mono ethylene glycol that falls under CN code ex 2905 31 00. The following rates for the U.S. apply: 3% for Lotte Chemical Louisiana LLC, 46.7% for MEGlobal Americas Inc., 10.3% for other cooperating companies listed in the notice's first Annex, and 60.1% for all other American companies. The Saudi Arabia 7.7% rate applies for Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co., Yanbu National Petrochemical Co., Eastern Petrochemical Co., Saudi Yanbu Petrochemical Co., Arabian Petrochemical Co. and Jubail United Petrochemical Co.
Italian authorities are investigating the 2018 acquisition of an Italian drone maker by a Chinese state-owned company, which was able to skirt past Europe’s foreign investment screening mechanisms, The Wall Street Journal reported Nov. 15. A Hong Kong shell company owned by government-run China Railway Rolling Stock Corp. and a government-controlled investment group bought Alpi Aviation Srl, the report said. Soon after the purchase, Alpi began transferring its drone manufacturing technology to China. Italian and European authorities “had no knowledge” of the move, the report said, and “stumbled on” Alpi’s links to China while conducting a separate investigation into Alpi’s potential illegal sales of aircraft parts to Iran. Alpi “denied it had violated laws on transferring strategic information and technology out of the country,” the report said. The European Union recently implemented new criteria for screening foreign investment to place more scrutiny on deals that involve critical technologies and certain dual-use items (see 1903210049).
The European Union added four recently appointed ministers to its Syria sanctions regime, in a Nov. 15 notice, the European Council said. The four are Amr Salem, minister of internal trade and consumer protection; Boutros Al-Hallaq, minister of information; Mohammad Seifeddine, minister of labor and social affairs; and Diala Barakat, minister of state. The restrictive measures on Syria now apply to 287 individuals subject to a travel ban and asset freeze, and 70 entities subject to an asset freeze.