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.
The European Council extended its sanctions regime on unauthorized drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean for another year, until Nov. 12, 2022, the council said. The measures were enacted to counter Turkey's drilling activities relating to hydrocarbons. The restrictive measures constitute an asset freeze and a travel ban and currently subject two individuals to the restrictions.
The European Union removed former Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi from its Libya sanction regime, the European Council said. Originally sanctioned in 2011 for the alleged suppression of demonstrators and role in Moammar Gadhafi's government, al-Mahmoudi was delisted "in view of the situation in Libya."
The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation added three individuals to its Yemen sanctions regime, OFSI said in a Nov. 10 notice. The three are Muhammad Abd Al-Karim Al-Ghamari, Yusuf Al-Madani and Saleh Mesfer Saleh Al Shaer. They were listed for their involvement in the leadership of the Houthi rebels fighting in Yemen.
The European Union announced that 10 third countries have aligned themselves with the EU's sanctions on Nicaragua. The third countries are North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.
The European Commission updated the European Union dual-use export control list, bringing the list in line with decisions taken under the framework for the international nonproliferation regimes and export control agreements until December 2020, the commission said. The update consists of two main changes. The first includes a note for the control of biocontainment chambers, isolators or biological safety cabinets to include any isolator meeting all the mentioned characteristics in the description of the item, regardless of intended use, the commission said. The second altered the definition of "superalloys" to specify the ultimate tensile strength of the alloys. The new definition defines superalloys as "nickel, cobalt or iron base alloys having a stress rupture life greater than 1 000 hours at 400 MPa and an ultimate tensile strength greater than 850 MPa, at 922 K (649oC) or higher."
The European Union imposed a definitive antidumping duty on imports of birch plywood from Russia, the European Commission said Nov. 9. The commission kicked off the investigation in October 2020 following a complaint from the Woodstock Consortium, which led to provisional measures taking effect in June 2021. The Nov. 9 update locks in those provisional measures. The duties cover "imports of plywood consisting solely of sheets of wood, each ply not exceeding 6 mm thickness, with outer plies of wood specified under subheading 4412 33, with at least one outer ply of birch wood, whether or not coated," from Russia.
The United Kingdom published a case study on the effectiveness of its enforcement of United Nations sanctions on North Korea. The study is part of a larger report ahead of the 10th review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The case study looked at U.K. leadership on enforcement, including maritime guidance for the shipping sector through public-private outreach workshops. For instance, the U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation released Maritime Guidance alerting shipping sector actors to ship-to-ship transfers and Automatic Identification Systems concealment, the report said. The U.K. also cited measures to oppose North Korean cybercrime, including sanctions relating to the 2017 "WannaCry" cyberattack.
The United Kingdom and Cote d'Ivoire held their first meeting under the U.K.-Cote d'Ivoire Economic Partnership Agreement Oct. 21, the U.K.'s Department for International Trade said in the Nov. 5 joint communique from the meeting. The parties agreed to adopt the Rules of Procedures of the EPA Committee, DIT said. They also discussed the EPA's dispute settlement framework as a means to "facilitate the implementation" of the agreement's "commercial and developmental objectives."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued four decrees imposing sanctions on 141 individuals and 49 entities relating to Russia's State Duma elections in the occupied areas of Ukraine, multiple Ukrainian airlines and Pretrial Detention Center No. 1 for Crimea and Sevastopol. The declarations -- 556, 557, 558 and 559 -- were approved by the National Security and Defense Council Oct. 15 and were issued by Zelensky Oct. 30. The restrictions can include an asset freeze, travel ban, restrictions on trade transactions, and the suspension of economic and financial obligations, the defense council said.