The United Kingdom will no longer require wine importers to fill out the VI-1 certificate on their wine imports, saving around 14 cents for every bottle, the country's Department for International Trade announced in a July 25 news release. The regulation, which had been adopted from the European Union when the U.K. left the bloc, required laboratory analysis of the wine to prove it was in line with certain EU health and safety regulations. The U.K. marketed the move as a “red tape cut” that would lead to substantial savings for British wine drinkers and businesses. “Cutting this needless red tape will place our businesses in a stronger position internationally, as they continue to grow, while consumers can raise a glass to great wine from around the world,” said British Food and Drink Minister Victoria Prentis. “Great Britain is already a global hub in the international wine trade, supporting many jobs across the country. Ending the requirement for import certificates will strengthen this position and is a clear benefit of now having the freedom to determine our own rules.”
The European Union kicked off a “new exporter” review of the antidumping duties on the imports of trichloroisocyanuric acid from China for three Chinese exporters, in a July 23 entry in the Official Journal of the European Union. Hebei Xingfei Chemical, Inner Mongolia Likang Bio-Tech and Shandong Lantian Disinfection Technology each requested review of the duties, providing sufficient evidence that they didn't export the product to the EU during the period of investigation on which the AD duties were originally based, the entry said. The new exporter review could potentially repeal the duty on the three companies' exports and subject the imports to registration.
An upcoming French ban on sales of fruit and vegetables with certain “identifying stickers” is poised to affect a range of U.S. agricultural exports, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report last week. The ban, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2022, aims to “eliminate disposable plastic” and will particularly restrict exports of U.S. sweet potatoes and grapefruits, which bear stickers for traceability and marketing purposes, USDA said. The agency said the restrictions are especially “problematic” for grapefruits because the U.S. is the fourth-largest grapefruit supplier to France. “U.S. exporters will only be able to ship grapefruits without stickers, creating logistical and marketing difficulties,” USDA said, adding that products shipped to other European Union countries can’t be rerouted to France. The provisions in France’s ban will also eventually affect U.S. exports of cranberries, lingonberries and blueberries, although the implementation of those measures takes effect later, USDA said.
Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Eloina Rodriguez Gomez will remain under the European Union's Venezuela sanctions regime after the European Union General Court rejected her application to annul the listings, a July 14 judgment said. The court said the European Council did not err in its finding that Rodriguez undermined democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela and that even if she no longer holds this position, she “remained linked to the regime.” This connection is enough to maintain the sanctions, the court said.
The free market should be championed over “green protectionism” to combat climate change, a July 21 report from the United Kingdom's Board of Trade - Green Trade said. The report seeks to challenge the narrative that free trade is an environmental threat by identifying multiple ways in which free markets can develop green technologies and facilitate the free flow of information, the U.K.'s Department for International Trade said in a news release. In particular, the U.K. trade agenda can “speed up the global green transition” by promoting green exports, reducing barriers to green trade and taking on environmentally harmful market distortions and attracting foreign investment for a green industrial base, the release said. “The UK is a leader in green exports and this report shows how free trade, free markets and free enterprise can be leveraged to counteract green protectionist policies that hold back the global transition to a low-carbon economy,” International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said.
The United Kingdom should hasten the imposition of sanctions on Myanmar businesses and other entities in key industries on which the ruling junta is dependent, a July 16 report from the U.K. House of Commons' Foreign Affairs Committee said. The report also called on the government to encourage other nations that do not have Myanmar sanctions in place to implement them and ensure that third-country financial institutions support U.K.-implemented sanctions placed on junta-backed businesses and individuals.
The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation added defense company JSC Agat-Electromechanical Plant to its Belarus sanctions regime, a July 21 notice said. The company, which is listed as one of a number of Belarusian defense companies on the State Authority for Military Industry of the Republic of Belarus website, will be subject to an asset freeze.
The European Council extended by six months the European Union terrorist list that established restrictive measures against 14 people and 21 entities, the EC said in a July 19 news release. The restrictions include an asset freeze and were initially established following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The sanctions, reviewed at least every six months, are now set to expire in January 2022. The terrorist list is separate from the EU's al-Qaida and ISIL sanctions regime.
The European Union is challenging Russia's government procurement policies, the bloc said in a July 19 news release. The EU is requesting consultations with Russia via the World Trade Organization dispute resolution process over three policies that restrict or prevent EU companies from selling to Russian state-owned enterprises. It cited Russia's discriminatory assessments of procurement bids, requirements for prior authorizations and national quota requirements in procurement. When the Russian entities assess goods for procurement, certain SOEs will deduct 15% to 30% from the offered price for domestic goods but still charge full price if the Russian bid is selected, putting foreign interests at a disadvantage. Such restrictions have been building since 2015, the release said. The economic impact of this has been “significant," with the value of published tenders by Russian SOEs in 2019 totaling over 290 billion euros and equivalent to 21% of Russia's GDP.
The EU General Court annulled the sanctions listing of Xavier Antonio Moreno Reyes, the secretary general of the National Electoral Council of Venezuela, in a July 14 ruling. The court dropped the sanctions designation after finding that the European Council had not established that the reasons for his listing were "well founded." The sanctions listing was not well-founded since the council did not show that Moreno Reyes approved the decisions of the National Electoral Council.