The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended the Syria sanctions listing of Salam Tohme in a July 12 financial sanctions notice. The update changed Tohme's listed gender from Female to Male. Tohme is still subject to an asset freeze.
The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation updated two listings under its Belarus sanctions regime in a July 12 notice. The listings for Leanid Mikalaievich Churo and the Belaeronavigatsia Republican Unitary Air Navigation Services Enterprise, of which Churo is an employee, were amended to change the word "Unity" to "Unitary" in the entity's name. Both are still subject to an asset freeze.
A California resident was sentenced to two years in federal prison for conspiracy to smuggle counterfeit cell phone components from China, a July 9 Justice Department press release said. Chan Hung Le conspired with others to bring in counterfeit Apple, Samsung and Motorola products from China, generating over $18 million in revenue from sales in the scheme. The phone parts were brought in using mailboxes the conspirators set up with virtual office service providers in Oklahoma and Texas under a fake business name, JV Trading Solutions, from 2011 to 2015. The parts were then sold through online stores. “[Le]…orchestrated an elaborate scheme to deceive customs agents by creating covert shipping channels from Hong Kong and China to different U.S. states,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum. “From this conduct, and this deception, [Le] generated millions of dollars in profit. [Le] enlisted numerous other parties in his conduct -- including his romantic partner, his employees (witting or unwitting), other family members, and the unwitting virtual mailbox service companies." Prosecutors called it a "sophisticated, long-standing, and highly profitable offense.”
The European Union General Court dismissed a case from Iranian national Naser Bateni, who sought 250,000 euros in damages from his sanctions listings in 2011, 2012 and 2013, according to a July 7 judgment. Previous decisions from the court had annulled Bateni's listings for those years, finding that the European Council did not establish grounds that justified the designations and prompting the damages claim from Bateni. The court said that the council did not commit a "sufficiently serious breach" -- the standard for providing damages -- by relying on the information available to it when it made Bateni's sanctions determination. "The Council did not depart from the behavior which a normally prudent and diligent administration would have adopted," the judgment said. Bateni's appeal was "dismissed as being partly inadmissible and partly unfounded," according to an unofficial translation of the judgment.
The European Commission in a July 12 notice announced the impending expiration of antidumping duty measures on okoume plywood from China unless a review of the duties is initiated. European Union manufacturers can submit a written request for a review up to three months before the duty's April 7, 2022, expiration date. In another notice, the EC told of another antidumping duty expiration for certain hot-rolled flat products of iron, non-alloy or other alloy steel from China. Without a request for a review, the duties also will expire on April 7, 2022. See the notices for where to submit requests for review.
The European Council extended for six months sanctions targeting certain economic sectors of Russia for their actions in destabilizing Ukraine, according to a July 12 press release. The sanctions, which were extended until Jan. 31, 2022, were first implemented on July 31, 2014 and consist of limiting access to EU primary and secondary capital markets for particular Russian banks and companies, and blocking forms of financial assistance and brokering directed toward Russian financial entities. The sanctions also bar the trading of defense materials and dual-use goods for military use or military end-users in Russia.
The United Kingdom Foreign Affairs Committee issued a list of recommendations for how to respond to human rights violations in China's Xinjiang region in a July 8 report, “Never Again: The UK's Responsibility to Act on Atrocities in Xinjiang and Beyond.” The report looks at the multilateral system, diaspora and culture, forced labor and the private sector, technology and research, and the U.K.'s approach to atrocity prevention. Recommendations include coordinating sanctions with allies, introducing legal obligations to remove forced labor from business supply chains partnered with sanctions for noncompliance, banning U.K. entities from conducting business with Chinese companies associated with the Xinjiang atrocities, and providing access to sanctions experts for all government departments.
Switzerland added 78 individuals and seven entities to its sanctions regime on Belarus, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs said in a July 7 news release. The move brings Switzerland in line with the European Union's entries on the same individuals and entities.
The United Kingdom signed a free trade agreement with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein July 8, the Department for International Trade said in a news release. The deal further cements tariff-free or tariff-reduced trade for many goods in the nearly $30 billion trading relationship between the U.K. and the three nations. British exports such as cheese will enter those countries tariff-free while other goods, such as pork and poultry, will see tariff reductions, the release said. Certain U.K. wines and spirits, such as Scotch whisky, will also have their protected status recognized. The fishing sector will see a shift to lower import tariffs for goods such as shrimps, prawns and white fish from the U.K. The signatories also now have the ability to cap the charges mobile operators are allowed to charge each other for international mobile roaming, according to the release.
The European Union General Court annulled the 2020 sanctions listings of three former Ukrainian officials. The separate July 7 judgments were for the former Prime Minister Sergej Arbuzov, former Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka and Pshonka's son Artem Pshonka, a former parliament member, according to unofficial translations. The court said the EU Council hadn't proved that Ukrainian authorities respected the individuals' right to effective judicial protection during the criminal proceedings on which the council relied. The Pshonkas were relisted by the council on March 5 and remain subject to EU sanctions, according to two implementing decisions.