Germany seized the local unit of Russian oil giant Rosneft, Bloomberg reported. The move comes amid the German government's bid to take control of its energy industries and cut its energy dependence on Moscow. Germany is also in "advanced talks" to assume control of Uniper SE and two other large gas importers, Bloomberg said.
The EU renewed until March 15 its individual sanctions on people and entities responsible for undermining the sovereignty of Ukraine, the European Council announced Sept. 14. The current restrictions amount to a travel ban, asset freeze and ban on making funds available to the listed parties, and apply to 1,206 individuals and 108 entities. Many of the listed parties were added to the restrictions regime for their roles in the Russian war in Ukraine.
Switzerland added three individuals to its Russia sanctions regime, the Federal Department of Economic Affairs announced. The individuals are Alla Viktorovna Polyakova and Tkachev Anton Olegovich, members of the Russian State Duma, as well as Valery Andreevich Ponomarev, member of the Russian Federation Council, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs said. The move follows the EU's adding of the three to its sanctions regime.
The EU's parliament is considering a proposal to ban goods made with forced labor from entering into commerce, as was reported before it was officially announced (see 2209120063). EU customs authorities will aim to stop products made with forced labor at EU borders. A FAQ about the proposal, which would have to pass both the parliament and the European Council, says the customs agents would take a "robust, risk-based enforcement approach. In a preliminary phase, they will assess forced labour risks based on many different sources of information that together should facilitate the identification of risks and help focus their efforts. These may include submissions from civil society, a database of forced labour risks focusing on specific products and geographic areas, and the due diligence that companies carry out."
The European Commission updated its consolidated and intellectual property rights frequently asked questions pages related to its Russia sanctions regime. Nine new FAQs deal with the verification of whether an IPR applicant or a party in opposition or invalidity proceedings is listed; IPR registrations filed by listed individuals or entities before their date of inclusion; and whether EU and member state IP offices should suspend requests from designated individuals and entities.
The European Commission will present measures to include corruption under the EU's sanctions regime, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced in her Sept. 14 State of the Union address. Speaking more generally about fighting corruption "with all its faces," von der Leyen said that "in the coming year the Commission will present measures to update our legislative framework for fighting corruption," including proposing to include corruption in the human rights sanctions regime. The European Parliament in February called for the adoption of an EU corruption sanctions regime, and the U.K. and the U.S. have corruption sanctions regimes.
The European Council adopted a measure to back the development and implementation of sanctions information technology tools until December 2024. The measure allocates the equivalent of nearly $450,000 to the effort and says the EU will support technology to supply information on EU information exchanges among the member states, stakeholders and the European Commission.
The EU renewed its Ukraine sanctions regime concerning the misappropriation of state funds until March 6, 2023, though it didn't renew certain listings. The listings for former President Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych and his son, Oleksandr, were not renewed, having expired Sept. 6, though they are both now designated under the EU's Russia sanctions regime. The EU General Court annulled the Ukraine misappropriaton listings for Yanukovych and his son in 2022, 2021, 2019 and 2016 but upheld their designations in 2016 and 2017, the EU Sanctions blog said. The listings of former Prosecutor General Viktor Pavlovych Pshonka and his son Artem weren't renewed. The EU General Court annulled their designations in 2021, 2020 and 2019.
The U.K. ports of Liverpool and Felixstowe are preparing for consecutive dockworker strikes in the next few weeks following a pause after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Strike details will likely be announced next week after her funeral, Bloomberg reported. The Port of Liverpool's previously announced a two-week strike will now start Sept. 20, following the rejection at a Sept. 12 meeting of a pay offer from Peel Ports, the port operator, and the funeral for the queen on Sept. 19. Dockworkers at the Port of Felixstowe rejected a pay proposal that would boost wages from the U.K. wing of CK Hutchison Holdings, setting up a walkout at Britain's busiest container port, Bloomberg said. The Felixstowe strike is set to run Sept. 27 to Oct. 5.
The EU is in line to ban products made using forced labor, likely targeting shoes, clothes and commodities including timber, fish and cocoa, the Financial Times reported. The European Commission is expected to announce plans to implement a ban this week, and the Green/European Free Alliance bloc in the European Parliament has publicly declared support for restrictions that emulate the U.S.' ban on all goods from China's Xinjiang province.