The U.K. dropped five entries from its Mali sanctions regime in a Sept. 1 notice. The Office of Financial Sanctions removed Ahmed Ag Albachar, Houka Houka Ag Alhousseini, Mahri Sidi Amar Ben Daha, Mohamed Ben Ahmed Mahri and Mohamed Ould Mataly, all of whom are members of Mali's political class.
Ukraine's National Agency on Corruption Prevention released a database that tracks the circulation of art objects bought or sold by sanctioned Russian individuals, the agency announced. The database has information on over 300 pieces of art estimated at $2 billion and allows users to report information pertaining to the art pieces.
The U.K.’s Export Control Joint Unit on Aug. 30 updated its consolidated list of “strategic military and dual-use items” that require export licenses. The updates revise technical notes in “ML13d of the military list and annex II of human rights list,” the agency said.
Germany arrested a businessman for illegally exporting about $780,000 in electronics components to a company in Russia, Germany's federal prosecutor’s office announced Aug. 29. Prosecutors said the man shipped the products between January 2020 and March 2023, and they were sent to Russian producers of “military hardware and accessory parts,” including makers of the ‘Orlan-10’ drone “currently used by Russian forces in Ukraine.”
The U.K.'s Department for International Trade expanded antidumping and countervailing duties on hot-rolled flat products of iron, non-alloy or other alloy steel from China for another five years. In a pair of notices, the DIT said the duties will now expire April 7, 2027. The countervailing duties range from 4.6% to 35.9%, including a 35.9% rate for all other exporters not given an individual rate. The antidumping duties range from zero to 31.3%.
A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with a series of EU sanctions decisions, under the regimes for the situation in Haiti, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lebanon and Russia.
The U.K.’s Revenue and Customs agency this week updated its guidance for certain commercial exports carried in “baggage,” saying those exports now need to be declared using the country’s Customs Declaration Service. Exporters have until March 20 to “move all full customs declarations across to the Customs Declaration Service,” the agency said, adding that shippers will need “specialist software to make a full export declaration electronically” within the service.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the French government will strengthen controls on foreign investment to include companies involved in the extraction and processing of critical raw materials. Le Maire pointed to export controls imposed on gallium and germanium by China as evidence of the measures' and minerals' importance (see 2308150028).
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions on Aug. 23 updated two general licenses related to insolvency payments and activities for GTLK companies and the continuation of business and basic needs for telecommunications services and news media services. OFSI clarified that the GTLK license covers STLC Europe Nine Leasing Limited. Under the telecommunications license, OFSI clarified that PJSC MegaFon is a civilian telecommunication and news media services designated party.
The U.K.'s Revenue & Customs fined a British company more than $1.26 million related to the "unlicensed trade of goods" in violation of sanctions on Russia, the customs agency announced. "Non-compliance with sanctions is a serious offence and punishable through large financial penalties or criminal prosecution," the agency said. The news release did not provide the name of the firm or the goods being sold but touted the U.K.'s new Economic Deterrence Initiative that addresses sanctions evasion "across the UK's trade, transport and financial sanctions."