The U.K. issued a General License under its Russia and Belarus sanctions regimes permitting sanctioned individuals and entities to pay legal fees to law firms and counsel. The license took effect on April 29 and permits these payments in relation to any matter, except defamation or malicious falsehood proceedings, until Oct. 28. The license distinguishes between legal services issued pre-listing and post-listing.

The European Council adopted a new law setting up a digital platform that it said allows for an easier exchange of information between prosecutors and judges working in joint investigation teams. The voluntary platform will "enable the exchange and temporary storage of operational information and evidence, ensure secure communication and facilitate the traceability of evidence," the council said in an April 24 news release. Eu-LISA, the EU agency for the management of large-scale IT systems in the area of justice, will be charged with designing the platform. The council said the platform's operation start date will be "no later than two and half years after the entry into force of the regulation."

An attorney for Russian billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said EU sanctions on him and his family are "an abuse of power" and serve "no understandable, no reasonable purpose under the EU foreign policy goals." In a public appeal of the sanctions in the EU General Court, Pumpyansky said he and his family are "collateral damage in the conflict between Russia and the EU" and are "mere hostages of EU foreign policy," Bloomberg reported April 25. Pumpyansky was listed in March 2022 as founder of Russia's largest pipemaker TMK PJSC. His lawyers said he is not a Russian oligarch and is instead a "self-made businessman."

The EU General Court tossed an application for an injunction on sanctions against the former director of African Gold Refinery Ltd., registered in Uganda, under the EU's Democratic Republic of the Congo sanctions list, according to an unofficial translation. The court ruled the unnamed applicant failed to establish the condition relating to the urgent need for the injunction.

The EU and Ukraine agreed to abide by each other's court decisions under the framework of the Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters, the European Council announced. This convention requires signatories to recognize and enforce judgments offered in civil or commercial matters in other states party to the agreement. The EU said there are no "fundamental obstacles" related to the independence of the Ukrainian judiciary that would prevent the treaty from taking effect. The convention will officially enter into force Sept. 1.

The EU Court of Justice tossed an appeal from the European Council seeking to reverse a General Court ruling that annulled sanctions on Aisha Muammer Mohamed El-Gadhafi, the daughter of Moammar Gadhafi, under the Libya sanctions regime. The court ruled that the council did not sufficiently support its claim that annulling the sanctions decisions would cause serious and irreversible harm to the effectiveness of the sanctions. Merely alleging that El-Gadhafi might move to prevent fund-freezing measures from being applied was not enough, the court said.

A Swiss court found four executives at Gazprombank's Zurich branch guilty of failing to conduct due diligence before opening bank accounts for Russian cellist and Vladimir Putin associate Sergei Roldugin, the BBC reported. The Zurich District Court ruled that it was clear the millions of Swiss francs held in the accounts from 2014 to 2016 did not belong to Roldugin because he had no income, also finding that the bankers should have asked more about the source of the funds, according to another report by Reuters. The four bankers were fined more than $811,000 in total and suspended for two years.

The first panel under the 11-member Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership was established last week by New Zealand, which is challenging Canadian tariff-rate quotas on dairy. Damien O’Connor, New Zealand's trade minister, said last year the TRQs are "against the rules of the CPTPP" and New Zealand's exporters "are not able to fully benefit from the market access that was negotiated under the agreement." The panel request was made in November.

The U.K. Supreme Court ruled Ukraine can defend a $3 billion Eurobond lawsuit on the grounds it was forced to take on the debt in 2013 due to threats from Russia. The Law Debenture Trust Corp., which is incorporated in England and Wales, sued on Russia's behalf. Ukraine said it need not pay the loan because it was procured by duress stemming from illegal pressure and threats, including sanctions.

The U.K.'s High Court of Justice on March 14 rejected a challenge from Belarus technology company LLC Synesis to its sanctions listing. Justice Robert Jay held that the U.K.'s standard for a listing -- not a finding of fact but "reasonable grounds to suspect" -- is a well-established test under the law. Decision-makers must consider the information "as a whole" and it "cannot be disaggregated or salami-sliced," Jay said. Synesis was listed for supplying the Belarus state with video surveillance and monitoring systems that could be used to suppress protesters.