The EU General Court on June 19 rejected Russian businessperson Igor Rotenberg's bid to be removed from the EU's Russian sanctions list. Rotenberg was sanctioned for holding leadership positions in Russian companies SGM, Gazprom Drilling and Mostotrest and for his association with his father, oligarch Arkady Rotenberg, and with President Vladimir Putin.

Cote d'Ivoire liberalized 1,080 tariff lines on EU goods under the EU-Cote d'Ivoire interim economic partnership agreement, retroactively effective from Jan. 1, the European Commission announced this week. The new tariff cuts cover "mechanical and electrical machinery, as well as appliances, plastics, and chemical products," the commission said. The number of liberalized tariff lines under the deal is now 3,385, or about 55% of total tariff lines. The final two tariff liberalization moves are set for 2026 and 2029, which will lead to reductions to around 88% of tariff lines.

The Supreme Court of the Netherlands last week sustained the conviction of a person (name redacted) for violating the nation's sanctions laws, according to an unofficial translation. The court found that the accused's transfer of money to the person's brother, who's a fighter for ISIS in Syria, amounted to the transfer of funds to a terrorist organization, in violation of Dutch sanctions laws.

The EU opened a dispute settlement proceeding against Algeria under the two sides' Association Agreement to "address several restrictions" on EU exports and investments, the European Commission's Directorate-General for Trade announced. Algeria imposed various trade restrictions on the EU in 2021, covering multiple sectors, including agriculture and motor vehicles.

The Group of Seven (G7) nations agreed last week at their summit in Apulia, Italy, to use interest from frozen Russian assets to finance about $50 billion in loans to Ukraine.

A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with two recent sanctions decisions from the bloc pertaining to Russia and its war in Ukraine.

The U.K. on June 14 corrected two entries under its Russia sanctions regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced. OFSI added a phone number for the financial services company Central Counterparty National Clearing Centre and corrected the address for LLC Kompaniya AMG.

The EU General Court on June 12 rejected Russian investment fund VEB.RF's application to be removed from the bloc's Russia sanctions regime, according to an unofficial translation. The European Council sanctioned the financial institution for helping undermine the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine and providing material support to "Russian decision-makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea or the destabilization of Eastern Ukraine."

The EU General Court on June 12 rejected Syrian businessman Issam Shammout's challenge to his designation under the bloc's Syria sanctions regime. Shammout, an executive for airline company Cham Wings Airlines and the Shammout Group, was sanctioned due to his position as a "leading businessperson operating in Syria."

The European Commission on June 10 opened a foreign subsidies investigation on the Emirates Telecommunications Group Company's (e&'s) sole control of PPF Telecom Group B.V., "excluding its Czech business." The commission said that it has "preliminary concerns" that e&, a state-controlled telecommunications firm, "may have been granted foreign subsidies that could distort the EU internal market." The investigation was opened under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation and will look at "actual or potential negative effects on the acquisition process" and whether the foreign subsidies "lead to actual or potential negative effects in the internal market."