The European Union expanded the listing criteria under its Belarus sanctions regime to target the "instrumentalisation of human beings carried out by the Belarus regime for political purposes," the European Council said Nov. 15. The EU can now target individuals and entities that help the EU external border crossings between Poland and Belarus. The move comes as a direct response to Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko's allegedly deliberate attempts to herd thousands of migrants, primarily from Iraq and Afghanistan, to the Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian borders. "Today's decision reflects the determination by the European Union to stand up to the instrumentalisation of migrants for political purposes," said Josep Borrell, the council's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy. "We are pushing back on this inhuman and illegal practice. At the same time, we continue to underline the unacceptable ongoing repression by the regime against its own population at home, and we will respond accordingly."

The European Union imposed a definitive antidumping duty on mono ethylene glycol from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, in a Nov. 15 regulation, following up on provisional measures enacted in May. Preliminary AD rates on subject merchandise were applied in June (see 2106140015). The measures apply to mono ethylene glycol that falls under CN code ex 2905 31 00. The following rates for the U.S. apply: 3% for Lotte Chemical Louisiana LLC, 46.7% for MEGlobal Americas Inc., 10.3% for other cooperating companies listed in the notice's first Annex, and 60.1% for all other American companies. The Saudi Arabia 7.7% rate applies for Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co., Yanbu National Petrochemical Co., Eastern Petrochemical Co., Saudi Yanbu Petrochemical Co., Arabian Petrochemical Co. and Jubail United Petrochemical Co.

The European Union General Court on Nov. 10 rejected Syrian businessman Waseem Alkattan's application to be dropped from the EU's Syria sanctions list, according to an unofficial translation of a judgment. The EU in two actions maintained Alkattan's listing under the Syria sanctions regime. The court said the European Council properly established that Alkattan is an influential businessman in Syria, thus warranting his placement on the list. The council cited Alkattan's business interests in real estate, luxury hotels and shopping malls and his associations with the Syrian regime, the court said.

The European Union added four recently appointed ministers to its Syria sanctions regime, in a Nov. 15 notice, the European Council said. The four are Amr Salem, minister of internal trade and consumer protection; Boutros Al-Hallaq, minister of information; Mohammad Seifeddine, minister of labor and social affairs; and Diala Barakat, minister of state. The restrictive measures on Syria now apply to 287 individuals subject to a travel ban and asset freeze, and 70 entities subject to an asset freeze.

The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation added three individuals to its Yemen sanctions regime, OFSI said in a Nov. 10 notice. The three are Muhammad Abd Al-Karim Al-Ghamari, Yusuf Al-Madani and Saleh Mesfer Saleh Al Shaer. They were listed for their involvement in the leadership of the Houthi rebels fighting in Yemen.

The European Council extended its sanctions regime on unauthorized drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean for another year, until Nov. 12, 2022, the council said. The measures were enacted to counter Turkey's drilling activities relating to hydrocarbons. The restrictive measures constitute an asset freeze and a travel ban and currently subject two individuals to the restrictions.

The European Union removed former Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi from its Libya sanction regime, the European Council said. Originally sanctioned in 2011 for the alleged suppression of demonstrators and role in Moammar Gadhafi's government, al-Mahmoudi was delisted "in view of the situation in Libya."

The European Union announced that 10 third countries have aligned themselves with the EU's sanctions on Nicaragua. The third countries are North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.

The European Commission updated the European Union dual-use export control list, bringing the list in line with decisions taken under the framework for the international nonproliferation regimes and export control agreements until December 2020, the commission said. The update consists of two main changes. The first includes a note for the control of biocontainment chambers, isolators or biological safety cabinets to include any isolator meeting all the mentioned characteristics in the description of the item, regardless of intended use, the commission said. The second altered the definition of "superalloys" to specify the ultimate tensile strength of the alloys. The new definition defines superalloys as "nickel, cobalt or iron base alloys having a stress rupture life greater than 1 000 hours at 400 MPa and an ultimate tensile strength greater than 850 MPa, at 922 K (649oC) or higher."

The European Union imposed a definitive antidumping duty on imports of birch plywood from Russia, the European Commission said Nov. 9. The commission kicked off the investigation in October 2020 following a complaint from the Woodstock Consortium, which led to provisional measures taking effect in June 2021. The Nov. 9 update locks in those provisional measures. The duties cover "imports of plywood consisting solely of sheets of wood, each ply not exceeding 6 mm thickness, with outer plies of wood specified under subheading 4412 33, with at least one outer ply of birch wood, whether or not coated," from Russia.