A European Union official said that even once the bloc passes its Carbon Border Adjustment Measure, "that definitely doesn’t preclude joint work on international coordination" on preventing manufacturing from moving to countries that aren't as ambitious in fighting climate change.
The United Kingdom extended until Dec. 31, 2022, its tariff suspensions on a host of COVID-19-related medical response items, the Department for International Trade said. The U.K. initially imposed the tariff suspensions Jan. 1, and added suspensions for 14 COVID-19 vaccine components that will also expire on Dec. 31, 2022.
Norwegian energy giant Equinor ASA is boosting its natural gas exports to help ease Europe's supply problems, decreasing oil production to do so, Equinor CEO Anders Opedal said, Bloomberg reported. Equinor has stopped the reinjection of gas that's been used to boost oil output at the company's Gina Krog field, opting to export the fuel instead, Opedal said in a Bloomberg TV interview. Equinor will also increase its gas production at other fields, including the Troll field. The move will give Europe an extra 8 million cubic meters of gas daily. Norway's total gas supply currently exceeds 320 million cubic meters a day, but Europe's gas inventories are at their lowest seasonal levels in nearly 10 years, Bloomberg said.
Exports from the European Union have been lifted by "effective implementation and enforcement of EU trade agreements and international trade rules," the European Commission said Oct. 27, touting over $6.3 billion in additions to EU exports since 2020. The number derives from the commission's first report on implementation and enforcement of its trade agreements that covers four areas: "(1) Making full use of the opportunities provided by EU trade agreements; (2) Supporting the uptake of trade agreements by small businesses; (3) Addressing trade barriers; (4) Enforcing trade commitments through dispute settlement."
The United Kingdom carried over another five antidumping and countervailing duties from the European Union in a flurry of trade remedy notices following the U.K.'s departure from the EU:
The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation added one entry to its Libya sanctions regime in an Oct. 26 financial sanctions notice. Osama Al-Kuni Ibrahim was placed under an asset freeze and a travel ban for his role as de facto manager of the Al Nasr detention center, responsible directly or indirectly for violating international human rights law.
Switzerland added eight people to its Russia sanctions list, aligning with the European Union, the Swiss Federal Council said. The listed individuals, according to a notice from the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, are Mikhail Nikolaevich Belousov, Kievskiy District Court judge; Andrey Nikolaevich Dolgopolov, chairman of the Kievskiy District Court; Yevgeniy Sergeevich Kolpikov, military prosecutor; Magomed Farmanovich Magomedov, special cases investigator; Leonid Vladimirovich Mikhailiuk, head of the Federal Security Service in Crimea and Sevastopol; Viktor Anatolyevich Mozhelianskiy, vice chairman of the Central District Court in Simferopol; Galina Vladimirovna Redko, Crimea Supreme Court judge; and Vladimir Nikolaevich Terentev, who heads the main investigation department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. The eight were listed due to their role in undermining the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
The United Kingdom carried over 15 antidumping and countervailing duties from the European Union in a flurry of trade remedy notices following the U.K.'s departure from the EU:
The European Union amended the criteria for its Democratic Republic of the Congo sanctions regime, adding involvement in "planning, directing, sponsoring or participating in attacks against ... medical personnel or humanitarian personnel" to the criteria for adding individuals and entities to the list. Before the update, the sanctions criteria only included involvement in attacks on the United Nations Organization Mission peacekeepers and U.N. personnel. The move aligns the EU's DRC sanctions criteria with those of the U.N.
The United Kingdom added Uzbekistan to its Enhanced Framework, which allows the Central Asian country to receive preferential rates of import duty under the U.K.'s Generalized Scheme of Preferences, the Department for International Trade said Oct. 25. Uzbekistan has met the U.K.'s economic vulnerability criteria and it is "effectively implementing the Schedule 2 conventions," DIT said. The new rates will kick off Nov. 1, when Uzbekistan's admission begins; on Jan. 1, 2022, the regulation laying out the terms will then be included in Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Enhanced Framework.