An annual report on trade agreements issued by the European Commission this week shows the EU has removed 140 barriers to EU exports in more than 40 countries over the last five years, unlocking more than $6 billion worth of EU exports in 2023 alone, the commission said. But it also said foreign trade barriers “have been on the rise,” adding that import local content requirements, “discriminatory practices” and import substitution “are becoming the industrial policy instrument of choice for some of our partners.”

With de minimis imports to the EU climbing to about $8.5 billion worth of goods from January to August this year, the European Commission is considering either changing its de minimis threshold or tackling the surge of Chinese exports in this channel in another way, the South China Morning Post reported from Brussels. That value of de minimis imports increased 61% compared with two years earlier, the newspaper said.

Luxembourg's Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) announced this week that it imposed an over $44,600 fine on Dock Financial, an "electronic money institution," for skirting money laundering and terrorist financing obligations. CSSF identified the company's violations during an on-site inspection from 2021 to 2022, finding that a "substantial part" of Dock's client portfolio wasn't subject to the required name screening controls "on a daily basis, over a substantial period of time." The commission also said, although Dock identified suspicions of money laundering "in 11 client files," the company reported them "with substantial delays." CSSF faulted the company's "internal governance framework," finding it deficient due to "insufficient controls performed by the second and the third lines of defence."

The U.K. this week updated guidance for its export licensing system known as SPIRE, or the Shared Primary Information Resource Environment, to “better explain” which standard individual export licenses (SIEL) should be applied for in SPIRE instead of the new “Apply for a SIEL” service. The U.K. said most exporters will use the new “Apply for a SIEL” service to apply to export strategic goods or products, which is on a platform separate from SPIRE. But it said certain applications must still go through SPIRE, including temporary SIELs involving multiple end-users and applications for sanctioned destinations.

Notable language included in the U.K.’s regulations for its new Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation (see 2409130015) allows the agency to share information about possible violations with “any other regulatory body,” including those outside the U.K., Akin said in a client alert. The law firm said it expects to see OTSI “working closely with a range of sanctions coordinators globally to ensure trade sanctions operate effectively in cross-border matters.”

Members of the European Parliament approved a resolution last week calling on the EU to expand sanctions against Russia, Belarus, and non-EU countries and entities providing Russia with military and dual-use technologies.

The European Commission will begin registering all imports of goods under antidumping or countervailing duty investigations, allowing for retroactive collection of AD/CVD if certain conditions are met, it announced Sept. 24. Prior to the move, imports were typically registered only after a "justified" request from the EU industry.

U.K. exporters can now use the country’s new digital export licensing system, Licensing for International Trade (LITE), to apply for standard individual export licenses, the country announced last week. The U.K. had previously been allowing only certain exporters to use the system as a “private beta” ahead of the government’s full translation from its previous export licensing system known as SPIRE, or the Shared Primary Information Resource Environment (see 2408080044). The U.K. said it plans to transition all standard individual export licenses applications off SPIRE in the “coming months.” It also noted that some exporters and export applications may not yet be eligible under LITE, including exports involving certain sanctioned jurisdictions.

European Commission and Chinese officials met last week for a “frank and constructive” discussion about the EU’s countervailing duty investigation on Chinese electric vehicles, the commission said in a Sept. 20 news release. During the talks, EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao agreed to “instruct their respective teams to put maximum effort to work towards a mutually agreeable solution” and to continue communicating, but Dombrovskis also stressed that the probe is meant to address oversized Chinese subsidies and complies with all World Trade Organization rules.

The U.K.’s Export Control Joint Unit is changing how it processes license applications to try to increase efficiency, it said in a notice this week.