The European Council adopted a framework on July 30 for targeted sanctions against Lebanese individuals and entities responsible for “undermining democracy or the rule of law in Lebanon.” Actions that may warrant sanctions include obstructing the democratic political process through “hampering the formation of a government” or the holding of elections, undermining plans by Lebanese authorities to improve accountability and proper governance and “serious financial misconduct,” a press release said. The sanctions will include a travel ban and an asset freeze for individuals, and an asset freeze for entities.

The European Commission began a review of existing antidumping duties on aspartame from China, a July 29 notice in the Official Journal of the European Union said. HSWT France S.A.S. requested the review following the publication of the expiration notice for the duties. The commission will decide if an extension of the duties is necessary to further protect the European aspartame industry, the notice said. The period under investigation is July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021.

The European Commission in a July 29 notice announced the expiration of antidumping duty measures on high fatigue performance steel concrete reinforcement bars from China. Since no “duly substantiated request for a review” was filed with the commission, the antidumping measures will expire July 30, the notice said.

The United Kingdom published an annual report for 2020 on its strategic export controls that includes licensing data, U.K. and EU legislation changes, and results of the Court of Appeal judgment on military exports to Saudi Arabia. In the July 21 report, the U.K. released data points such as the number of standard individual export licenses, which totaled 15,334, with 62% processed within 20 working days -- a drop from 77% in 2019. The report said 268 SIELs were refused or revoked. The publication also highlighted the resumption of trade in arms and military equipment to Saudi Arabia following the Court of Appeal judgment. The court in April OK'd a judicial review of the decision on export licensing for Saudi Arabia, the report said. The publication also touched on the Export Control Joint Unit and its 385 export control compliance checks in which 48% of first-time checked firms were compliant.

The European Council announced July 27 that additional countries aligned their sanctions regimes with the European Union's regarding restrictive measures on individuals and entities in Myanmar and in response to the annexation of Crimea. Montenegro, Albania, Norway, Ukraine and Georgia aligned with the Crimea-related sanctions. North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Ukraine and Moldova aligned with the Myanmar restrictions. The latter sanctions include eight individuals and four entities subject to restrictive measures.

The United Kingdom will no longer require wine importers to fill out the VI-1 certificate on their wine imports, saving around 14 cents for every bottle, the country's Department for International Trade announced in a July 25 news release. The regulation, which had been adopted from the European Union when the U.K. left the bloc, required laboratory analysis of the wine to prove it was in line with certain EU health and safety regulations. The U.K. marketed the move as a “red tape cut” that would lead to substantial savings for British wine drinkers and businesses. “Cutting this needless red tape will place our businesses in a stronger position internationally, as they continue to grow, while consumers can raise a glass to great wine from around the world,” said British Food and Drink Minister Victoria Prentis. “Great Britain is already a global hub in the international wine trade, supporting many jobs across the country. Ending the requirement for import certificates will strengthen this position and is a clear benefit of now having the freedom to determine our own rules.”

The International Dairy Foods Association is asking the European Commission and U.S. government to work together to resolve a dispute about animal health attestations that the trade group says will throw the infant formula and adult nutrition supply chains "into chaos," and will cause product shortages and price increases.

An upcoming French ban on sales of fruit and vegetables with certain “identifying stickers” is poised to affect a range of U.S. agricultural exports, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report last week. The ban, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2022, aims to “eliminate disposable plastic” and will particularly restrict exports of U.S. sweet potatoes and grapefruits, which bear stickers for traceability and marketing purposes, USDA said. The agency said the restrictions are especially “problematic” for grapefruits because the U.S. is the fourth-largest grapefruit supplier to France. “U.S. exporters will only be able to ship grapefruits without stickers, creating logistical and marketing difficulties,” USDA said, adding that products shipped to other European Union countries can’t be rerouted to France. The provisions in France’s ban will also eventually affect U.S. exports of cranberries, lingonberries and blueberries, although the implementation of those measures takes effect later, USDA said.

The European Union kicked off a “new exporter” review of the antidumping duties on the imports of trichloroisocyanuric acid from China for three Chinese exporters, in a July 23 entry in the Official Journal of the European Union. Hebei Xingfei Chemical, Inner Mongolia Likang Bio-Tech and Shandong Lantian Disinfection Technology each requested review of the duties, providing sufficient evidence that they didn't export the product to the EU during the period of investigation on which the AD duties were originally based, the entry said. The new exporter review could potentially repeal the duty on the three companies' exports and subject the imports to registration.

Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Eloina Rodriguez Gomez will remain under the European Union's Venezuela sanctions regime after the European Union General Court rejected her application to annul the listings, a July 14 judgment said. The court said the European Council did not err in its finding that Rodriguez undermined democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela and that even if she no longer holds this position, she “remained linked to the regime.” This connection is enough to maintain the sanctions, the court said.