European Union candidate countries of North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania along with the European Free Trade Association nations of Iceland and Norway aligned their sanctions regimes with that of the European Union on Belarus, the European Council said in a July 13 news release. The newest wave of sanctions on Belarus banned the sale, transfer or export of dual-use goods and technologies for military use to anyone in Belarus (see 2106250009). The sanctions concern the May 23 forced landing of a Ryanair flight and subsequent arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega.

The European Council introduced a new "buy and donate" directive that imposes a temporary value-added tax exemption on imports of certain supplies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a July 13 press release. The goal is to make it easier for the European Commission and European Union agencies to purchase goods and services then distribute them for free to member states. "Through this update, purchases of goods and services by an EU body on behalf of member states to respond to the emergency posed by the COVID-19 pandemic are temporarily added to the list of exempted transactions in the VAT directive," the release said. The directive will apply retroactively from Jan. 1, 2021.

The European Parliament passed a resolution on July 8 calling for sanctions on high-ranking Nicaraguan officials responsible for human rights violations. The resolution called for President Daniel Ortega, Vice-President Rosario Murillo and their "inner circle" to be sanctioned while "taking particular care to do no harm to the Nicaraguan people." The resolution points to an increasingly dire situation following the "violent repression of civic protests" in April 2018, after which more than 100,000 people have been forced to flee the Central American nation.

The European Commission, along with the European External Action Service, released a guidance on July 12 for European Union businesses to help combat forced labor in supply chains. The guidance lays out the many EU and international mechanisms on responsible business conduct that apply to fighting forced labor. The commission also highlighted the practical considerations for supply chain due diligence, laying out the six-step framework from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on proper due diligence. The steps include embedding responsible conduct into the company's policies, tracking implementation, cooperating in remediation and more. The guidance also includes a section on identifying risk factors for forced labor and other considerations for responsible business conduct.

Global champagne exports have increased by nearly half this year after a steep drop in demand during 2020, according to a July 13 Bloomberg report. The report, which cites French government trade statistics, said the exports have risen by 43% so far this year. French champagne exports to the U.S. have risen 74% during the first five months of 2021 compared with the same period a year ago, the report added, while exports to China rose by 153%.

The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation updated two listings under its Belarus sanctions regime in a July 12 notice. The listings for Leanid Mikalaievich Churo and the Belaeronavigatsia Republican Unitary Air Navigation Services Enterprise, of which Churo is an employee, were amended to change the word "Unity" to "Unitary" in the entity's name. Both are still subject to an asset freeze.

The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended the Syria sanctions listing of Salam Tohme in a July 12 financial sanctions notice. The update changed Tohme's listed gender from Female to Male. Tohme is still subject to an asset freeze.

The European Parliament adopted three resolutions on the human rights situation in Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and Iran, calling for sanctions on the three nations, according to a July 8 press release. The parliament strongly condemned the forced closure of the Apple Daily newspaper in Hong Kong and recommended sanctions on "individuals and entities responsible." The parliament also called for the cessation of the harassment and intimidation of journalists and the attempted muzzling of pro-democracy activists.

The European Union General Court dismissed a case from Iranian national Naser Bateni, who sought 250,000 euros in damages from his sanctions listings in 2011, 2012 and 2013, according to a July 7 judgment. Previous decisions from the court had annulled Bateni's listings for those years, finding that the European Council did not establish grounds that justified the designations and prompting the damages claim from Bateni. The court said that the council did not commit a "sufficiently serious breach" -- the standard for providing damages -- by relying on the information available to it when it made Bateni's sanctions determination. "The Council did not depart from the behavior which a normally prudent and diligent administration would have adopted," the judgment said. Bateni's appeal was "dismissed as being partly inadmissible and partly unfounded," according to an unofficial translation of the judgment.

The European Council extended for six months sanctions targeting certain economic sectors of Russia for their actions in destabilizing Ukraine, according to a July 12 press release. The sanctions, which were extended until Jan. 31, 2022, were first implemented on July 31, 2014 and consist of limiting access to EU primary and secondary capital markets for particular Russian banks and companies, and blocking forms of financial assistance and brokering directed toward Russian financial entities. The sanctions also bar the trading of defense materials and dual-use goods for military use or military end-users in Russia.