The European Commission launched two online systems to help small and medium-sized companies trade with Iran. The European Union's Due Diligence Helpdesk and Sanctions Tool offer free support for companies doing “legitimate trade” with Iran, the commission said Oct. 6. The help desk will carry out due diligence checks to determine whether “specific business projects comply with EU sanctions,” the commission said, while the sanctions tool provides companies with “non-binding guidance on whether their business projects could fall under EU sanctions concerning Iran.” Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said the tools are meant to help “strengthen and facilitate legitimate trade between Iran and the EU.” The U.S. recently invoked snapback sanctions against Iran and criticized EU members for not supporting an arms embargo against the country (see 2009210022).

The European Union renewed its sanctions regime against people and entities involved in developing and using chemical weapons, the European Council said in an Oct. 12 news release. The regime, which applies to nine people and one organization, was renewed for one year until Oct. 16, 2021.

The United Kingdom on Oct. 13 released its quarterly report on export controls, covering license application decisions and other statistics. The U.K. said it made about 2,800 license decisions on standard individual export licenses from April 1 through June 30, down about 10% from the previous quarter. The U.K. issued more than 98% of the licenses and refused fewer than 2%. For open individual export licenses, the U.K. made decisions on about the same number of licenses as in the previous quarter, approving 68 licenses and rejecting seven.

The European Union on Oct. 11 officially launched its foreign direct investment (FDI) screening mechanism for member states to coordinate on screenings to prevent suspicious transactions and acquisitions involving EU companies, the EU said Oct. 9. The mechanism establishes a “framework” for “formal contact points and secure channels” between member states and introduces procedures for member states and the European Commission to “quickly react to FDI concerns and to issue opinions.” The move comes as the U.S. pushes its allies, including the EU and Japan, to increase scrutiny of foreign investments from China (see 2002260042). The EU has encouraged member states to increase their investment screenings (see 2003260003) and recently implemented new criteria for screening investments, including transactions involving critical technologies and dual-use items (see 1903210049).

The United Kingdom on Oct. 8 updated its guidance on existing trade agreements with non-European Union countries to reflect the signing of a deal with Ukraine. The agreement will allow U.K. companies to continue trading with Ukraine under existing conditions after the U.K. leaves the EU Jan. 1, 2021, the country said in a news release. Trade Secretary Liz Truss said the deal will specifically benefit the U.K.’s aircraft, automotive and pharmaceutical industries, while the Scotch Whisky Association said Ukraine will continue to serve as a “growing market” for whisky exports.

Russia recently notified the World Trade Organization of draft revisions for the use of electronic veterinary certificates within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and foreign trade via G/SPS/N/RUS/196, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Oct. 6. The measure will allow traders to use veterinary certificates “issued in electronic form” for all “controlled goods” during import, export, transit and transfer within the EAEU. The public comment period in the draft will close Nov. 20, USDA said, but encouraged U.S. companies to share comments with the agency at us.spsenquirypoint@fas.usda.gov by Nov. 6.

The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade issued guidance Oct. 7 for procurement opportunities for U.K. business after the country's European Union exit takes effect Jan. 1, 2021. The guidance provides information for bidding on procurement opportunities under the Government Procurement Agreement and the U.K.'s trade agreements.

The United Kingdom released a report Oct. 7 on the comments received from its freeports consultation (see 2004080020) and outlined its plans for the project, including measures surrounding customs operations, taxes and other “policy considerations.” The report said responses were “generally” positive about the proposed customs model for freeports, which will include “simplified declaration procedures” but remain focused on targeting illegal trade. The U.K. said it will continue compliance checks on goods entering freeport areas and touched on a range of other issues in the 48-page document, including freeport operators, trade remedies and value-added taxes. The document also summarizes questions it asked commenters during the consultation period. The U.K. said it will soon launch a “bidding process” to determine freeport locations.

Switzerland launched a campaign to target illegal imports of medical masks after seeing an increase in “non-conforming” masks entering the country, its Federal Customs Administration said in an Oct. 6 notice. The campaign, completed earlier this year, included inspections on 29 shipments containing more than 34 million face masks. About one-third of the shipments didn't conform, Switzerland said, with deficiencies including missing conformity markings on packaging, missing addresses, incomplete information on the packaging, a lack of test results that proved the masks were conforming and masks that were not tested in an “accredited” laboratory. The campaign resulted in five “administrative proceedings” by Switzerland Customs, including a ban on certain mask shipments. “The results of the operation showed that fairly large quantities of non-conforming medical face masks were circulating on the Swiss market,” the notice said.

A United Kingdom Department for International Trade defense and security export statistics report for 2019, released Oct. 6, includes information on the number of U.K. defense and security exports last year, total value of exports and export destinations.