The U.K. on Feb. 6 extended by six months its general license authorizing certain humanitarian-related transactions under its Syria sanctions regime. The exemption will now run through Aug. 14 and allows humanitarian organizations, including the U.N., to carry out humanitarian activity in Syria needed to deliver earthquake relief in Syria and Turkey.

The U.K. on Feb. 6 amended the entry for Oleg Alexandrovich Mashtalyar under its Russia sanctions regime. The entry was revised to reflect that Mashtalyar no longer works as the vice chairman of the management board of Sovcombank, a Russian bank. Mashtalyar, who is still sanctioned, was originally designated for operating in Russia's financial services sector.

The European Commission on Feb. 6 released a guide to help EU companies file antidumping complaints. The Directorate-General for Trade said the guide lays out the "necessary contents of a complaint and the supporting evidence that the Commission needs to decide" whether it can launch an AD investigation, along with a "structured format to help companies prepare complaints, links to information sources, forms to facilitate the provision of data and step-by-step guidance for calculations." A section explains how to put together expiry review requests, which are required to extend AD orders.

The U.K. High Court of Justice on Jan. 29 ruled that disclosures of reinsurance documents from a reinsurance broker to an airplane leasing company wouldn't violate the U.K.'s Russia sanctions regime. The disclosures were related to an insurance claim on planes leased by Russian airline operators.

The U.K. on Feb. 1 added four entities to its Myanmar sanctions regime: the 101st and 77th Light Infantry divisions, Mining Enterprise 1 and Mining Enterprise 2. The infantry divisions were added for violating "the right of life of persons in Myanmar" and for carrying out arrests and torture "on the basis" of "political opinion, religious belief or ethnicity," the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation notice said. The mining enterprises were listed because of their ties with the Myanmar Security Forces.

The European Council last week added five people to its Guatemala-related sanctions regime, including Guatemalan attorney general Maria Consuelo Porras Argueta De Porres, three other people working for the Guatemalan Public Prosecutor's Office and Judge Fredy Raul Orellana Letona. The EU said they are "undermining democracy, the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power in Guatemala."

The European Council on Feb. 2 renewed its sanctions on Zimbabwe for another year. The restrictions, which will now expire Feb. 20, 2025, include an embargo on arms and "equipment which might be used for internal repression" and an asset freeze on Zimbabwe Defense Industries. "Since February 2022 there are no listed individuals," the EU said, adding that it will "closely follow developments in Zimbabwe, with a particular attention to the human rights situation."

The European Council and Parliament on Jan. 30 reached a provisional agreement that could require new labeling requirements on honey and other food products. The deal, aimed at giving EU consumers more information on honey, fruit jams and fruit juices, would require honey producers to list the countries of origin on the product's label in descending order "based on weight" and include the "percentage that each country represents in the blend." For packages under 30 grams, the names of the countries of origin will be swapped with a two-letter International Organization for Standardization code. The provisional agreement needs to be approved by member states and undergo a legal review before it can be formally adopted, the council said.

The European Commission is proposing to extend the suspension of import duties and quotas on Ukrainian goods for another year (see 2305250017). The measures were originally enacted in June 2022 to aid Ukraine following Russia's invasion.

The U.S. and the EU held the fifth meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council in Washington on Jan. 30, where the two sides again committed to increasing trade and cooperating on economic security and emerging technology issues, according to a European Commission readout of the meeting. The commission said the EU and the U.S. agreed to “explore ways to facilitate trade in goods and technologies that are vital for the green transition” and strengthen approaches to investment screening, export controls, outbound investment and “dual-use innovation.”