The EU and Japan this week met for the first time as part of a new supply chain working group to discuss economic security issues. The EU said the forum will allow the two sides to ensure a "level playing field by regulating state intervention in support to industrial sectors," swap “trade strategies” and talk about efforts to diversify supply chains. The European Commission said the new working group is “especially relevant” to the bloc’s recently published economic security strategy see (see 2306200052 and 2401240078), adding that it wants to partner with allies such as Japan on “anti-coercion instruments, export controls and investment screening.”

The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation this week amended the sanctions entry for Muhammad Fadl Abd al-Nabi, navy commander for the Houthi rebels in Yemen. The change updates identifying information for al-Nabi, who was sanctioned earlier this month (see 2401250011).

The European Commission this week released a proposal that it said will allow Northern Ireland businesses to use U.K. tariff rate quotas for imports from third countries of various agri-food products. The commission said the “aim” of the proposal is to ensure Northern Ireland businesses can use the TRQs for commodities originating from the rest of the world, “such as New Zealand lamb.” The solution was negotiated by the EU and the U.K. as part of the Windsor Framework, the agreement signed between the two sides on post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland (see 2302270051).

The European Council on Jan. 29 added four people and one entity to its global human rights sanctions regime and renewed its Russia-related sanctions regime for another six months.

The European Commission last week officially launched a public comment period as it considers potential restrictions on outbound investments. Comments are due April 27, after which the commission plans to monitor past and current EU outward investments and “carry out an assessment of risks linked to such monitored transactions.” Potential screening rules could initially focus on outbound investments in a narrow set of technologies, including artificial intelligence, advanced semiconductors, quantum and biotech, the EU said (see 2401240078).

The European Council on Jan. 26 adopted a negotiating mandate on the proposed regulation barring goods made with forced labor from the EU market, the council announced. The mandate included a host of changes to the regulation, including a clarification that the measure's scope would include "products offered for distance sales," the creation of a single forced labor portal and a stronger role for the European Commission in investigating the use of forced labor.

The European Commission on Jan. 25 issued new guidelines for how member states and the commission collect and share export licensing data as the EU prepares its annual export control report (see 2301270011). The new rules “for the first time” state that the annual report “should include relevant information on the licensing and enforcement” of export controls, the guidelines said, “with due respect to the need to ensure the protection of the confidentiality of certain data.”

The European Council on Jan. 22 created a new sanctions framework targeting Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement. The bloc also sanctioned six people under the new regime, including various Hamas financiers and a senior Hamas “operative.”

The European Council on Jan. 22 added six entities to its Sudan sanctions list and six people and five entities to its Syria sanctions list.

Members of the European Parliament last week called on the bloc to sanction officials in China and Sudan for human rights violations.