The EU’s new General Product Safety Regulation took effect this week, placing new restrictions on imported goods to ensure “only safe products” are sold in the EU market. The law places “specific product safety requirements” for online marketplaces and requires “all non-harmonised products imported to the EU” to have an EU-based economic operator “responsible for the product safety issues,” the European Commission said June 12. The law also provides member states with “necessary tools” to help with enforcement.

The U.K. Parliament’s Business and Trade Committee launched an inquiry into the country’s freeports and investment zones to study their impact on trade so far (see 2103250025). The committee is accepting “evidence submissions” on the topic until Sept. 8, asking for feedback on the “current status” of England’s freeports and investment zones, whether the “current governance structures for freeports” are “adequate,” whether the government is “providing the support required for freeports to become a success” and more.

Ministers of Justice in the EU agreed to the European Council's position on proposed minimum rules to trace, freeze and confiscate criminal assets, the council announced, paving the way for talks with the European Parliament on a final text. The rules cover a broad array of crimes, including sanctions violations. The council said people profiting from conducting business with designated parties "will see their yields being seized the same way as traffickers in human beings or drug cartels." The law could require member states to ensure they have appropriate staff and financial and technological resources to trace, seize and manage the assets.

The U.K. announced a new sanctions package against Belarus last week, including export restrictions on chemical and biological weapons-related products, certain machinery and bank notes, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office announced. The new restrictions also set import bans on cement, rubber, wood and gold from Belarus and prohibit "ancillary services" for all banned goods, including technical and financial assistance.

The European Council finalized its position on a proposed law that could impose criminal penalties for violating the bloc's sanctions, the council announced. The council will next negotiate with the European Parliament "to reach a common position on the draft law." If implemented, the law could define the conduct member states would criminalize, including "helping persons subject to Union restrictive measures to bypass an EU travel ban, trading sanctioned goods and running transactions with states or entities which are hit by EU restrictive measures." The law also includes varying penalties based on the offense and mandates that member states ramp up their enforcement efforts.

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation updated two General Licenses under its Russia sanctions regimes, one covering London Court of International Arbitration payments and the other on transactions linked to agricultural commodities, including the provision of insurance and other services.

The EU imposed sanctions on nine people under its Global Human Rights sanctions regime for their role in sentencing Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza to 25 years in prison "on politically motivated charges and false allegations," the European Council announced. The individuals include the Russian Deputy Minister of Justice for enforcing Russia's "foreign agents" legislation used to crack down on civil society, judges and a senior officer of the Russian penitentiary system.

The European Parliament and Council struck a "final" deal on the Anti-Coercion Instrument (see 2303280024), the European Commission announced this week, which will allow EU to impose countermeasures, including tariffs and other trade and investment restrictions, on third countries for economic coercion. The commission expects the instrument to take effect "in the autumn of this year."

The Bank of Lithuania found that electronic money platform Transactive Systems UAB "seriously and systematically infringed anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing" requirements, following an investigation. As a result, the bank fined the institution over $300,000 and revoked its license to provide financial services. The bank said Transactive System's main infringements were a failure to "properly identify clients, their representatives and beneficiaries," the enabling the opening of anonymous virtual accounts and a failure to ensure "adequate monitoring of business relationships and transactions." The bank added that the platform failed to make sure that international financial sanctions and restrictive measures were properly implemented.

The EU will phase out by Sept. 15 a measure that had allowed five of Ukraine's neighbors to ban domestic sales of Ukrainian grains while still allowing the grains to transit through their countries, the European Commission announced. The measures were initially adopted to allow Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia to restrict imports of Ukranian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds in order to allow those countries to support their respective domestic industries (see 2305030012). The commission added that the scope of these measures was dropped from 17 to six tariff lines for these four products, though the measures still must remain in place given the "serious logistical bottlenecks and limited grain storage capacity ahead of the harvest season experienced in five Member States."