Lithuanian authorities submitted evidence against nine Lithuanian companies showing the businesses violated EU sanctions by declaring that Russian and Belarusian imports of plywood, pellets and other timber products were from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project recently reported. The evidence resulted from an OCCRP investigation concluded in December 2022, which led to a separate investigation from the Lithuanian State Consumer Rights Protection Authority. OCCRP expects that the number of companies accused of evading sanctions will increase since many of them are "evading SCRPA's request to provide information about their activities."

U.S. exporters may be able to “capitalize” on increasing oilseed production in Kazakhstan, which is seeing a rising demand for “providing planting seeds to producers, and soybeans to underutilized oilseed processors,” USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service said in a May report. The agency said the Kazakhstan’s “crushing capacity is underutilized,” so there “may be an opportunity for the United States to export soybeans for crushing by local processors.” The agency noted several Kazakh companies have “explored opportunities” to import U.S. soy.

The European Parliament passed a series of new rules requiring EU-based companies to identify and, where needed, end the "negative impact of their activities on human rights and the environment." Such activities include child labor, slavery, pollution and environmental degradation. In addition, these companies would have to "monitor and assess the impact on their value-chain partners," including suppliers, distribution and storage, the parliament said June 1.

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation published a blog post with guidance on how to navigate its trust services sanctions (see 2303220021), covering where the sanctions apply, key exceptions, OFSI's enforcement powers and licensing. Under the key exceptions guidance, OFSI said sanctions do not apply for acts "for the purposes of complying with the prohibitions and obligations of an asset freeze," and for trust services "provided in respect of registered pension schemes, where these services are not provided primarily to, or for the benefit of, a designated person" or persons connected with Russia.

The U.K. added one name to its Somalia sanctions list and amended two others under its Russia sanctions regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said. OFSI added Abdullahi Osman Mohamed Caddow to its Somalia list and revised the listings for Russian businessmen Vladimir Nikolaevich Lepin and Dmitry Vladimirovich Konov.

The EU added seven people to two different sanctions regimes for their role in threatening the sovereignty of Ukraine, the European Council announced.The designated parties are "politicians and businessmen with Moldovan or Russian nationality that have engaged in destabilising activities," the council said. Some are tied to a "Bank Fraud" case that led to "huge losses" for the Moldovan state, while others were listed for their role in the Russian plot to destabilize Moldova through the planning of "violent demonstrations, financial misconduct, unauthorised export of capital and support for the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) projects," the council said.

The EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council agreed on export control and investment screening concepts, but no specific policies were arrived at during the fourth meeting of the group that ended May 31 in Sweden.

The U.K.'s Export Control Joint Unit released a notice detailing the compound penalties issued since January. Revenue and Customs issued settlement offers to four exporters related to unlicensed exports of dual-use and military goods, with the largest -- more than $1.1 million -- related to dual-use goods. Another settlement involved dual-use export violations and resulted in a fine of about $270,000, while the other two involved illegal exports of military goods and resulted in fines of about $5,000 and $3,600.

The U.K.'s Export Control Joint Unit is hosting training programs June to December for strategic export control compliance. The ECJU said the training is for "companies of all sizes," all knowledge levels and "different learning paths." The sessions include events titled "Licence Workshop," "Making Better Licence Applications" and "Are my items controlled?"

The U.K. last week updated guidance on how people and entities can request reviews of their counter-terrorism sanctions designations, including how they can ask to be removed from the sanctions list. The guidance covers who can apply for revocation, how to submit a sanctions review request form, the evidence needed to submit, how long it may take and further requests once a decision has been rendered. OFSI said decisions on applications will be made "as soon as reasonably practicable."