Switzerland added 25 individuals and eight entities to its Syria sanctions list. It also amended entries for one individual and one entity and delisted one individual. Most of the newly listed parties are involved in the production and trafficking of narcotics. The sanctions mirror similar restrictions imposed by the EU. Switzerland also amended entries under its Iran and Myanmar sanctions regimes.

The European Commission this month added a new frequently asked question covering the "Asset Freeze and Prohibition to Make Funds and Economic Resources Available" to its Russia sanctions FAQs. The entry asks whether a non-sanctioned entity can request permission to use derogations on trade in fertilizers if it does not consider itself to be owned by a sanctioned party, but its counterparts do. "Would that amount to an acknowledgement of ownership and/or control by the sanctioned person over the company?” the FAQ asks.

The U.K. corrected or amended various entries under its Russia, Global Anti-Corruption and Syria sanctions regimes. Under the Russia sanctions list, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended the listing for Roman Nikolaevich Lepa, a member of the Donetsk People's Council. OFSI also corrected the listing for Zvonko Veselinovic under the anti-corruption sanctions regime, and amended the entry for Damascus Cham Holding under the Syria sanctions regime.

Two European Parliament committees last week approved the EU’s proposed law governing artificial intelligence, bringing the bloc closer to implementing first-of-its-kind AI regulations that could include new import restrictions on a range of products. The proposed rules, adopted by the Internal Market and the Civil Liberties committees, are next expected to receive a vote from the full parliament in June before lawmakers begin negotiations with the European Council “on the final form of the law,” Parliament said in a news release.

The U.K. and Switzerland have agreed to start negotiations on a new free trade agreement with an aim toward opening opportunities for services and investment, the U.K.'s Department for International Trade announced. Releasing a document outlining a strategic approach to the FTA talks, the U.K. said the agreement will also look to boost goods trade, promote innovation in emerging technologies and create economic opportunities for the whole of the U.K.

The European Council extended the scope of anti-money laundering rules to crypto asset transfers with the goal of "making it more difficult for criminals to circumvent" the rules, the council said May 16. The new rules oblige crypto asset service providers to collect and make available information about the sender and beneficiary of crypto asset transfers they operate, "regardless of the amount of crypto assets being transacted," ensuring the traceability of these transfers to "better identify possible suspicious transactions and block them," the council said.

Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides confirmed he received information from the U.S. government related to Cypriot individuals and entities subject to U.S. sanctions for helping Russian billionaires hide their assets. The U.S. provided an 800-page dossier concerning the parties that helped Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov hide his wealth, The Guardian reported. Christodoulides said he received the first batch of this information and is awaiting two more information packages from the U.S., according to an unofficial translation of a speech last week. Christodoulides promised to move forward with prosecutions of law and audit firms that aided this sanctions evasion.

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation issued guidance last week for people seeking a license to release frozen funds for travel and associated expenses. OFSI said "associated expenses" could arise from "attending legal meetings or court hearings." When administering licenses for these payments, OFSI "is legally obliged to ensure that those expenses are 'reasonable,'" OFSI said.

The European Commission adopted two measures May 12 that "renew, adjust and extend the scope" of existing antidumping measures on imports of high tenacity yarn of polyester from China, the Directorate-General for Trade announced. Various investigations found that revoking the measures would lead to goods being dumped into the EU, causing harm to the domestic yarn industry, DG Trade said. The commission extended the duties for another five years, increasing them to between 6.9% and 23.7%, and also applied them to an additional importer, Hailide.

The England and Wales Commercial Court rejected commercial bank UniCredit's claim it is not liable in civil proceedings, even where it otherwise would have been held liable, if it held a "reasonable belief" it was acting in compliance with sanctions regulations. The court said this defense did not apply to the bank, forcing UniCredit to pay its debt related to the lease of an aircraft to Russian companies. The court said that while UniCredit believed it was following the U.K.'s Russia sanctions regime by not paying Celestial Aviation Services, UniCredit's real motive was to delay payment to shield its cashflow rather than ensure sanctions compliance.