March - 2018

EFTA free trade agreement with Georgia

The EFTA States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, signed a free trade agreement with Georgia in Bern, Switzerland, on 27 June 2016. As a broad-based agreement, the FTA covers trade in goods, trade in services, establishment, the protection of intellectual property rights, government procurement, competition, and trade and sustainable development. In the area of trade in goods, the Parties abolish all customs duties on industrial products as of the entry into

S$ 6,4 million Penalties on Standard Chartered Bank and Standard Chartered Trust for AML/CFT Breache

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced that it has imposed penalties of S$5.2 million on Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore Branch (SCBS) and S$1.2 million on Standard Chartered Trust (Singapore) Limited (SCTS). The penalties were for breaches of MAS’ anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements. These breaches occurred when trust accounts of SCBS’ customers were transferred from Standard Chartered Trust (Guernsey) to SCT

Trump bans "Petro" in the US

Yesterday, President Trump signed an Executive Order prohibiting U.S. persons and others subject to U.S. jurisdiction from engaging in all transactions related to, provision of financing for, and other dealings in any digital currency, digital coin, or digital token that was issued by, for, or on behalf of the Government of Venezuela after January 9, 2018. To read the whole Executive Order, click here.

Antidumping Duty Orders on Carbon and Alloy Steel

Today, the International Trade Administration (ITA) publishes a new Antidumping Duty Order. The merchandise covered by these orders is wire rod from South Africa and Ukraine. For a complete description of the scope of these orders, see the Appendix to the Federal Register entry. The Order is applicable March 14, 2018. To read the whole document click here.

Presidential Proclamation on Adjusting Imports of Aluminum and Steel

Yesterday, US President Donald Trump decided to impose the announced tariffs on steel of 25 percent and ten percent on Aluminum. Therefore he has issued two "Presidential Proclamations". The only exceptions are imports from Mexico and Canada. The tariffs should enter into force within 15 days. Here, you can read the Presidential Proclamations on Steel and Aluminum.

UK amended 4 military export licences

The export control joint unit (ECJU) has amended the Export Control Order 2008. Changes have been made to article 2 and Schedule 2 of the order(we previously reported). Four open general export licences (OGELs) have been amended accordingly. Changes to OGELs The two new entries ML8.a.41 (explosive) and ML8.h (reactive materials) have been excluded from the following OGELs: export after exhibition or demonstration: military goods export after repair/replacement under warranty

Amendment of UK Munition List [SI 2018/165]

Yesterday, the Department for International Trade publishes an amendment to there UK-Munition list. It shall enter into force on the same day. The most important changes are: -text changes on ML7 and ML7. a, -the number ML8.a.41 is added, -ML8.c.3 is changed and gets new sub-numbers, -ML8.h is introduced. To see the Amendment, click here. To read the new consolidated version of UK Strategic Export Control Lists including all other lists click here. As always, the data refl

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Economic Exclusion Act introduced in the US House of Representativ

This bill authorize the President to sanction entities in which the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps holds a stake of less than 50%. IRGC has been listed on the Specially Designated Nationals And Blocked Persons List (SDN) for a long time. As a result, all subsidiaries are currently sanctioned if they hold a stake of more than 50%. The Bill also seeks to prevent Iran's membership of the WTO and similar international bodies. Currently, the Bill has been referred to 5 Committe