The EU announced last week that the UK would be added to its list of safe countries to export ‘dual-use items’. Following the UK’s exit from the EU, the UK is no longer a Member State of the EU since 31 January 2020 and the EU law will cease to…
Our latest report, The Future of UK Trade: Merged Realities of Brexit and COVID-19, explores how the pandemic, coupled with an eventual deal or No-Deal Brexit, will impact the bottom-line of UK businesses and the economy. Together with Oxford Economics and insights from Baker McKenzie’s experts, this report quantifies how a…
On 16 October 2020, the Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) published Notice to Exporters 2020/14 to remind relevant exporters to sign up for the EU dual-use open general export licence (OGEL) before the end of the Brexit Transition Period. This OGEL will be required to export dual-use items from the UK to any EU…
On 9 October 2020, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI“) published its Annual Review, providing an overview of OFSI’s activities in the financial year April 2019 to March 2020. A copy of the Annual Review is available here. In addition, OFSI has reminded UK businesses that they must report any frozen…
Webinar: The new UK Foreign Investment Regime: Everything you need to know The UK’s foreign investment landscape is heading for a complete overhaul. On 11 November 2020, the UK Government introduced a new law that significantly expands its powers to review transactions on national security grounds, in line with global…
The European Council has designated 40 individuals under its Belarus sanctions regime, amending Council Regulation (EC) 765/2006. In the UK, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has accordingly updated the consolidated list. 5 of these individuals were already sanctioned under the UK’s Global Human Rights regime and are now subject to an…
Our latest report, The Future of UK Trade: Merged Realities of Brexit and COVID-19, explores how the pandemic, coupled with an eventual deal or No-Deal Brexit, will impact the bottom-line of UK businesses and the economy. Together with Oxford Economics and insights from Baker McKenzie’s experts, this report quantifies how a…
On 29 September 2020, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced that 8 Belarusian officials, including Alexander Lukashenko, his son Victor, and other senior Belarusian government officials, have been subjected to sanctions (asset freezes and travel bans) under the UK’s autonomous Global Human Rights sanctions regime. This regime was introduced…
On 19 August 2020, members of the European Council held a video conference to discuss the situation in Belarus following the presidential election on 9 August 2020. The President of the European Council stated that the elections in Belarus were “neither free nor fair”, did not meet international standards and…
On 28 July 2020, the EU agreed to impose EU-wide measures to restrict the export of certain items to Hong Kong. The EU Council’s press release can be found here. These restricted goods include equipment or technology that could be used for internal repression, interception of internal communications or cyber…