There are already big reforms planned for the UK Trade Remedies Authority – less than two years after its establishment – and for the overall operation of the UK trade remedies regime. On 9 March 2023, the UK Government announced changes to its trade remedies regime to transition to a more complex investigatory regime.
The UK’s trade remedies body, the Trade Remedies Authority announced on 22 February that it has begun a reconsideration of its recommendation in Case AD0012, concerning imports of certain aluminium extrusions originating in China. Notably, this was the TRA’s first anti-dumping investigation in response to an application from UK industry. A reconsideration application is a request for the TRA to review its findings in a concluded investigation.
The current global sanctions environment — the new normal for Swiss companies: This was the topic of a Russia-focused seminar with members of Baker McKenzie’s global sanctions and investigations team, on 7 February 2023.
On 21 February, the UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI“), announced that it had issued a monetary penalty totaling GBP 36,393.45 to Clear Junction Limited, a provider of payment services. This penalty follows (and is associated with) OFSI’s earlier GBP 50,000 penalty against TransferGo, announced in August 2021.
The ECB has warned European lenders of the potential risks they will face, should further sanctions be imposed against Russia in the event of an invasion of Ukraine. The impact of any sanctions would not be limited to Russian financial institutions/businesses but is likely to be felt across the world, especially by financial institutions who have significant Russian exposure.
Baker McKenzie is pleased to invite you to an interactive webinar on 26 January 2022 focused on sanctions compliance in the Gulf. Our panel will include partners from our UK, US and Middle East sanctions teams.
On 9 September the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA“) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (“PRA“) published a letter to bank CEOs with the purpose of reiterating expectations of firms when undertaking trade finance activities. The Dear CEO letter addressed both conduct and prudential issues where the regulators consider that improvements are required in firms’ controls. The regulators stressed that “firms need to demonstrate that they have taken a risk sensitive approach to their control environment that ensures the relevant risks are effectively mitigated”, noting that the last 18 months have seen several “high-profile failures of commodity and trade finance firms with significant financial loss”.
On 5 August 2021, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI“) imposed a GBP 50,000 penalty on TransferGo Limited (“TransferGo“), a UK FinTech company, for breaching UK sanctions when it issued instructions to make payments to accounts held at the Russian National Commercial Bank (“RNCB“), a designated party.
On 12 January 2021, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced new measures to ensure that UK companies are neither complicit in, nor profit from, alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang, China. See press release here. Under the new measures, the UK will review export controls in order to prevent exports of…
Our market-leading UK trade and competition team will share their insights from 26 January – 3 February 2021 as we discuss the impact of the new UK-EU arrangements and adapting your business to the global realities post-Brexit. Full information about these sessions can be found here. Customs and Product Regulation…