David O'Sullivan

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On December 1, 2020 the Council of the EU adopted Conclusions calling on the Commission to launch an Action Plan by 2021 focusing on shaping global supply chains sustainably, promoting human rights, social and environmental due diligence standards and transparency. In April 2020, the Commission already announced its intention to develop a legislative proposal and published a study on due diligence requirements through the supply chain (see our previous client alert).

The Action Plan should include a call for a proposal from the Commission for an EU legal framework on sustainable corporate governance including cross-sector corporate due diligence obligations along global supply chains. An EU framework is likely to foresee binding due diligence obligations and may include a definition of the risk management processes companies will be required to follow to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for its adverse human and labor rights and environmental impacts. Companies will have to ensure that human rights are respected along their entire supply chain and will have to assume responsibility for more than just their direct contractual partners. Those affected by violations of companies’ human rights due diligence obligations will be able to enforce their rights in the courts of EU Member States. The German Council Presidency recently suggested that EU-wide legislation could also improve the quality of voluntary standards and certification on fair wages and universal access to social protection.Continue Reading Council of the EU calls for due diligence rules along global supply chains

On October 21, 2020, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s Sanctions Unit hosted a webinar to explain how UK sanctions policy and compliance will operate when the Brexit transition period ends.

EU sanctions will no longer apply in the United Kingdom after 11pm GMT on December 31, 2020. The UK’s new sanctions regime will…

On September 30, 2020, President Trump issued Executive Order 13953 on “Addressing the Threat to the Domestic Supply Chain from Reliance on Critical Minerals from Foreign Adversaries and Supporting the Domestic Mining and Processing Industries.”

In the Executive Order, the President declared a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, in order to…

On September 17, 2020 the EU Court of Justice (“the Court”) rendered a judgement, by which it upheld the General Court’s decision dismissing an action brought by members of the Rosneft group. The judgement concerned the validity of some of the EU’s sanctions imposed on Russian oil companies in the context of the Ukraine…

According to public statements of high-ranking representatives, the EU is considering whether to impose new economic sanctions against Turkey. The measures discussed include targeting certain Turkish industry sectors, such as the energy industry.

On November 11, 2019 the Council of the EU  adopted a sanctions framework set forth in Council Regulation 2019/1890 and Council Decision 2019/1894, and subsequently designated two executives of the Turkish oil company TPAO on February 27, 2020, in response to Turkish hydrocarbon drilling activities in what the EU views as Cypriot territorial waters. The sanctions that are currently in place consist of a travel ban to the EU, an asset freeze for persons and entities, as well as a prohibition to satisfy claims for their benefit. In addition, EU persons and entities are forbidden from making funds and economic resources available to those listed.Continue Reading EU Mulls New Economic Sanctions Against Turkey

A recent letter from former high-ranking European Commission officials to the current Commission President Ursula von der Leyen raises various trade and market protection concerns and urges the Commission to take certain actions.

The letter raises legitimate areas of concern both as regards the current crisis in global trade and EU trade policy more generally.…

Click here to visit Steptoe’s COVID-19 International Trade Resource Page to learn how COVID-19 is impacting international trade.

How is COVID-19 shaping the US-China trade dispute? Will the pandemic affect pending US trade remedy proceedings? What will happen to US international trade negotiations?

The global COVID-19 pandemic has had, and will continue to have, significant…

The department responsible for overseeing EU sanctions policy has been relocated, following a decision by the new European Commission (EC) team led by President Ursula von der Leyen. The supervision of the preparation and implementation of EU sanctions— until now carried out by the Foreign Policy Instrument (FPI), a small EC service integrated within the external action structure of the EU—has been moved to the Directorate General in charge of financial services. This institutional change, which might seem relatively insignificant at first sight, could announce a more assertive European sanctions policy for the years to come and help reduce discrepancies in sanctions implementation at the Member State level.
Continue Reading Institutional Changes May Signal a More Assertive EU Sanctions Policy

On January 14, Germany, France and the UK initiated the dispute resolution mechanism in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) based on Iran’s decision to pull away from its obligations under the agreement. While the European participants see the dispute resolution mechanism as a way to keep the JCPOA alive, triggering the mechanism also serves as the first of several steps that must be taken before UN and EU sanctions could potentially be reimposed. Though the reimposition of sanctions is far from inevitable, it is important to understand the functioning of the dispute resolution mechanism in order to anticipate the timeline of any possible future developments.
Continue Reading Germany, France and the UK begin the JCPOA’s Dispute Resolution Mechanism Process – A Gateway for the Reimposition of UN and EU sanctions?