The EU General Court on May 15 rejected the Russian Direct Investment Fund's (RDIF's) challenge to the bloc's prohibition on investing in projects financed by the fund.

A recent U.K. Supreme Court ruling could have implications for how certain sanctions-related payment issues are treated under force majeure clauses in contracts.

The U.K. High Court of Justice on May 10 made permanent a court order blocking sanctioned Russian entity VEB from taking a dispute with Barclays Bank to an arbitration court in Russia. The court rejected VEB's claim that British sanctions "frustrated" an arbitration agreement between the parties.

Estonian Bank LHV Pank said it plans to contest in court a $322,000 fine by the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit for violating Estonia's International Sanctions Act."LHV Pank does not agree with the FIU’s resolution and plans to contest it in court," the bank said. "LHV Pank takes regulatory compliance very seriously and has put in place all necessary solutions to meet all due diligence obligations related to financial sanctions."

The U.K. High Court of Justice on May 3 said funds are subject to sanctions when a party can prove that the funds are being "in fact controlled" by a sanctioned party, not when there's "only reasonable cause to suspect" they are controlled by a sanctioned party, according to the Global Sanctions blog.

China on May 7 voiced its opposition to the U.S. reportedly revoking the export licenses that Intel and Qualcomm use to sell certain semiconductors to Huawei (see 2405070081). The Ministry of Commerce said the move violates World Trade Organization commitments, according to an unofficial translation.

The U.K. added a general license under its Russia and Belarus sanctions regime allowing legal service providers to receive and send payments to and from or on behalf of a sanctioned party. Sanctioned parties are likewise allowed to "pay professional legal fees, Counsel's fees, and/or Expenses to a Law Firm, a Legal Adviser, Counsel or a provider of Expenses for Legal Services which have been provided to that" sanctioned party. The legal fees may not exceed 1 million British pounds "per Law Firm" for the duration of the license, which ends Oct. 28.

The European Commission and Canada on April 26 proposed new rules to help small and medium-sized enterprises take advantage of the investment dispute resolution mechanism under the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, the commission's Directorate-General for Trade announced.

The Dutch Supreme Court on April 24 said it will refer two preliminary questions to the European Court of Justice concerning the effect of EU Russia sanctions on sanctioned parties' shareholder voting rights, according to an unofficial translation.

The EU General Court last week rejected a challenge from Belgium and Czech Republic-based company Cogebi to EU import restrictions on Russian-made mica products. The court said that the European Council had laid out sufficient reasons for barring the import of mica products in that the council appropriately found the sale of mica products to "generate significant revenues for the Russian Federation."