The U.K. opened a record number of sanctions-related investigations during the 2023-24 fiscal year and is expecting to soon issue multiple Russia-related penalties, the country’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said in its annual report published March 21.

The Commerce Department’s long-awaited proposed rule on routed exports is essentially ready to be published, but it’s unclear how long it may take the new Trump administration to give the agency the green light, officials said last week.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is working on multiple export control-related investigations that could soon lead to public penalties and criminal indictments, Commerce Department officials said last week. They also said BIS is doubling down on Iran-related enforcement as part of the Trump administration's renewed maximum pressure campaign against the country.

Jeffrey Kessler, the undersecretary of the Bureau of Industry and Security, has been sworn in to his new position, the Commerce Department announced March 20. Kessler was confirmed by the Senate March 13 (see 2503130062 and 2503060043).

Pakistan formally accepted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies on March 20, bringing the number of countries that have accepted the deal to 94. The WTO needs 17 more countries to accept to get to two-thirds of the membership, the threshold for the agreement to take effect.

The European Commission will delay its first wave of retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. from April 1 until mid-April, commission spokesperson Olof Gill said in a statement March 20. Gill said the tariffs were delayed to "align the timing" of the EU's two sets of retaliatory actions announced last month (see 2503120042).

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation fined the Russian subsidiary of British law firm Herbert Smith Freehills about $600,000 for violating U.K. sanctions on Russia. The firm was penalized for six payments it made worth over $5 million to sanctioned Russian banks Alfa-Bank JSC, PJSC Sovcombank and PJSC Sberbank.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky declared a mistrial in a case against defense contractor Quadrant Magnetics for violating export controls after the government sent the company thousands of pages of documents relevant to the case immediately prior to and during the company's trial (United States v. Quadrant Magnetics, W.D. Ky. # 3:22-00088).

House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., said March 19 that a deal that allows ByteDance to retain control of TikTok would violate a U.S. law requiring the Chinese company to sell the popular social media application.

Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, announced March 18 that she has introduced a bill that would sanction Chinese police departments that operate or try to operate in the U.S. The Expel Illegal Chinese Police Act was referred to the House Foreign Affairs and Judiciary committees. The legislation is a companion to a bill Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., reintroduced in January (see 2501100032).