The EU and the U.K. should strengthen trade and security ties in response to rising geopolitical tensions and threats posed by Russia, top European Parliament members said ahead of the first EU-U.K. summit May 19.

Malaysia's Ministry of Investment, Trade & Industry will be the only entity capable of issuing non-preferential certificates of origin for Malaysian shipments destined to the U.S., the agency said this week, adding that the change will help address traders that use its ports to illegally transship foreign goods to the U.S. and evade certain American import duties.

The State Department approved a possible $181 million military sale to the Czech Republic, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said May 5. The sale includes communications equipment and logistics and program support. The principal contractor will be L3Harris Global Communications.

The House of Representatives passed several sanctions bills late May 5, including one aimed at officials who undermine democracy in the Republic of Georgia (see 2501070037).

The Senate Banking Committee voted 14-10 largely along party lines May 6 to approve John Hurley to be undersecretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial crimes, sending his nomination to the full Senate for its consideration.

The Census Bureau this week updated two license type codes in the Automated Export System to reflect which Export Control Classification Numbers can be used with those codes, which need to be reported for certain chip-related exports.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week, in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

The European Commission this week outlined a new plan to gradually phase out imports of Russian oil, gas and nuclear energy while diversifying European energy imports by buying more from other markets. The “roadmap” details a series of proposals the commission plans to make in the coming weeks, including one that would ban all new and existing Russian gas spot contracts by the end of the year and all remaining Russian gas imports by 2027.

The Senate Banking Committee voted 13-11 along party lines May 6 to approve Landon Heid to be assistant secretary of commerce for export administration, sending his nomination to the full Senate for consideration.

Eric Longnecker, a longtime senior Bureau of Industry and Security official who most recently served as the agency's deputy assistant secretary for technology security, left BIS last week, he announced on LinkedIn. Longnecker -- who was named to the position last year to oversee work on emerging and foundational technology export controls, foreign technology analysis and research to assess the effectiveness of export controls (see 2405070005) -- said he accepted the government's early retirement offer. He had been with BIS since 2004.