The European Commission is referring Hungary to the European Union Court of Justice for failing to apply the minimum EU threshold for excise duties on cigarettes, the commission said in an Oct. 10 press release. Hungary’s low duty rate creates “distortions of competition with other Member States and is at odds with EU health protection policy,” the commission said. Hungary has been given a “long transitional period” to comply with the EU’s minimum 60 percent excise duty, the press release said.

The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade on Oct. 10 posted guidance documents on the U.K.’s respective export licensing policies for Senegal, Guinea -Bissau and Benin. Each of the three members of the Economic Community of West African States, and as such the U.K. “will not issue an export license for small arms ad light weapons, components or ammunition,” the three guidances all said. The U.K. “will only consider issuing license applications where the ECOWAS Commission has issued an exception to its moratorium,” UKDIT said. The guidances note that military items transiting the U.K. “are still regarded as being exported when they leave the country and are therefore subject to control.” There’s an exception to that policy on transit when “certain military goods destined for Senegal, meaning that a licence is required to transit goods through the UK or to tranship them in the UK with a view to re-exportation to Senegal,” UKDIT said.

Argentina is updating its safety regime on certain auto parts by requiring exporters and importers to first obtain an “approval certificate” for certain safety elements, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council said in an Oct. 10 report. Traders must apply for the certificate through Argentina’s government and applications are subject to review by the country’s National Institute of Industrial Technology, the report said. Certificates granted on the basis of “certification licences issued by certification bodies recognised by the United Nations” will be valid for two years and may be renewed, the report said. Other certificates granted “on the basis of certification licences issued by … an institution accredited by Argentinean authorities” will be valid for the duration of the license, HKTDC said.

Adobe will deactivate some of its accounts in Venezuela by Oct. 29 to comply with U.S. sanctions, according to an unofficial translation of a notice released by the company. Adobe said it is working with customers and distributors to offer them refunds for “any paid license” periods. “We will carefully follow the course of events and try to restore services in Venezuela as soon as possible when the law permits,” the notice said.

Japanese and South Korean officials will meet in Geneva today to address South Korea’s World Trade Organization dispute over Japan’s export restrictions, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. Ahead of the meeting, Japan reiterated that its export control measures on certain shipments to South Korea, which took effect last month (see 1909090041) are necessary to protect Japan’s export control system. “The update is necessary … to prevent the proliferation of weapons such as nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and their means of delivery,” the country said. “Japan will make clear that the update is WTO-consistent.”

The State Department is not planning to release industry feedback on its draft guidance for exports of surveillance technology, an agency spokesperson said. The agency is beginning to “finalize” the guidance, a spokesperson said, and declined to answer questions about what kind of comments it received. “There is no public release planned for the comments that were submitted,” the spokesperson said in an email.

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing new reporting requirements for 31 chemicals under significant new use rules. The proposed SNURs would require notification to EPA at least 90 days in advance of a new use by importers, manufacturers or processors. Importers of chemicals subject to these proposed SNURs would need to certify their compliance with the SNUR requirements should these proposed rules be finalized, EPA said. Exporters of these chemicals would become subject to export notification requirements. Comments on the proposed SNURs are due Nov. 12.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned four people involved in a South African corruption network, Treasury said in an Oct. 10 press release. The network “leveraged overpayments on government contracts, bribery, and other corrupt acts” to fund political payments to control government actions, Treasury said. The measures include sanctions on Ajay Gupta, Atul Gupta, Rajesh Gupta and Salim Essa.

Business and labor leaders and government insider panelists agreed that the U.S.-China trade war will be difficult to unravel, but disagreed on how quickly Democrats could -- or should -- resolve outstanding issues on the NAFTA rewrite. The trade panel Oct. 10, hosted by Fiscal Note, included Clete Willems, former White House deputy assistant to the president for international economics, who said that although it pained him to say it, "The political conditions in both countries are just not conducive to the big deal."

Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., agreed to support legislation that would impose sanctions on Turkey unless the Trump administration certifies every 90 days that Turkey is not operating in Syria, according to a framework of the sanctions released Oct. 9. The legislation would sanction all U.S. assets belonging to Turkey’s top officials, including its president, vice president and ministers of defense, foreign affairs, treasury, trade and energy. It would also block U.S. defense exports to Turkey's military and impose sanctions on any foreign person or entity that sells to Turkey’s military or energy sector.