The Commercial Court of England and Wales is looking for information on insurance policy claims brought by aircraft lessors over the alleged loss of assets leased to Russian airlines since the invasion of Ukraine. While various cases have already been brought before the court, the judicial body seeks to understand the potential total number of actions that may be involved, what the issues might be in broad terms and whether any case management steps should be taken to answer these questions. Interested parties can contact the Commercial Court at comct.listing@justice.gov.uk by Dec. 16.

The EU General Court annulled the sanctions listing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on the EU's terrorism restrictions list, but it dismissed the PKK's challenge to its 2015-2017 and 2019 sanction designations. The General Court in 2018 annulled the PKK's 2014-2017 designations, noting the justification of the initial designation in 2002 was too old to determine if the group's involvement in terrorist activities at the time of that initial designation continued from 2014 to 2017.The European Court of Justice overturned its judgment in 2021, referring the case back to the General Court.

Swiss commodity trading and mining company Glencore agreed to pay the Democratic Republic of the Congo $180 million to settle "all present and future claims" of corruption running from 2007 to 2018, the company announced. The news comes after Glencore pleaded guilty in a New York district court to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in May (see 2205270044). In that case, Glencore International and Glencore agreed to pay over $1.1 billion to settle the investigations into bribery and commodity price manipulation.

A handful of law firms are being investigated by the U.K. National Crime Agency and Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation for allegedly breaching U.K. sanctions, OFSI Director Giles Thomson told the Solicitors Regulation Authority Compliance Officers conference, news site Legal Futures reported. Thomson said at the early November conference that a "very small minority" of firms are trying to aid designated individuals in skirting sanctions, while a "larger minority" were either negligent about sanctions compliance or have failed to put in place compliance measures needed to root out sanctioned individuals and entities. The U.K. in October banned British law firms from providing "transactional legal advisory services" to Russian individuals and entities.

The U.K.'s High Court of Justice in a Nov. 4 judgment adjourned a trial between VTB Commodities Trading and Petraco Oil over the delivery of oil cargo, according to a Nov. 8 post on the EU Sanctions blog. The U.K. sanctioned VTB in February, leading it to submit an application for a license to pay legal fees for the proceeding. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation failed to process the application eight months after submission, leading VTB to apply to adjourn the trial that was set for May, given that the company could not make the legal payments. In the meantime, OFSI issued a General License over the provision of legal services under the Russia sanctions regime. The High Court considered the license, then adjourned the trial. The court said the trial should be resolved "in part because of the time required to obtain OFSI licences," ordering VTB to apply to OFSI for a license to cover adverse costs liability in the proceeding and to cover other costs not covered by the General License.

The U.K. released a General License under its Russia and Belarus sanctions regimes pertaining to the provision of legal services, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced. The license allows for the payment of legal fees by designated individuals and entities to law firms and counsel. The license distinguishes between legal fees issued pre- and post-designation. OFSI imposed a cap of around $574,000, VAT included, on the amount that can be claimed for legal work carried out pre-designation, and an identical cap on overall fees for legal work started post-designation with reporting obligations proving all fees are reasonable.

The EU General Court in an Oct. 26 judgment annulled the sanctions listing of Dmitry Ovsyannikov under the Russia sanctions regime. The European Council said that given his former positions in the Russian government since 2017, Ovsyannikov undermined Ukraine's sovereignty. The General Court said the council could not justify this finding because Ovsyannikov resigned as Sevastopol governor in 2019 and stopped working as a deputy minister in 2020. The EU had to show that his links with the government since these dates justified his designation -- something the bloc failed to do, the court held. However, Ovsyannikov is still sanctioned following a European Council decision in September that was taken up after the hearing in this case.

The EU released updated guidance on the provision of business services under its Russia sanctions regime, adding an overview table of the EU restrictions on services. The European Commission added five questions to its FAQs about business services, covering how the sectoral scope for IT consultancy services is defined, whether the measures on IT consultancy services hamper the conditions of civil society organization in Russia, which software updates are exempted from the ban on IT consultancy services, what activities are covered on the architectural and engineering services ban and what activities are covered by the ban on legal advisory services.

The Paris Court of Appeals ordered the French government to release an impounded yacht owned by EU-sanctioned Russian billionaire Alexey Kuzmichev due to procedural errors made during the vessel's seizure, according to an unofficial translation. Kuzmichev is one of the main shareholders of Russia's Alfa Bank. French customs seized the yacht, called La Petite Ourse, in March following Kuzmichev's addition to the sanctions list. The yacht was moored in Antibes. The French court said the customs agents did not follow correct procedure when searching the vessel, incorrectly relying on an authority that permitted a search in connection with suspected fraud.

The World Uyghur Congress and the Global Legal Action Network launched a case at the High Court in London accusing U.K. government agencies of breaking the law by not investigating the importation of cotton products made by forced labor in China's Xinjiang region. The court heard a trial on Oct. 25 in which the WUC challenged the British home secretary, HM Revenue and Customs and the National Crime Agency for refusing to investigate goods allegedly made by forced labor of the Uyghur Muslim minority in the region, The Guardian reported.