International Law

Advocate General Kokott has delivered a significant opinion recommending the annulment of provisions in the revised Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive that require pharmaceutical and cosmetics producers to finance 80% of quaternary wastewater treatment costs. While accepting the legitimacy of the polluter-pays principle, the AG concludes that the EU legislature failed to adequately substantiate the scientific basis for selecting these industries to bear such substantial financial burden.

The European Court recently dismissed a challenge to an EU sanctions designation, providing crucial clarification on how far the Council's power extends when targeting individuals who facilitate sanctions circumvention. The case centered on a fraudulent scheme to sell frozen shares through a subsidiary structure, raising fundamental questions about jurisdiction and the definition of circumvention. This judgment establishes important precedent for understanding what activities fall within the EU's sanctions

As globalization expands commercial footprints across borders, securing a favorable verdict in a UK or US court is often only half the battle. For multinational corporations, financial institutions, and international judgment creditors, the ultimate success of litigation depends on asset recovery. When a judgment debtor's assets are located within Nigeria, creditors must navigate the intricate framework of the Nigerian judicial system to achieve enforcement.

The Competition Authority of Kenya has harmonized its merger control regime with COMESA but not with the East African Community, creating potential jurisdictional conflicts for cross-border transactions. While the EACCA asserts exclusive jurisdiction over qualifying mergers, Kenya's domestic law has not been amended to recognize this one-stop-shop principle, unlike its treatment of COMESA notifications.

Dr Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, OON, has spent nearly five decades transforming Nigeria's maritime sector through legislative drafting, policy development, and institutional reform. From authoring the foundational Cabotage Act 2003 to proposing comprehensive reforms that could unlock N70 trillion annually, his career represents the convergence of legal expertise, policy vision, and unwavering commitment to developing Nigeria as a sovereign maritime nation.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) seeks to establish a continent-wide competition framework through its Competition Protocol, adopted in February 2023.

The European Union's 20th and 21st sanctions packages against Russia mark a fundamental shift in enforcement strategy, moving beyond traditional designation lists to systematically target the financial infrastructure enabling Russia's war economy. Financial institutions now face heightened compliance obligations requiring them to identify how transactions, financing arrangements, and digital assets may indirectly facilitate sanctioned economic activity across payment channels, banking relationships, crypto-

Investment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to expand across mining, energy, infrastructure, telecommunications and other strategic sectors. Alongside commercial potential, investors must address a question from the outset: how can capital, cash flows and expected returns be protected throughout an investment?

The European Court recently dismissed a challenge to an EU sanctions designation, providing crucial clarification on how far the Council's power extends when targeting individuals who facilitate sanctions circumvention. The case centered on a fraudulent scheme to sell frozen shares through a subsidiary structure, raising fundamental questions about jurisdiction and the definition of circumvention. This judgment establishes important precedent for understanding what activities fall within the EU's sanctions