United Kingdom: International Trade & Investment

The UK Supreme Court has ruled on whether sovereign states can invoke immunity to resist enforcement of adverse ICSID arbitration awards in English courts. Spain and Zimbabwe challenged the registration...

When a marriage ends and wealth extends beyond UK borders, questions arise about how overseas assets will be treated in divorce proceedings. From holiday homes and international investment portfolios to offshore bank accounts and foreign business interests, understanding disclosure obligations, jurisdiction issues and enforcement challenges becomes essential for protecting your financial position.

This comprehensive round-up examines the latest developments in UK, EU, and US sanctions and export controls, covering new designations, enforcement actions, regulatory updates, and compliance guidance across multiple sanctions regimes including Russia, Iran, and global human rights measures.

The UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism enters into force on January 1, 2027, imposing a carbon price on imports of aluminum, cement, fertilizers, hydrogen, and iron and steel to address carbon leakage and ensure competitive parity with domestic producers under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme. Operating as a tax administered by HMRC, the mechanism will phase out free allowances over nine years while potentially exempting EU imports if UK-EU ETS linking negotiations succeed.

As businesses reconfigure operations across Asia amid escalating trade barriers, export controls, and supply-chain disruption, leading organizations are fundamentally rethinking how they approach risk management. Rather than treating risk as a damage-limitation exercise, forward-thinking companies are embedding it as a core design principle that shapes capital allocation, network architecture, and strategic positioning across the region.

This weekly update examines the latest developments in UK sanctions enforcement, including a landmark arms trafficking conviction and new regulatory guidance from OFSI on Russian sanctions compliance.

In the EU, the General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988 (“GPSR”) came into force on 13 December 2024, replacing the decades-old General Product Safety Directive 2001/95/EC and applying directly...

Regulatory reporting is complex and with the numerous EMIR updates released by ESMA over the years, it can get quite confusing. Recently, the European Commission has published a proposal called EMIR 3.

The UK Government has confirmed a new steel trade measure that will take effect from 1 July 2026, replacing the current steel safeguard regime which expires at the end of June.