Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2665 actions· ✨ 90 recent

On 13 June 2025 the Ministry of Environment (MoE) and the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) jointly issued Interministerial Prakas No. 4838, amending Cambodia's environmental-impact-assessment classification rules for all construction and mining business projects. The Prakas mandates that all businesses conducting construction and mining projects — including artisanal enterprises (investment <USD 50,000) and small-scale enterprises (USD 50,000–250,000) previously outside the formal EIA architecture — must sign an environmental-protection letter and file it with the MME prior to commencing operations; no project may operate in areas designated off-limits by the MME. The first joint MoE+MME prakas on environmental compliance extends Cambodia's EIA architecture to the full spectrum of mining-sector operators, building on the Environmental and Natural Resources Code (June 2023) and Prakas No. 8 (February 2024, EIA consulting-firm accreditation standards), and cross-references Prakas No. 3591 (May 2025) for the investment-size classification thresholds.

Shanghai-listed JCHX Mining Management Co., Ltd., through its wholly-owned overseas subsidiary Sundimo Mining Investments Ltd, acquired EMR Capital's 80% stake in Lubambe Copper Mines Ltd, an underground copper mine on Zambia's Copperbelt, in a transaction confirmed by the board of ZCCM Investments Holdings Plc (ZCCM-IH, the Zambian state mining-holding company holding the residual stake) around 10 July 2024. JCHX committed to invest approximately US$300 million into Lubambe to extend the mine's operating life. A follow-on agreement on 28 August 2024 saw ZCCM-IH acquire an additional 10% of Lubambe from JCHX for a nominal US$1, raising ZCCM-IH's holding from 20% to 30% and reducing JCHX's stake from 80% to 70%.

The U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) expanded export-control sanctions on Russian industry by adding 205 HTS codes (478 Schedule B numbers) to Supplement No. 4 to Part 746 of the EAR, imposing a license requirement — with a presumption of denial — for all exports, reexports, and transfers (in-country) to or within Russia of covered industrial goods. The targeted categories span wood products, boilers, industrial machinery, pumps, compressors, textile and grinding equipment, and hydraulic motors, aligning U.S. controls with EU partner lists. The rule took retroactive effect May 9, 2022, two days before Federal Register publication on May 11, 2022.

Effective 3 March 2022 (retroactive to five days before Federal Register publication), the US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) expanded Russian Industry Sector Sanctions under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding a new license requirement and denial policy for oil refinery equipment destined for or within Russia. The rule creates 15 CFR § 746.5(a)(1)(ii) and a new Supplement No. 4 to Part 746 enumerating approximately 20 categories of refining equipment — from crude distillation units and catalytic crackers to hydrocracking reactors and sulphur recovery units. Applications are subject to a policy of denial, with a narrow health-and-safety exception reviewed case by case. The stated rationale is to limit Russia's ability to generate oil-derived government revenues used to finance its military operations in Ukraine.