Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

Lei 14.902/2024, sanctioned 27 June 2024 (DOU 28 June 2024), institutes the Programa Mobilidade Verde e Inovação (Programa Mover), Brazil's successor framework to Rota 2030 for the automotive ecosystem (passenger cars, trucks, buses, auto parts). The law converts Provisional Measure 1.205/2023 into permanent statute and authorises approximately R$19.3 billion (~USD 4.8 billion) in financial credits for R&D and decarbonisation projects through 2028, alongside an IPI (Industrialised Products Tax) bonus-malus regime tied to lifecycle CO2 emissions, recyclability and energy-efficiency thresholds. Vehicles meeting the strictest "Carro Sustentável" criteria (≤83 gCO2/km, ≥80% recyclability) qualify for zero-IPI treatment, while non-compliant vehicles face higher tax rates. The programme is regulated by Decreto 12.435/2025 (15 April 2025), with mandatory emissions-labelling and commercialisation requirements taking effect from 1 June 2025. The law also permits a 2% reduced import tariff rate for qualifying vehicles where the importer commits R&D spend equivalent to 2% of customs value.

On 27 June 2024 the Argentine Congress passed Law 27.742, the "Ley de Bases y Puntos de Partida para la Libertad de los Argentinos" ("Ley Bases"), the flagship economic reform of the Milei administration. The law was published in the Boletín Oficial on 8 July 2024 and Title VII established the Régimen de Incentivo para Grandes Inversiones (RIGI) — a promotional regime designed to attract large-scale capex into mining, energy, oil & gas, LNG, steel, forestry, tourism, infrastructure, and technology. Implementing Decree 749/2024 was issued on 23 August 2024 and the regime became fully operational with Resolution 1074/2024 on 22 October 2024. RIGI offers single-project vehicles ("VPUs") that commit at least USD 200M (with sector-specific thresholds rising to USD 600M and up to USD 2B for long-term "strategic export" projects) a 30-year regulatory, tax, customs and foreign-exchange stability guarantee. Headline benefits include a reduced 25% corporate income tax (vs. 35% standard), accelerated depreciation, full deductibility of inflation adjustments, an import-duty exemption on capital goods and inputs, a phased relaxation of central-bank obligations to repatriate and convert export proceeds (20% free after year one, 40% after year two, 100% after year three), and reduced dividend withholding tax. Disputes are subject to international arbitration under ICSID or UNCITRAL rules. As of mid-2025, RIGI's project pipeline reached USD 33.9B in submitted applications, of which roughly USD 15.7B (46.5%) had been approved across nine projects spanning steel (Sidersa), energy/LNG (PAE Southern Energy, YPF Argentina LNG), three mining projects, and infrastructure. The flagship approval was Rio Tinto's USD 2.5B Rincón battery-grade lithium carbonate plant in Salta (initial 53,000 t/yr, scaling to 60,000 t/yr by 2028) — the first mining project approved under the regime, on 21 May 2025. Strategically, RIGI is Argentina's bid to compete with Chile's lithium framework and Brazil's industrial policies for upstream-critical-minerals capex. Combined with the lifting of Argentina's FX controls (cepo cambiario) in April 2025 it sharply re-rates the country's project-economics math for multinationals — particularly in the Lithium Triangle, the Vaca Muerta shale, and pipeline/LNG infrastructure. Whether the 30-year stability guarantee survives a future change of government is the dominant political-risk overhang on the regime.

Rwanda's Parliament enacted Law n° 056/2024 of 26 June 2024 establishing a new tax on minerals, published in the Official Gazette special issue of 5 July 2024 and replacing the 2013 minerals-tax law that had used a three-category framework with a top rate of 6%. The 2024 statute restructures the mineral-tax regime into six categories (base metals, gemstones, platinum group metals, rare earth elements, energy minerals, gold) and applies differential rates between domestically processed minerals (royalty tax: 0.5%–3%) and raw-mineral exports (export tax: 0.5%–3%), explicitly favouring value-added processing. Notably the gold royalty falls from 6% to 0.5% and base-metal royalty from 4% to 3%. The law operates under separate tax-policy authority from the companion Mining Law n° 072/2024 enacted the same day and is the principal fiscal instrument underpinning Rwanda's 3T (tin/tantalum/tungsten) processing-hub strategy and broader value-addition agenda under the National Strategy for Transformation (NST1).

Rwanda's Parliament enacted Law n° 072/2024 of 26 June 2024 governing mining and quarry operations, published in the Official Gazette Special edition of 24 July 2024 and repealing the 2018 Mining Law. The statute restructures the licensing regime, empowers the competent organ to designate strategic minerals over which the State holds exclusive rights in the public interest, tightens land-acquisition rules (compensated land transfers to State ownership), and significantly raises penalties — illegal mining now carries up to 5 years' imprisonment and RWF 80m fines, illegal mineral trading up to 10 years and RWF 150m. The law underpins Rwanda's positioning as Africa's principal 3T (tin/tantalum/tungsten) processing hub handling Rwandan and cross-border concentrates.

Italy's Decreto-Legge 25 giugno 2024 n. 84, converted with amendments into Legge 8 agosto 2024 n. 115 (Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 189 of 13 August 2024, in force 14 August 2024), is Italy's national implementing instrument for Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 (the EU Critical Raw Materials Act). It establishes a MIMIT-led national governance framework for strategic CRM projects spanning extraction, transformation, and recycling; creates a mandatory National Register of strategic companies and value chains with annual reporting on strategic-material import/export flows; divides permitting competence between MASE (extraction/recycling, max 18/10 months) and MIMIT (transformation, max 10 months); and designates INVITALIA and CDP as financing windows for Italian strategic-CRM projects seeking EU Strategic Project status under CRMA Article 6.

On 24 June 2024 the Council of the European Union adopted Council Regulation (EU) 2024/1745, the 14th package of restrictive measures against Russia, amending Regulation (EU) 833/2014. The package introduces the EU's first targeted measures against Russian LNG (a ban on EU-port transhipment to third countries after a 9-month transition, and a prohibition on EU investment and goods/services exports to Russian LNG projects under construction such as Arctic LNG 2 and Murmansk LNG), bans EU entities outside Russia from using the SPFS Russian financial-messaging system, designates 27 named "shadow-fleet" tankers under a new vessel-specific port-access ban, and imposes a "best-efforts" obligation on EU parents to ensure non-EU subsidiaries do not engage in sanctions circumvention. It adds 116 new listings (69 individuals, 47 entities), including third-country circumvention enablers, to the asset-freeze and travel-ban regime.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amended the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding three Kaspersky entities to the Entity List under End-User Review Committee (ERC) determinations — AO Kaspersky Lab (Moscow), OOO Kaspersky Group (Moscow), and Kaspersky Labs Limited (London). All three are designated for cooperation with Russian military and intelligence authorities in support of Russian government cyber-intelligence objectives. Exports, reexports, and in-country transfers of all items subject to the EAR to the three entities now require a BIS licence reviewed under a policy of presumption of denial, with no licence exceptions available. The action is paired with a same-week Commerce ICTS final determination prohibiting Kaspersky cybersecurity and anti-virus software transactions in the United States.

Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 - the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA) - was published in the Official Journal on 22 June 2024 and entered into force on 12 July 2024 (twenty days after OJ publication). It sets a binding target that at least 40% of the EU's annual deployment needs for net-zero technologies be manufactured within the EU by 2030. It establishes a streamlined permitting regime for Net-Zero Strategic Projects (NZSP) capped at 18 months for construction permits (9 months for smaller projects), creates Net-Zero Regulatory Sandboxes, and requires public procurers and auction designers to include resilience and sustainability criteria that effectively favour non-China-sourced equipment. The Act is the manufacturing-capacity complement to the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA, Reg 2024/1252, filed separately) and was explicitly designed to close the EU's competitive gap with US IRA manufacturing incentives.

The Global Minimum Tax Act (GMTA), enacted as section 81 of the Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1 (Bill C-69; S.C. 2024, c. 17) and receiving royal assent on 20 June 2024, is Canada's primary legislative implementation of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework Pillar Two GloBE (Global Anti-Base Erosion) rules. The Act imposes a 15% minimum effective tax rate on Canadian members of multinational enterprise groups with consolidated annual revenue ≥ EUR 750 million via an Income Inclusion Rule (IIR) and a Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax (QDMTT); both apply retroactively to fiscal years beginning on or after 31 December 2023, meaning the first compliance returns are due as early as 30 June 2026. The Undertaxed Profits Rule (UTPR) backstop was deliberately carved out for separate later enactment. Canada structured the GMTA as a stand-alone statute — distinct from its EU, UK, and Korean counterparts, which amend or transpose into existing tax legislation — and administered by the Canada Revenue Agency as the collecting authority.

On 20–21 June 2024 Niger's Ministry of Mines, acting under the CNSP military-transition government, formally notified the Director General of Imouraren SA (the Orano subsidiary holding the Imouraren uranium permit) that the perimeter of the "IMOURAREN Permit" returned to the public domain of Niger and was freed of all derived rights, in application of articles 59 and 61 of Ordinance no. 93-16 of 2 March 1993 (Niger Mining Law). The decision followed a 7 June 2024 ministerial "note d'information" giving Orano until 19 June to engage development works under the earlier 19 March 2024 mise en demeure, and the Ministry's finding that Orano's 26 April 2024 exploitation plan "did not meet our expectations". Imouraren is one of the world's largest known uranium deposits at ~200,000 t U (Orano-disclosed reserves, originally permitted to AREVA in January 2009 with mine-build paused after the 2011 Fukushima uranium-price collapse). Orano had held 63.4% of Imouraren SA against 36.6% by Niger state-owned Sopamin. Orano notified the public on 20 June 2024 that it took note of the decision, and on 4 December 2024 initiated ICSID arbitration against the Niger state contesting the revocation. The action is the first leg of the 2024–2025 Niger-Orano break (followed by the December 2024 announcement of loss of operational control over Somaïr / Cominak / Imouraren and the June 2025 Somaïr nationalisation announcement).

President Luis Abinader signed Decreto No. 324-24 on 13 June 2024, declaring the promotion, innovation, and development of the semiconductor industry in the Dominican Republic as "alta prioridad nacional" (high national priority) and directing MICM to formulate a National Strategy for the Promotion of the Semiconductor Industry (ENFIS). The decree was published in the Official Gazette on 28 June 2024, establishing a high-level inter-ministerial coordination mechanism and linking the initiative to the free-trade-zone incentive framework under Law 8-90. ENFIS was formally launched on 19 August 2025 by President Abinader and MICM Minister Víctor Bisonó at the Día Nacional de las Zonas Francas, structuring the strategy across five pillars: Industrial Development, Governance and Policy, Workforce and Human Capital, Investment Attraction, and Innovation and R&D Ecosystem.

The Kyrgyz Republic's parliament adopted on 13 June 2024 — and President Sadyr Japarov signed into law on 27 June 2024 — amendments to the Law "On Subsoil" (No. 49 of 19 May 2018) that lift the constitutional-status prohibition on geological exploration, prospecting, and development of uranium and thorium deposits enacted in 2019 under President Jeenbekov. The law simultaneously invalidates the standalone 2019 prohibition statute and introduces a voluntary state-equity transfer mechanism allowing mining-rights holders to transfer company shares to the state for strategically important gold and coal deposits. Together with the January 2024 Presidential Decree No. 5 (Polymetals and REE National Project), the amendment forms the second pillar of President Japarov's mining reset, re-opening the Kyzyl-Ompol uranium-REE-ilmenite deposit in Issyk-Kul oblast (est. 2,000+ tU resource + significant Th₂O₃, REE, and ilmenite by-products) to Western and Asian operators for the first time since 2019.

Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), replaces the 2009 Ecodesign Directive with a cross-cutting product-sustainability framework covering nearly all physical goods placed on the EU single market. It empowers the Commission to adopt binding delegated acts setting ecodesign requirements (durability, reparability, recyclability, recycled content, chemical restrictions, energy and resource efficiency) by product category, establishes a mandatory Digital Product Passport (DPP) for supply-chain traceability, and bans the destruction of unsold consumer products. The regulation entered into force on 18 July 2024; the Commission's first ESPR and Energy Labelling Working Plan (2025–2030, COM(2025) 187) was adopted in April 2025, prioritising textiles, furniture, tyres, electronics, and iron/steel/aluminium.

Directive (EU) 2024/1760, adopted 13 June 2024 and entering into force 25 July 2024, imposes binding human-rights and environmental due-diligence obligations on large in-scope EU and non-EU companies across their chains of activities (upstream supply chain, own operations, and a limited part of downstream distribution). In-scope companies must identify, prevent, mitigate, and bring to an end actual and potential adverse human-rights and environmental impacts — covering forced labour, child labour, hazardous chemicals, and biodiversity loss — with obligations phased in from FY 2027 (EU companies with >5 000 employees and >EUR 1.5 bn turnover) through FY 2029 (>1 000 employees and >EUR 450 m). Companies must also adopt a climate transition plan compatible with the Paris Agreement 1.5 °C pathway (Art 22), and face civil liability for damages in national courts (Art 29); the original transposition deadline of 26 July 2026 was postponed and scope narrowed by the EU Omnibus I package (Directive 2026/470).

BIS final rule (FR Doc 2024-13148, 89 FR 51644, RIN 0694-AJ87) expanding the Export Administration Regulations' Russia and Belarus sanctions architecture. Effective 12 June 2024 (most provisions) and 16 September 2024 (the EAR99 enterprise-software paragraph at §746.8(a)(8)), the rule introduces a new licence requirement for thirteen named categories of EAR99 enterprise software (ERP, CRM, BI, SCM, EDW, CMMS, project management, PLM, BIM, CAD, CAM, ETO) destined for Russia or Belarus; permits address-only Entity List designations to capture high-diversion addresses; adds eight Hong Kong addresses to the Entity List; and refines the Russia/Belarus Industry Sector Sanctions and Foreign Direct Product (FDP) rule. Released the day before the G7 Italy summit alongside coordinated OFAC, State, and Treasury actions that together designated 300+ persons and entities.

Presidential Decree (Cumhurbaşkanı Kararı) No. 8639, dated 7 June 2024 and published in the Resmi Gazete on 8 June 2024, amends Türkiye's Decision on the Application of Additional Customs Duty on Imports to impose a 40% additional ad valorem duty (or USD 7,000 per unit, whichever is higher) on China-origin passenger vehicles classified under HS heading 8703 — covering internal-combustion, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery-electric models. The measure entered into force 30 days after publication, on 7 July 2024, with an exemption for imports made under an Investment Incentive Certificate (Yatırım Teşvik Belgesi) — explicitly designed to channel Chinese OEMs into domestic Turkish assembly.

Mongolia's State Great Khural adopted Resolution No. 62 on 5 June 2024, mandating the government to implement sixteen specific reforms following a parliamentary audit of the Mineral Resources and Petroleum Authority of Mongolia (MRPAM)'s performance in issuing special permits, collecting royalties, and enforcing taxes over the 2018-2023 period. The audit identified approximately MNT 1.1 trillion in uncollected mineral-extraction royalties and systemic weaknesses in licence management, illegal-mining enforcement, and strategic-deposit benefit distribution. The resolution directs the government to review and amend the Minerals Law, Strategic Deposits Law, and Oyu Tolgoi Investment Agreement frameworks by spring 2025, reform royalty calculation methodologies, and ensure strategic mineral revenues flow equitably to Mongolian citizens. Resolution 62 is the foundational parliamentary mandate driving Mongolia's 2024-25 minerals-regime reform cycle, providing the upstream political basis for subsequently enacted instruments including the Critical Minerals Support Law (January 2025), the Erdenes Critical Minerals SOE renaming (February 2025), and the Mining Product Exchange royalty-pricing shift (October 2025).

On 4 June 2024 the Philippine Department of Energy issued Department Circular DC2024-06-0018, the Revised Omnibus Guidelines Governing the Award and Administration of Renewable Energy Contracts and the Registration of Renewable Energy Developers. The circular operationalises the November 2022 reinterpretation (DC2022-11-0034) under which solar, wind, biomass and ocean/tidal RE resources are excluded from the constitutional 60-40 nationality cap on natural-resource exploitation, allowing 100% foreign-owned applicants to take RE Service Contracts in those four resource classes. Geothermal RE contracts remain subject to the 60-40 Filipino-ownership requirement. The Guidelines also restructure pre-award, award and post-award procedures across the ~1,400 RE service contracts (≈154 GW) in the DOE pipeline and allow developers to begin permitting and feasibility work before the 25-year contract term formally begins.

On 2 June 2024, Treasurer Jim Chalmers signed the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers (Disposal of Interests in Northern Minerals Limited) Orders 2024 (F2024N00475), directing five China-linked foreign investors to divest a combined 613,573,632 shares in Northern Minerals Limited (ASX: NTU) to non-associates by 2 September 2024 on national-security grounds. The five named investors are Yuxiao Fund Pte Ltd, Black Stone Resources Limited, Indian Ocean International Shipping and Service Company Limited, Ms Ximei Liu, and Mr Xi Wang, together holding approximately 10.4% of NTU's total shares. NTU owns the Browns Range Heavy Rare Earths Project in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia — one of the few commercial-scale dysprosium and terbium deposits outside China. This is the foundational FATA s.69(2) disposal-order instrument; non-compliance led to an AUD 14 million Federal Court penalty in January 2026 and a second tranche of disposal orders against six further China-linked investors in May 2026.

The Diet enacted on 31 May 2024 (promulgated 7 June 2024 as Law No. 45 of 2024) the "Act on Partially Amending the Act on Strengthening Industrial Competitiveness and Other Acts to Create New Business and Encourage Investment in Industries". The provisions establishing Japan's first US IRA-style production-and-sales-linked tax credit took effect 2 September 2024 per METI's press release of the same date. Eligible enterprises with a METI-certified business plan can claim tax deductions tied to domestic production-and-sales volume of five designated strategic products: electric vehicles, green steel, green chemicals, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and semiconductors. The credit is available for ten years from certification (certifications must be issued by 31 March 2027), with an annual cap of 40% of corporate tax liability (20% for semiconductors) and a 4-year carry-forward. Eligibility is conditional on meeting wage-growth or capital-investment thresholds in each fiscal year.

Peraturan Menteri Energi dan Sumber Daya Mineral (Permen ESDM) No. 6 of 2024, signed by Minister Arifin Tasrif on 30 May 2024 and published in the Berita Negara Republik Indonesia, establishes the procedural framework governing how holders of Mining Business Licences (IUP) and Special Mining Business Licences (IUPK) for copper, iron, lead, and zinc production may continue to sell processed mineral products abroad during the final phase of domestic smelter construction. Licence holders that previously obtained MEMR export recommendations and whose refining facilities have reached commissioning stage but are not yet at full operational capacity may apply for time-bound extensions to sell concentrate and semi-processed ore offshore through 31 December 2024, subject to quarterly physical inspections by the Director General of Minerals and Coal. The regulation is the MEMR-side companion instrument to the same-day Permendag 10/2024 (Ministry of Trade copper-concentrate and anode-sludge export prohibition), together constituting the complete legal architecture of Indonesia's copper hilirisasi (downstream- processing) mandate. Its scope is broader than the Trade Ministry rule: it covers copper, iron, lead, and zinc whereas Permendag 10/2024 targets copper and anode-sludge only, and it operates as the conditional derogation mechanism (MEMR) to Permendag 10/2024's absolute prohibition regime (Trade Ministry).

Indonesia's Ministry of Trade promulgated Peraturan Menteri Perdagangan (Permendag) No. 10 of 2024 on 30 May 2024, amending Permendag 22/2023 on Goods Prohibited for Export. The regulation set 31 December 2024 as the final cutoff for copper-concentrate and anode-sludge exports — extending the original 1 June 2024 ban deadline by seven months — and enforced a full prohibition starting 1 January 2025. The measure is paired with ESDM Regulation No. 6 of 2024 covering the upstream mining-product side, completing the legal architecture of Indonesia's copper "hilirisasi" (downstream-isation) mandate. The ban forces all domestically mined copper concentrate to be smelted and refined inside Indonesia. Two operators are directly affected: PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI), majority-owned by state holding MIND ID with Freeport-McMoRan as minority partner, which operates the Grasberg mine in Papua and the new Manyar/Gresik smelter in JIIPE; and PT Amman Mineral Nusa Tenggara (subsidiary of PT Amman Mineral Internasional, IDX:AMMN), which operates the Batu Hijau mine in Sumbawa with a smelter under commissioning. A fire at Freeport's Gresik smelter in October 2024 disrupted ramp-up and forced the government to grant a discretionary export-permit extension into 2025 for PTFI, signalling that the ban — while now legally in force — is being enforced flexibly during smelter commissioning rather than as a hard stop. Permendag 10/2024 is the copper-sector equivalent of the 2020 nickel- ore export ban (ESDM 11/2019) and the planned bauxite-ore ban (effective June 2023). Together these three measures complete Indonesia's resource-nationalism package across its three highest-value mineral exports: nickel, bauxite, and copper. Combined domestic smelter capex commitments tied to the copper rule (Freeport Manyar + Amman Sumbawa) total ~USD 6 billion. Indonesia's Finance Ministry estimated forgone export revenue of ~Rp 10 trillion (~USD 640 million per year) from the copper-concentrate ban alone, which the government is treating as an acceptable downstream-policy cost. Severity is set at 4: the action is binding, durable, and reshapes a globally relevant supply chain (Indonesia is ~5% of global mined copper, rising), but discretionary export extensions during smelter commissioning soften near-term enforcement and limit the immediate market shock relative to the harder 2020 nickel rule.

The Central African Republic enacted a comprehensive new Mining Code (Law No. 24-008) in May 2024, replacing the prior framework to govern all prospecting, exploration, exploitation, processing, and marketing of mineral deposits. The code creates two state enterprises: GEMINCA (Gemmes et Minéraux de Centrafrique), mandated as the state-designated purchaser of precious and semi-precious minerals — introducing a state monopsony channel for diamond and gold purchasing — and SONADERM (Société Nationale de Développement des Ressources Minérales), charged with geological survey and mineral-domain promotion. Mandatory EITI, Kimberley Process, and ICGLR compliance is imposed on all mining title holders, forecloses informal-sector operators, and tightens supply-chain due-diligence requirements for downstream importers. A companion formalisation framework licences artisanal and small-scale mining through cooperatives and purchasing-office structures, and a dedicated mining fund distinct from Treasury accounts is established to channel sector revenues.

Sweden amended the Minerals Act (Minerallagen, 1991:45) via Proposition 2023/24:126 and SFS 2024:325, enacted by the Riksdag on 29 May 2024 and effective 1 July 2024, removing the requirement that a Natura 2000 permit must be obtained before a mining exploitation concession (bearbetningskoncession) can be granted. The Natura 2000 assessment is decoupled from the concession track and moved to the Environmental Code's environmental-permit stage, where the full scope of the mining project is known and EU habitat-impact requirements can be completely and accurately met. The reform materially reduces the sequencing bottleneck in Swedish mine permitting, allowing the Bergmästaren (National Mining Inspectorate) to advance exploitation concessions in parallel with ongoing Natura 2000 proceedings rather than requiring prior resolution of Natura 2000 status. Sweden is Europe's largest iron ore producer and hosts the EU's largest known rare earth deposit (LKAB Per Geijer).

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim launched Malaysia's National Semiconductor Strategy (NSS) on 28 May 2024 in his keynote at SEMICON Southeast Asia, with implementation led by MITI. The NSS commits at least RM25 billion (~USD 5.3 billion) in fiscal support over a ten-year horizon and structures the chip industrial policy in three sequential phases: (1) shoring up Malaysia's existing strength in outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) and back-end packaging, (2) moving domestic firms into integrated-circuit (IC) design, advanced packaging and advanced manufacturing equipment, and (3) developing Malaysian-owned global champions across the chip value chain under a "Made by Malaysia" framing. Headline targets include developing 10 local design and advanced- packaging companies with revenues between RM1 billion and RM4.7 billion, 100 broader semiconductor-related companies near the RM1 billion revenue mark, and training 60,000 high- skilled engineers. The RM25 billion envelope decomposes into RM5 billion in tax forgone over five years, RM2 billion for existing capital grants, RM1.25 billion for an HRD Fund semiconductor allocation, RM2 billion for a Semiconductor Industrial Park, RM1.59 billion for an Advanced Packaging Centre, plus RM2 billion each for the National Energy Transition Facility and Green Tech Financing Scheme. By June 2025, the government reported RM70.7 billion in announced investments attracted under the NSS umbrella.

OFAC final rule (FR Doc 2024-11618, 89 FR 46518) amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations at 31 CFR Part 515 to further implement the May 2022 Biden administration policy of expanded support for the Cuban people. The rule reinstates the "U-turn" general license (authorizing US banks to process funds transfers that originate and terminate outside the US, neither originator nor beneficiary a US person); replaces "self-employed individual" with the broader "independent private sector entrepreneur" (covering Cuban private businesses up to 100 employees, including private cooperatives); authorizes Cuban nationals in the private sector and located in Cuba to open and operate accounts at US financial institutions (including via online/mobile banking); and expands authorizations for internet-based services to support Cuban civil society and private-sector entrepreneurs. Effective 29 May 2024.

China registered the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund III Co., Ltd. ("Big Fund III") in Beijing on 24 May 2024 with RMB 344 billion (~USD 47.5 billion) of registered capital — the largest single capital raise of the three Big Fund phases (Phase I 2014: RMB 138.7bn; Phase II 2019: RMB 204bn). Nineteen state-owned investors contribute, led by the Ministry of Finance (17% / RMB 60bn) and the six largest state-owned commercial banks (ICBC, ABC, BoC, CCB ~6.25% each at RMB 21.5bn; BoCom RMB 20bn; PSBC RMB 8bn). Duration 15 years (24 May 2024 → 23 May 2039). The fund explicitly targets the chokepoints exposed by US BIS October 2022/2023/2024 controls — semiconductor manufacturing equipment, advanced memory (HBM/DRAM), AI accelerators, and third-generation compound semiconductors (SiC, GaN).

The European Commission formally notified the Republic of Senegal on 27 May 2024 of the possibility of being identified as a non-cooperating third country in fighting illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, under Article 32 of Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008. The decision (C/2024/3277) cites specific shortcomings in Senegal's monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) of Senegalese-flagged vessels operating outside national waters, inadequate oversight of foreign vessels using Dakar port as a transhipment hub, and traceability failures enabling illegal fish exports to the EU. A formal dialogue period now opens during which Senegal must remediate identified deficiencies; failure to do so would lead to red-card escalation and a full EU import prohibition on Senegalese seafood.

Uganda's Statutory Instrument No. 30 of 2024, gazetted and effective 24 May 2024, prohibits the export of unrefined gold and mandates a minimum purity threshold of 99.9% for all gold export consignments. Exporters must demonstrate compliance via a purity certificate and proof of payment of an export levy of US$200 per kilogram of refined gold. The instrument replaces a previous statutory instrument of the same name that had expired on 30 June 2023, re-enacting and reinforcing the in-country value-addition mandate for Uganda's gold sector.

Presidential Decree No. 442 of 23 May 2024 establishes a special judicial-administrative procedure by which the Russian Federation or the Central Bank of the Russian Federation can claim, before a Russian court, that an "unjustified deprivation" of Russian sovereign property has been effected by a state body or judicial authority of the United States — and, on a court finding to that effect, receive equivalent-value US-affiliated property located in Russia (real assets, securities issued by Russian companies, cash held in Russian bank accounts, and other property rights) by way of compensation. The mechanism is an explicit reciprocal counter-instrument to the US REPO for Ukrainians Act (Title II of H.R.815, signed 24 April 2024) authorising US executive confiscation of immobilised Russian sovereign assets in US jurisdiction. The decree is structurally extensible: by separate presidential decision, the same procedure may be applied to any other state Russia designates as "unfriendly". Implementing procedural acts and amendments to Russian legislation were required to be adopted by 23 September 2024.

The Bureau of Industry and Security finalized a rule (BIS-2024-0035; 89 FR 43740) amending the administrative exclusion-request process under the Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs originally imposed in 2018. The rule removes 12 General Approved Exclusions (six for steel, six for aluminum) that had been in place since the December 2020 GAE rule and modifies procedures across five prior BIS interim final rules implementing the exclusion process. The changes were published on May 20, 2024 and take effect July 1, 2024, tightening the channel by which US importers can obtain product-level relief from the underlying 25% steel / 10% aluminum duties.

Japan's Act on the Promotion of Supply and Utilization of Low-Carbon Hydrogen and its Derivatives for a Smooth Transition to a Decarbonized, Growth-Oriented Economic Structure (the Hydrogen Society Promotion Act) was enacted by the Diet on 17 May 2024, promulgated 24 May 2024, and came into force on 23 October 2024. It is Japan's first legislation specifically targeting hydrogen. The Act establishes a 15-year price-gap Contract-for-Difference (CfD) subsidy backstopping the delivered cost of certified low-carbon hydrogen, ammonia, synthetic methane and synthetic fuels supplied to Japan, plus a "Hub Support" capex grant for shared port/pipeline/storage infrastructure. METI is the competent authority and JOGMEC the implementing agency. Total subsidy envelope is ~3 trillion yen (~USD 20bn) financed via GX Transition Bonds under the 2023 GX Promotion Act.

On 17 May 2024 the US Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF), chaired by DHS, published the largest single expansion of the UFLPA Entity List to date, adding 26 PRC-based companies (89 FR 43365). The majority are cotton traders and warehouse operators located outside the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) but identified as downstream conduits laundering XUAR-origin cotton into global supply chains. Under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act's rebuttable-presumption (§2(d)(2)(B)(v)), goods wholly or in part produced by any listed entity are presumed to violate 19 U.S.C. §1307 and are barred from US entry unless the importer demonstrates by clear and convincing evidence that no forced labour was involved. US apparel brands with exposure to the listed traders (Levi's, Gap, PVH/Calvin Klein sourcing chains) were required to trace and unwind that exposure within 60 days.

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a final rule amending 31 CFR § 560.540 of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR) to incorporate, with amendments, General License (GL) D-2 — originally issued on OFAC's website on September 23, 2022 — which authorizes the export, reexport, and provision of certain services, software, and hardware incident to communications over the internet to persons in Iran. The codification preserves the GL D-2 expansion (cloud-based services; third-country importation of hardware/software previously exported to Iran; ex-Iran installation, repair and replacement services; case-by-case licensing for internet-freedom activities) and updates the § 560.540 List of Services, Software, and Hardware Incident to Communications. Effective June 17, 2024, the List is amended to exclude laptops, tablets, and personal computing devices with an Adjusted Peak Performance (APP) exceeding 1 Weighted TeraFLOP (WT) — narrowing the consumer-electronics authorization to lower-performance devices and aligning the carve-out with broader BIS-style compute thresholds. The rule does not relax primary ITSR prohibitions; it codifies a humanitarian / internet-freedom exception while inserting a narrow high-performance-compute carve-out.

On 15 May 2024 the NEDA Board, chaired by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., approved a modification of Executive Order No. 12 s.2023 to expand the zero-tariff MFN regime on electric vehicles. The expansion broadens the scope from purely battery-electric four-wheeled passenger cars to hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), e-motorcycles, e-bicycles, e-tricycles, e-quadricycles, nickel-metal-hydride accumulator batteries, and PHEV/BEV jeepneys and buses, with the zero MFN duty extended through 2028 (versus the five-year horizon to 2028 under the original EO 12 of 13 January 2023). The measure is a trade-flow preference designed to accelerate domestic EV adoption and attract assembly investment under the Comprehensive Roadmap for the Electric Vehicle Industry (CREVI); it favours Chinese, Korean, and Japanese EV exporters that dominate the addressable supply.

Australia's Future Made in Australia package, announced in the 2024-25 Federal Budget on 14 May 2024, commits A$22.7bn over 10 years to position Australia as a preferred supplier in the global clean-energy and critical-minerals supply chain. The two flagship production tax incentives are: (1) the Critical Minerals Production Tax Incentive (10% of eligible processing and refining costs for 31 critical minerals) and (2) the Hydrogen Production Tax Incentive (A$2 per kg of eligible renewable or low-emissions hydrogen, 2027-2040). A National Interest Framework administered by DISR determines which investments qualify. The framework act established a Future Made in Australia Coordinator and consolidated existing industrial-support vehicles (NAIF, EFA) under a single policy lens.

The Biden administration announced on 14 May 2024 a package of Section 301 tariff increases on Chinese imports following the four-year statutory review of the original 2018-2019 tariffs. The hikes target sectors central to the US-China industrial-policy contest: BEVs went from 25% to 100%, lithium- ion EV batteries 7.5% → 25% (with non-EV battery cells rising in 2026), battery parts 7.5% → 25%, natural graphite + magnets 0% → 25% (phased to 2026), semiconductors 25% → 50% (phased to 2025), solar cells 25% → 50%, steel + aluminum products in selected categories 0-7.5% → 25%, ship-to-shore cranes 0% → 25%, certain medical products 0-7.5% → 50%. USTR issued the final determination on 13 September 2024 with most items effective 27 September 2024.

The Parliament of Georgia adopted the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence (Law No 4194-XIV) on 14 May 2024 by an 84–4 vote, overriding a presidential veto on 28 May 2024. The law requires NGOs, broadcasters, and online/print media that derive 20% or more of their funding from a "foreign power" in any calendar year to register as "organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power," with reporting and transparency obligations and fines of up to GEL 25,000 (~EUR 8,400) per violation. The European Council immediately froze Georgia's EU accession negotiations citing the law's incompatibility with EU values, the European Commission suspended EUR 30M+ of annual direct budget support, and the US State Department announced visa restrictions targeting Georgian officials, establishing the measure as a pivotal FDI-climate and geopolitical inflection event for the country.

Act No. 9 of 2025, given Royal Assent on 14 February 2025, enacts the two production tax credits announced in the May 2024 Future Made in Australia package. Schedule 1 creates the Hydrogen Production Tax Incentive (HPTI): A$2/kg refundable tax offset for eligible renewable hydrogen produced with emissions intensity below 0.6 kgCO2e/kg H2. Schedule 2 creates the Critical Minerals Production Tax Incentive (CMPTI): a refundable 10% tax offset on eligible processing and refining expenditure for the 31 minerals on Australia's Critical Minerals List. Both offsets apply to production occurring between 1 July 2027 and 30 June 2040, capped at 10 years per project, administered by the ATO via new Divisions 419 (CMPTI) and 421 (HPTI) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.

President Biden signed into law on 13 May 2024 the Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act (Division H of the National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, Public Law 118-50). The law bans imports to the United States of unirradiated low-enriched uranium (LEU) produced in Russia or by Russian state entities, effective immediately, with a waiver mechanism allowing the Department of Energy to grant case-by-case exceptions through 2027 where no alternative supply is available. The law also authorised up to $2.72B to support US uranium enrichment capacity via CENTRUS and allied enrichment partnerships.

Japan's National Diet enacted the Act on the Protection and Use of Critical Economic Security Information (重要経済安保情報の保護及び活用に関する法律, Act No. 27 of 2024) on 10 May 2024; it was promulgated on 17 May 2024 and came into full operation on 16 May 2025. The law establishes Japan's first peace-time economic-security clearance regime extending to private-sector employees. It designates "Critical Economic Security Information" (CESI) covering threat-intelligence on critical-infrastructure cyber attacks, regulatory-review information on essential infrastructure, and vulnerability data on critical-product supply chains; mandates Cabinet Office "適性評価" (suitability assessment) for cleared personnel; and imposes criminal penalties of up to five years' imprisonment for unauthorised disclosure. The CESI Act complements the 2022 Economic Security Promotion Act (ESPA), closing the information-protection gap and aligning Japan's framework with Five Eyes and EU partners for joint R&D and dual-use cooperation.

Final rule by the US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published in the Federal Register on 10 May 2024 (89 FR 40369; FR Doc 2024-10280; effective 30 May 2024) making conforming and clarifying amendments to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). The most substantive change removes Cyprus from EAR Country Group D:5 — codifying in the EAR the suspension of the US arms embargo on the Republic of Cyprus previously announced by the Department of State. The rule also standardises destination names (Swaziland → Eswatini, Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of) → North Macedonia, Turkey → Türkiye), corrects inadvertently-listed NS1/RS1/MT1 license requirements for Australia and the United Kingdom, removes obsolete footnote 3 designations, and removes redundant standalone references to "Russia" and "Russian Federation" in EAR provisions that already invoke Country Group D:5 (which encompasses both). The rule is largely administrative; the Cyprus D:5 removal is its only operational change to license requirements.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued an interim final rule (IFR) on 10 May 2024 (FR Doc 2024-10033, 89 FR) amending the Reporting, Procedures and Penalties Regulations (RPPR) at 31 CFR Part 501. The IFR overhauls OFAC's reporting framework by requiring electronic submission of certain reports through the OFAC Reporting System (ORS), expanding the rejected-transaction reporting obligation to all U.S. persons (not only U.S. financial institutions), modifying blocked-property reporting procedures, updating procedures for petitions for administrative reconsideration and property-blocked-in-error requests, and revising FOIA-availability provisions. The IFR took effect on 8 August 2024 and was subsequently finalised — with three new exceptions to the blocked-property reporting requirement — by the 8 October 2024 final rule (FR Doc 2024-23217, effective 7 November 2024).

Released 9 May 2024 by the Minister for Resources Madeleine King through the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, the Future Gas Strategy is Australia's first national-level gas-policy framework, explicitly committing gas to a continuing supply role "through to 2050 and beyond" in support of the net-zero transition. The Strategy is built on six guiding principles -- gas must remain affordable for Australian users during transition, reliable supply requires new sources, emissions from production and use must be reduced, gas exports remain critical to global decarbonisation pathways, competitive gas markets are essential, and collaboration is needed to deliver these objectives -- and is paired with a separate Future Gas Strategy Analytical Report. It sets the Commonwealth policy posture for all subsequent LNG-export approval decisions (Northwest Shelf, Beetaloo, Scarborough), east-coast domestic-supply policy (including the AEMO gas-statement-of- opportunities forecast and any future domestic-reservation intervention), and Australia's international posture on long-term LNG offtake renewals with Japan, Korea and Taiwan.

The US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) final rule (89 FR 41706; FR Doc 2024-10485) added 37 entities under 37 entries to the Entity List, all listed under the destination of the People's Republic of China. BIS designated these parties for one or more of three rationales: (i) shipping US-controlled items to Russia in violation of EAR controls, (ii) attempting to acquire US-origin items to support China's military modernisation or quantum-technology capabilities, and (iii) ties to the PRC high-altitude balloon that overflew the United States in late January–early February 2023. The designations span PRC technology companies (predominantly quantum-computing firms), manufacturing companies, and research institutes. License requirement is "all items subject to the EAR" with a policy of presumption of denial and no license exceptions available. The rule is effective 2024-05-09, with publication in the Federal Register on 2024-05-14.

On 2 May 2024 Türkiye's Ministry of Trade announced that all export, import and transit transactions with Israel, covering all product groups, were halted, as the second phase after the 9 April 2024 restriction on 54 product groups. Customs declarations naming Israel as country of shipment, destination or origin are no longer registered. The ministry stated the halt stays in force until Israel declares a ceasefire in Gaza and allows uninterrupted humanitarian aid access.

Oman published its national Green Hydrogen Strategy in May 2024 (with an updated December 2024 release), formalising statutory production targets of 1.0-1.5 Mtpa green hydrogen by 2030, 3.25-3.75 Mtpa by 2040, and 7.5-8.5 Mtpa by 2050. Implementation is centralised in Hydrom (Hydrogen Development Oman), the wholly state-owned subsidiary of Energy Development Oman established in 2022 as the singular allocation authority for green- hydrogen master-planning, land tendering and developer concessions. Approximately 50,000 km² of state land in Duqm, Dhofar and Al Jazir is earmarked under the regime, sufficient to host ~95-100 GW of electrolyser capacity and ~175-185 GW of renewable build-out by 2050. The strategy underpins the ~USD 11bn Round-2 Dhofar awards announced April 2024 and positions Oman as a structural offtake supplier to EU/JP/KR hydrogen importers under the EU Renewable Energy Directive III non-bio renewable fuel of non-biological origin (RFNBO) framework and the Japan Hydrogen Society Promotion Act CfD scheme.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), within the U.S. Department of Commerce, published an interim final rule (FR Doc 2024-08813) on April 30, 2024 amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to restructure export controls on firearms, ammunition, parts, accessories, and related technology and software (EAR Categories 0 and 1). The rule created new Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs) for semi-automatic firearms, added Crime Control / Detection (CC) license requirements, narrowed license-exception eligibility, introduced a presumption of denial for many non-government end-users, and imposed a default 1-year license validity for semi-automatic firearms. Effective May 30, 2024; later rescinded (except for the new ECCNs) by FR Doc 2025-18992 on September 30, 2025.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a final rule amending the Russia and Belarus sanctions under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to add License Exception Medical Devices (MED) at 15 CFR 740.23. The new exception authorises, without an individual licence, exports, reexports, and in-country transfers of EAR99 medical devices and EAR99 parts/components/accessories for exclusive use with such devices to Russia, Belarus, the temporarily occupied Crimea region of Ukraine, and the other covered regions of Ukraine. The exception carries verification conditions and excludes Entity List / military end-user recipients, "production" facilities, and any case where the exporter has knowledge the items will be diverted to weapons production.

Order of the State Council No. 785, adopted at the 31st executive meeting on April 26, 2024 and effective October 1, 2024, is the first comprehensive statutory regulation governing China's entire rare earth industry chain — from mining and smelting through product circulation and import/export. It replaces the 2012 administrative-regulation framework with higher-authority State Council instruments, centralising quota allocation under MIIT+NDRC+MNR, establishing a mandatory national rare earth traceability platform, and extending domestic controls to foreign-origin feedstock refined in China. This regulation is the umbrella enabling instrument for all downstream MOFCOM and MIIT rare earth export-control measures enacted from 2024 onward.