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

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published in the Federal Register (89 FR 84472–84474, FR Doc 2024-24524) three general licenses issued under the Western Balkans Stabilization Regulations (31 CFR Part 588): GL 3A, GL 4, and GL 5. All three were originally issued on 18 June 2024 concurrent with OFAC's expansion of Republika Srpska / Dodik-network designations; the 23 October 2024 Federal Register notice formalises them per the Administrative Procedure Act notice requirements. GL 3A (which superseded GL 3 of 16 November 2023) authorises transactions involving certain WBSR-blocked entities that are ordinarily incident and necessary to the exportation or re-exportation of agricultural commodities, medicine, medical devices, replacement parts and components, software updates, or activities involving medical prevention, diagnosis, treatment, or clinical trials. GL 4 authorises wind-down transactions with entities blocked on 18 June 2024 through a defined cutoff. GL 5 authorises transactions ordinarily incident and necessary to the manufacture, distribution, operation, installation, or maintenance/repair of drinking-water pumps manufactured or distributed by the WBSR-blocked Bosnian Serb entity Kaldera Company EL PGP d.o.o. (and 50%-or-more-owned subsidiaries), preserving municipal water supply continuity.

Bahrain's Ministry of Industry and Commerce issued Decision No. 53 of 2024, amending the conditions governing foreign ownership in commercial activities, effective 18 October 2024. The reform permits 100% foreign ownership of commercial enterprises — including wholesale and retail trade and authorized distribution — without a mandatory Bahraini local partner, where the foreign company operates in at least 10 countries or generates annual revenue above EUR 750 million. It simultaneously reduces the minimum capital requirement for foreign-owned companies in Bahrain by 95%, from BHD 2,000,000 (~EUR 5m) to BHD 100,000 (~EUR 240,000), materially expanding the addressable foreign-investor pool to mid-market commercial enterprises.

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).

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).

The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), enacted as Division H of P.L. 118-50 (21st Century Peace through Strength Act), prohibits app stores and internet hosting services from distributing, maintaining, or updating "foreign adversary controlled applications" — defined explicitly to include ByteDance Ltd and its subsidiaries (TikTok). ByteDance was given 270 days from enactment (until January 19, 2025) to execute a "qualified divestiture" — selling TikTok to an owner with no operational relationship with a foreign adversary — or face a nationwide distribution ban. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law's constitutionality in TikTok, Inc. v. Garland (January 17, 2025), rejecting First Amendment challenges and affirming the national-security rationale grounded in data-collection concerns.

Belgium's Loi du 29 février 2024 (published in the Moniteur Belge on 27 May 2024, entering into force 1 June 2026) establishes the first comprehensive federal authorisation and traceability regime for pharmaceutical raw materials used by pharmacists in extemporaneous and magistral preparations. Manufacturers, importers, and distributors of covered materials must obtain AFMPS authorisation and comply with Good Manufacturing Practice and Good Distribution Practice standards; pharmacists may only source materials from authorised actors. The statute was enacted during Belgium's EU Council Presidency (H1 2024) and directly parallels the EU Critical Medicines Alliance architecture launched in Leuven on 24 April 2024, positioning Belgium as the first EU member state to operationalise a national supply-chain control layer for pharmaceutical compounding raw materials ahead of the forthcoming EU Critical Medicines Act.