The Federal Maritime Commission recently published an instructional video to help industry file shipping complaints. The video explains which processes are “most beneficial to achieving a complainant’s desired outcome,” including how members of the public can report information that may trigger an investigation or initiate formal civil litigation that can provide wronged parties with damages and restitution, the FMC said.

Agricultural trading giant Cargill has stopped purchasing palm oil products from Malaysian firm Sime Darby Plantation following the U.S. withhold release order on Sime Darby's palm oil goods (see 2012300007), Bloomberg reported April 18. The WRO was placed on Sime Darby relating to evidence of forced labor in the company's operations. Cargill told Bloomberg purchases of Sime Darby palm oil ceased Feb. 25.

The Drug Enforcement Administration is temporarily adding seven synthetic benzimidazole-opioid substances -- butonitazene, etodesnitazene, flunitazene, metodesnitazene, metonitazene, n-pyrrolidino etonitazene and protonitazene -- to Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, it said in a notice released April 11. The listing takes effect April 12, and will be in effect for up to three years.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's plans to use "enhanced safety inspections of vehicles as they cross international ports of entry into Texas" to prevent illegal immigration threatens to further overload the already strained supply chain, the Border Trade Alliance said April 8. Abbott said he instructed the Texas Department of Public Safety to inspect commercial vehicles coming into the U.S. due to the coming end of a policy that prevented migrants from entering the U.S. during the pandemic. "I know in advance this is going to dramatically slow traffic from Mexico into Texas," he said. The BTA said it opposes any "state-level action that results in an inspection process that duplicates the inspections already performed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, whose work at the land border ports of entry is informed by highly attuned risk assessment models, intelligence gathering, and a commitment to the agency’s dual mission of enforcement and facilitation."

The Drug Enforcement Administration permanently placed the synthetic cannabinoids 5F-EDMB-PINACA, 5F-MDMB-PICA, FUB-AKB48, 5F-CUMYL-PINACA and FUB-144 into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, in a final rule. The substances had already been temporarily listed in Schedule I since 2019 (see 1904150027). The final order is set to take effect April 7, when it's scheduled to be published in the Federal Register.

The Drug Enforcement Administration is placing the newly approved drug Quiviviq (daridorexant) in Schedule IV of the Controlled Substances Act, it said in an interim final rule. Effective April 7, daridorexant, which was granted FDA approval in January, is subject to new registration, labeling, record-keeping, and import and export requirements. DEA is accepting comments on the rule until May 9.

The Federal Maritime Commission is seeking public comments on an information collection related to non-vessel-operating common carrier service arrangements (NSAs), which can help the FMC adjudicate shipping disputes. Comments are due April 29.

The Treasury Department will continue to allow for shipments of fish and seafood from Russia if the imports were already under contract as of March 11 and the goods arrive before June 23, Treasury said in an updated general license. The period allowing for imports of spirits and non-industrial diamonds that were under contract expired March 25, which was also the original date for Russian seafood shipments (see 2203140051). CBP issued a CSMS message about the changes March 25.

A senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute says U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai "seems unable to persuade the White House" to fashion new tools to confront China, and complains that if the administration has postponed a second Section 301 investigation, that's a mistake.

Congress should abandon the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, which will not address the “root causes” of the nation’s port congestion and shipping issues, the World Shipping Council said. After the Senate Commerce Committee passed the bill March 22 (see 2203220033), the WSC, which represents many of the world's major ocean carriers, said the legislation doesn't do “anything to fix the landside logistics breakdowns that are at the heart of America’s supply chain problems.”