The Fish and Wildlife Service is listing several South Florida plants as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act, it said in a final rule. The agency has determined that the Florida prairie-clover (Dalea carthagenensis var. floridana) is endangered, and the Everglades bully (Sideroxylon reclinatum ssp. austrofloridense), Florida pineland crabgrass (Digitaria pauciflora) and the pineland sandmat (Chamaesyce deltoidea ssp. pinetorum) are threatened. New import and export restrictions for these plants take effect Nov. 3.

The Drug Enforcement Administration is removing naldemedine and its salts from schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act, it said in a final rule. Effective Sept. 29, DEA is removing “regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal sanctions applicable to controlled substances, including those specific to schedule II controlled substances, on persons who handle (manufacture, distribute, reverse distribute, dispense, conduct research, import, export, or conduct chemical analysis) or propose to handle naldemedine,” it said.

The Federal Communications Commission Office of Engineering and Technology will extend through Dec. 30 suspensions of information collection requirements tied to FCC Form 740 and importation of radio frequency devices, it said in an order. The earlier waivers were to expire Sept. 30, the office said. While the agency adopted proposals to eliminate the requirement for Form 740 filings (see 1706280065), those changes haven't gone into effect. The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America recently mentioned several concerns on the issue during a meeting with the agency (see 1709150004).

The Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service are announcing the listing of several species of animals on the Endangered Species List. In a final rule that takes effect Oct. 19, NMFS is listing the Maui dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori maui) and the South Island Hector's dolphin (C. hectori hectori) as threatened species. In three separate final rules that take effect Oct. 20, FWS is listing the iiwi (Drepanis coccinea), a bird species from the Hawaiian Islands, and the pearl darter (Percina aurora), a fish from Mississippi and Louisiana, as threatened, and the Sonoyta mud turtle (Kinosternon sonoriense longifemorale), a turtle from Arizona and Sonora in Mexico, as endangered

The Committee to Support U.S. Trade Laws (CSUSTL) in a Sept. 19 position paper called for the abolition of NAFTA’s Chapter 19 binational antidumping and countervailing duty dispute settlement process, arguing that such disputes would be better adjudicated by the World Trade Organization. No WTO or binding international dispute settlement mechanism existed when NAFTA entered negotiation in the late 1980s, and one of Chapter 19’s benefits in this context was to provide a safeguard for trading partners in the event that one country unilaterally determined another government’s practice to be a subsidy in the absence of any multilaterally agreed definition, the paper says. “Circumstances are dramatically different in 2017,” CSUSTL said. “With the entry into force of the WTO agreements in 1995, detailed definitions of a ‘subsidy’ were established and a binding international dispute settlement mechanism was implemented.”

The Federal Trade Commission is amending its “Guide Concerning Fuel Economy Advertising for New Automobiles” to address prevalent advertising claims and harmonize the guide with current Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fuel economy labeling rules, the FTC said. The updated guide includes a new “list of general principles to help advertisers avoid deceptive practices and detailed examples to illustrate those principles,” as well as information on alternative fueled vehicles. The changes take effect Oct. 19.

The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements set fiscal year 2018 limits on imports of apparel articles from sub-Saharan Africa qualifying for preferences under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, CITA said in a notice. For the year running Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, 2018, the aggregate quantity of imports eligible for preferential treatment under AGOA is capped at 2,022,822,376 square meters equivalent, up from 1,966,511,796 square meters equivalent in FY17. Of that amount, 1,011,411,188 square meters equivalent will be available to apparel imported under AGOA’s third-country fabric provisions.

The Federal Trade Commission will require fur, textile and wool product importers, manufacturers and distributors to make any requests to obtain, update or cancel registered identification numbers (RNs) via the FTC website, it said in a final rule. The commission recently updated its website to allow for easier submission of requests, updates and cancellations of RNs, which are optional and used in place of a person or firm’s full name to save space on labeling. Effective Oct. 19, paper submissions will only be allowed at the FTC’s discretion, such as when the commission’s website is down, the final rule said.

The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America met with Federal Communications Commission officials on Sept. 12 to discuss the role of customs brokers for imported radio frequency devices, the NCBFAA said in an ex parte filing with the agency. The trade group has a number of concerns related to the agency's elimination of the FCC's Form 740 filing requirements for importing RF devices (see 1709110023) and what the NCBFAA sees as new compliance verification burdens for customs brokers (see 1706280065). With the elimination of Form 740, brokers now worry that "if no other party makes 'a determination,' the broker may be liable as one of the parties responsible for the determination, even though the broker does not have sufficient knowledge of the product to make that determination.

The Drug Enforcement Administration said it intends to temporarily add the synthetic opioids ortho-Fluorofentanyl, Tetrahydrofuranyl Fentanyl and Methoxyacetyl Fentanyl to Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. DEA can issue a final order temporarily adding the substance after a period of 30 days passes. If issued, the final order will take effect immediately and will stay in effect for a maximum of three years, pending completion of a permanent scheduling order.