The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should reconsider its conflict minerals reporting rule, which has imposed huge expenses on the apparel and footwear industry with few ground-level impacts, the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) said in March 16 comments to the SEC (here). The AAFA recommended that the agency “reconsider” the 2012 rule and 2014 guidance (see 14040907), which set reporting requirements. The rule demonstrates "that spending a lot of resources and time to implement a poorly designed regulation, instead of focusing on voluntary initiatives that work, has created questionable results,” the group said. “This is particularly true for the apparel and footwear industry, where the physical nexus to the issue of conflict minerals is tenuous at best.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service seeks comments on a draft risk assessment (here) it has prepared in connection with a review of its Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Export Program for furbearing species, it said (here). FWS is proposing to continue unchanged its export program, which requires tagging of skins of bobcat, river otter, Canada lynx, gray wolf and brown bear to be exported from the U.S. The agency is also considering several alternatives to the current approach, including an end to tagging requirements, no longer permitting export of furbearing species taken from the wild, and terminating state and tribe programs approved by FWS. Comments are due April 10.

Low average tariff rates give the U.S. little leverage to negotiate bilateral free trade agreements, which could lead to the U.S. government reverting back to a multilateral agenda, Georgetown University Law professor Jennifer Hillman said during a trade panel session at the school. “How is that going to draw in a really powerful bilateral agreement from all of these countries that can’t negotiate with us anyway?” she said. “This bilateral strategy, I think, really is going to rub up against the economic reality.” Overall, bilateral negotiations would follow a very narrow agenda with a very small likelihood of passing a Congress where members sometimes embellish the negatives of FTA signatories when they consider implementation legislation, Hillman said. If this chronology takes place, the U.S. could pivot back to a multilateral negotiating posture, she said. “It’s only a question of how long is that going to take.”

The Drug Enforcement Administration permanently placed 10 synthetic cathinones -- 4-MEC, 4- MePPP, a-PVP, butylone, pentedrone, pentylone, 4-FMC, 3-FMC, naphyrone and a-PBP -- into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, in a final rule (here). Though the final rule takes effect March 1, these substances were already temporarily listed in Schedule I and subject to registration, labeling, recordkeeping, and import and export requirements, the DEA said.

The World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) should be relatively simple to implement, yet cargo clearance and release provisions will likely have significant impacts on global trade flows, UPS executives said during a Feb. 14 webinar on TFA implementation. A total of 108 countries have implemented the agreement, two short of the number needed for entry into force, according to the WTO. Overall, the agreement will provide transparency, predictability, procedural simplification and streamlining, and customs coordination and cooperation at a time when temporary barriers to trade are rising worldwide, including a tripling of CBP compliance audit surveys in the U.S. in 2016 over recent years, UPS Customs Brokerage Manager Greg Maddaleni said during the webinar.

The International Trade Commission will undertake the first of three reviews on business-to-business and business-to-consumer digital technologies, including on digital exports that might encounter trade barriers overseas, the ITC said in Feb. 10 notice (here). As part of its first of three planned investigations, the ITC will hold a public hearing on April 4. The commission will accept requests to appear at the hearing through March 21, pre-hearing briefs and statements through March 23, post-hearing briefs and statements through April 11, "all other written submissions for the first report" through April 21, and will submit the first of three digital trade reports to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Aug. 29, the ITC said. Pursuant to a Jan. 13 request to the ITC by former U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman (see 1701170069), the ITC anticipates releasing the second report by Oct. 28, 2018, and the third report by March 29, 2019.

The Fish and Wildlife Service is delaying the effective date to March 21 of its listing of the rusty patched bumble bee as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, it said (here). The delay is meant to comply with a presidential memorandum issued shortly after President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20 (see 1701230031). The final rule was originally set to take effect Feb. 10 (see 1701100038).

The Securities and Exchange Commission is reconsidering whether to go forward with reporting requirements for “conflict minerals” from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and surrounding countries, Acting SEC Chairman Michael Piwowar said on Jan. 31 (here). The review by SEC staff, which follows the beginning of the first full reporting period under the conflict minerals rule on Jan. 1, will consider whether modified reporting requirements set in 2014 are “still appropriate and whether any additional relief is appropriate in the interim,” he said. Comments on “all aspects of the rule and guidance” are due March 17 (here), Piwowar said in a separate statement (here).

The Federal Communications Commission will review Form 740 data requirements for imports of goods that the agency regulates, the FCC said in a notice (here). The FCC mentioned Form 740 filing as part of a list of agency rules under review. "The purpose of the review is to determine whether Commission rules whose ten-year anniversary dates are in the years 2011 - 2014" should be "continued without change, amended, or rescinded in order to minimize any significant impact the rules may have on a substantial number of small entities," it said. The Form 740 certification requirements for imported radio frequency devices were waived by the FCC until June 30 (see 1612090033). Comments are due May 4.

The Drug Enforcement Administration is proposing to permanently list AB-CHMINACA, AB-PINACA and THJ-2201 in schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, it said (here). The synthetic cannabinoids have been temporarily listed in schedule I since January 2015. In a separate notice (here), DEA is also extending the temporary listing of these substances for another year, until January 2018. Substances may be temporarily listed in the Controlled Substances Act for a maximum of three years.