The International Trade Commission is updating its report on the effects of U.S. import restraints, it said (here). This ninth update will focus on the effects of tariffs and customs and border procedures on supply chains, the ITC said. The ITC will hold a public hearing on Feb. 9 in connection with the investigation. Requests to appear are due Jan. 26. Comments on the investigation are due March 1.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is beginning a pilot to test filing in ACE of export data for certain firearms, it said (here). Participants in the voluntary pilot test will be able to use AESDirect to electronically obtain CBP certification of exportation for Exporters of National Firearms Act firearms, which include machine guns, silencers and destructive devices. CBP will automatically transmit export certificates to ATF. Exporters that want to participate must have an ACE portal account and be able to file the relevant data electronically via AESDirect, ATF said. The pilot will begin Oct. 12, and “will continue until concluded by publication of a notice ending it,” It said.
The Fish and Wildlife Service is removing the white-haired goldenrod (Solidago albopilosa) from the list of endangered and threatened species, in a final rule that takes effect Nov. 10 (here). The flowering plant had been subject to import and export restrictions as an endangered species since 1988.
The International Trade Commission will hold a public meeting at 1 p.m. on Oct. 12 to review the petitioning and comment process for miscellaneous tariff bills (MTBs), the ITC said (here). Attendees should register (here). Attendees will see a preview and walk-through of the MTB Petition System portal, and will be able to ask ITC staff procedural and technical questions. The ITC said it expects to hold a second review session in November.
The Fish and Wildlife Service issued a final rule (here) listing the Suwannee moccasinshell (Medionidus walkeri), a freshwater mussel species from the Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia, as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. New import and export restrictions set by the agency’s final rule take effect Nov. 7.
The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) added furfuryl alcohol (CAS No. 98-00-0) to the list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer for purposes of Proposition 65, it said (here). The listing took effect Sept. 30. Proposition 65 requires warning labels on products that contain certain listed chemicals that are known to cause cancer or birth defects.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued its annually updated list of vehicles that are eligible for importation despite not being originally manufactured to conform to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (here). The agency revised its list, published as an appendix to 49 CFR 593, to add vehicles that it determined to be eligible for importation since Oct. 1, 2015, and to remove vehicles that are now more than 25 years old and no longer need to comply. The new list takes immediate effect.
The Fish and Wildlife Service is listing the Miami tiger beetle (Cicindelidia floridana), a beetle species from Miami-Dade County, Florida, as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (here). In a separate final rule, FWS is also listing the Kentucky Arrow Darter, a fish from the upper Kentucky River basin in Kentucky, as threatened (here). New import and export restrictions set by both final rules take effect Nov. 4.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is setting 2017 quotas for the manufacture and importation of controlled substances in Schedule I and II of the Controlled Substances Act, it said in a notice (here). Substances not listed in the table included in DEA's notice will have a quota of zero. DEA is also setting quotas for the Schedule I chemicals ephedrine, phenylpropanolamine and pseudoephedrine.
The Labor Department will not impose additional certification requirements for federal contractors that supply carpets from India, finding insufficient evidence that carpets from India are being produced by forced or indentured child labor, it said (here). “After a thorough review of the information available and comments received, the Departments [of Labor, State and Homeland Security] have determined that there is not sufficient evidence at this time establishing more than isolated incidents of forced or indentured child labor in the production of carpets in India,” DOL said. “With this final determination, the current [List of Products Requiring Federal Contractor Certification as to Forced or Indentured Child Labor] remains in place.”