CBP, the U.S. Coast Guard and other federal agencies would be affected by the International Maritime Organization Facilitation Committee's recently adopted amendment that would require electronic exchange of the pre-arrival and departure information (see 1604150039), said the Coast Guard on its blog (here). Expected to become effective in 2018, the amendment is meant "to reduce the administrative burden on ships’s crews, owners, operators, agents and other parties who submit information for clearance," it said.
The Committee on Implementation of Textile Agreements is asking for comments by May 15 on several requests for modifications to textile and apparel rules of origin under the U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement. The government of Morocco filed the requests, asking CITA to allow use of non-originating fabrics in certain apparel products, as follows: dresses, skirts, blouses and tops classified in HTS chapter 62 using non-originating cotton/polyester/elastane fabric under subheading 5203.42 (here); pants, skirts, jackets, shirts, and casual dresses classified in HTS subheading 6204.52 and 6206.40 using non-originating fabrics in certain subheadings falling within headings 5516, 5210 and 5801 (here); and pants classified in HTS heading 6204 using certain non-originating fabrics under subheadings 5515.11, 5408.33, 5112.11 and 5407.61 (here). Comments should address whether these fabrics are commercially available in the U.S., said CITA.
The Drug Enforcement Administration placed the opiate AH-7921 into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, in a final rule (here). Effective May 16, AH-7921 will be subject to new registration, labeling, recordkeeping, and import and export requirements.
The Justice Department Fraud Section’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Unit on April 5 started a pilot program for companies to self-disclose corporate crimes prohibited by the FCPA, such as bribery of foreign officials, DOJ said (here). Under the program, DOJ is giving companies mitigation credit if they meet several mandates, including “proactive” disclosure of all relevant facts of individuals involved in the wrongdoing before “an imminent threat” of outside disclosure or government investigation presents itself, and within “reasonably prompt time after” becoming aware of an offense, DOJ said. Mitigation could include a different resulting disposition type, a fine reduction, or determination of a need for a monitor. DOJ acknowledged it’d be tough to determine company remediation measures taken, but said the Fraud Section’s compliance counsel is “assisting” the department in “refining our benchmarks” for determining to what degree companies have implemented an effective compliance and ethics program, compliance culture, resources dedicated to compliance, quality and experience of compliance personnel, and risk assessments, among other things.
The Fish and Wildlife Service on April 7 issued a final rule listing the Big Sandy crayfish (Cambarus callainus) of Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and the Guyandotte River crayfish (C. veteranus) of West Virginia as endangered. New import and export restrictions set by the agency’s final rule takes effect May 9.
The Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on April 6 issued a joint final rule (here) reorganizing listings under the Endangered Species Act for green sea turtles. Under the new scheme, FWS and NOAA will list three populations -- Mediterranean, Central West Pacific, and Central South Pacific – as endangered, and eight populations -- North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Southwest Indian, North Indian, East Indian-West Pacific, Southwest Pacific, Central North Pacific, and East Pacific – as threatened. Restrictions on importation and exportation continue to apply, they said. The final rule takes effect May 6.
The Fish and Wildlife Service is eliminating an exemption from registration requirements under the Endangered Species Act for inter-subspecific crossed tigers or generic tigers (Panthera tigris), which are specimens not identified or identifiable as members of Bengal, Sumatran, Siberian, or Indochinese subspecies, it said. The agency’s final rule (here) removes inter-subspecific crossed tigers and generic tigers from the list of species that are exempt from registration under the Captive-bred Wildlife regulations for activities including import, export and interstate commerce. The final rule takes effect May 6.
The National Marine Fisheries Service is adopting a new electronic system for reporting imports, exports and re-exports of Bluefin tuna, it said in a final rule (here). Effective May 1, NMFS will replace the current paper-based Bluefin tuna catch documentation (BCD) program with the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas’ new eBCD system. The new system was designed to collect largely the same information that is currently collected under the paper-based BCD program, said NMFS. The agency will hold three webinars on how to use the new system on April 21, April 22, and May 3, it said.
The National Marine Fisheries Service is extending by one week the period for comments on its proposal to set new filing requirements at time of entry for imports of certain species of seafood the agency has deemed high-risk, it said. Under the agency’s Feb. 5 proposed rule (see 1602040020), filers would have to submit through ACE certain data elements and electronic documents in order to improve traceability of imports of the high-risk species. The importer of record would also have to maintain records on the chain of custody of their seafood imports, and obtain an International Fisheries Trade Permit for the high-risk species. Comments on the proposal are now due April 12.
The Fish and Wildlife Service is listing Tanzanian populations of the coelacanth, a fish thought to have gone extinct at the same time as dinosaurs but discovered alive in the 1930s, as a threatened species, in a final rule (here). The listing takes effect April 28. Importation and exportation of the African coelacanth is already prohibited as a result of the species' listing in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.