The Federal Maritime Commission is considering whether to push back the effective date of a final rule it issued in February that set new demurrage and detention billing requirements (see 2402230049), it said in a notice released June 7. The commission said the Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association asked it to extend the rule’s May 28 effective date “by at least 90 days or such longer period as may be deemed appropriate.” The FMC is accepting public comments by July 1 about whether it should delay the rule.

The Fish and Wildlife Service is issuing a final rule listing six species of freshwater mussels found in Texas -- the Guadalupe fatmucket (Lampsilis bergmanni), Texas fatmucket (Lampsilis bracteata), Guadalupe orb (Cyclonaias necki), Texas pimpleback (Cyclonaias [Quadrula] petrina), Balcones spike (Fusconaia (Quincuncina) iheringi), and false spike (Fusconaia [Quincuncina] mitchelli), as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. It also listed another Texas freshwater mussel, the Texas fawnsfoot (Truncilla macrodon), as threatened, with a 4(d) rule for this species that prohibits importation and exportation without a permit. New and export reimport strictions set by the agency’s final rule take effect July 5.

Following a Wall Street Journal report that U.S.-China tensions have derailed Shein's hopes of becoming a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange, the Coalition for a Prosperous America said British authorities should also block the fast-fashion company from London's stock exchange. Zach Mottl, the coalition's chairman, said, "Given Shein’s well-documented ties to slave labor, as well as its ongoing exploitation of the de minimis loophole, it’s overwhelmingly clear that Shein should not be allowed to move forward with an IPO in the U.S. or in London."

Detention and demurrage billings appear to have returned to pre-pandemic levels after spiking during the last few years, said Jason Guthrie, an official with the Federal Maritime Commission's Bureau of Trade Analysis.

Government subsidies for domestic manufacturing in strategic sectors tend to then need trade protections, former top U.S. trade representative officials from the Trump and Biden administrations agreed.

Importers who have been bringing in Russian uranium through contracts approved under the Russian Suspension Agreement may also apply to the Energy Department if they haven't been able to find a viable alternative source of low-enriched urianium for the nuclear reactor that uses the fuel. The general waivers importers have used up until now no longer will be valid after Aug. 10.

The Drug Enforcement Administration issued a proposed rule May 21 to reschedule marijuana as a Schedule III substance under the Controlled Substances Act. If the transfer is finalized, regulatory controls applicable to Schedule III substances would apply, though “existing marijuana-specific requirements” will continue to apply and “additional controls … might be implemented,” including import and export authorization requirements under the Convention on Psychotropic Substances, the DEA said. Marijuana would also remain subject to FDA regulation, and a “drug containing a substance within the CSA's definition of ‘marijuana’ would need FDA approval” to be introduced into interstate commerce, unless an investigational new drug application is in effect. Marijuana is currently classified in Schedule I. Comments are due July 22.

PKDC, a Colorado-based furniture distributor, accused ocean carrier CMA CGM of refusing to meet its commitments to the distributor, coercing "extracontractual" payments from PKDC, and charging detention and demurrage for situations outside the distributor's control. The furniture distributor, in a complaint to the Federal Maritime Commission dated May 10, said it paid over $1 million in unreasonable detention and demurrage and that CMA CGM cost it over $12 million by refusing to meet its quantity commitments under the service contract.

Two provisions in a February final rule (see 2402230049) from the Federal Maritime Commission -- which set requirements for the information that will soon need to be reported in demurrage and detention invoices -- will take effect along with the rest of the final rule May 28, the commission said in a notice released this week. The FMC had been awaiting approval from the Office of Management and Budget for an information collection request "associated" with those two provisions, and the commission said it received that approval April 16. Those two provisions are: 46 CFR 541.6 and 541.99.

While the U.S. should look to counter China with export controls, tariffs and outbound investment restrictions, it also needs to better incentivize trading partners to diversify their supply chains away from China, the Atlantic Council said this week.