The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is amending its regulations to broaden the scope of what it considers hard cider for excise tax purposes, it said (here). The changes, which were mandated by the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015, result in more products becoming eligible for the low $0.226 tax rate applicable to hard cider. The interim rule increases the amount of carbonation allowed in hard ciders, allows the use of pears and pear concentrate in addition to apples, and increases the maximum alcohol content in what can be considered a hard cider. The interim rule takes effect Jan. 23. TTB is seeking comments on the changes by March 24 in a separate proposed rule (here).

Treasury Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Adam Szubin is acting Treasury Secretary as of President Donald Trump's swearing in, Treasury said in a news release (here). Szubin will take over for outgoing Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, and stay in the role until a new secretary is in place, Treasury said. Trump’s nominee for the position, Steven Mnuchin, underwent questioning during a Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing Jan. 19. Once a new secretary is confirmed, Szubin will leave the government to “pursue other endeavors,” Treasury said. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said ensuring that the next Treasury secretary advances pro-growth trade policies will be a priority, noting in his opening statement (here) that Treasury plays a key role in oversight of customs revenues and international investment agreements. Hatch also signaled concern about the possibility of unilateral import tariffs, saying those proposals need to be "carefully evaluated to ensure they do not hurt us at home." Hatch also called on Trump's Treasury Department to engage more effectively in trade policy consultations with his committee than the Obama administration did. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., introduced Mnuchin, and said the nominee would work with Trump and Congress to implement a trade policy to benefit all Americans.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control added seven individuals and two entities to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list under North Korea designations (here), and removed one entity from the list under Zimbabwe designations, OFAC said (here).

The Office of Foreign Assets Control added four individuals to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, under counterterrorism designations, OFAC said (here).

The Office of Foreign Assets Control removed 10 individuals and 14 entities from its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, under Cuba designations, OFAC said (here).

The Office of Foreign Assets Control announced (here) that it will implement “HTTP Strict Transport Security” headers on Treasury.gov on Jan. 12 during an “evening maintenance window.” The action will affect users of OFAC’s Sanctions List Data Files, though no downtime associated with the change is anticipated, OFAC said. However, the change will affect several domains and sub-domains, and will force users to the “HTTPS site,” while not allowing browsers to redirect from HTTP to HTTPS. This could impact scripts users have developed to poll Treasury.gov for data, OFAC said.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control added 12 individuals and one entity to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, under Magnitsky-related and counterterrorism designations, OFAC said (here and here).

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is increasing the civil penalty amount from $19,787 per day to $20,111 per day for violations of the Alcoholic Beverage Labeling Act, it said (here). The increase adjusts the penalty for inflation, TTB said. The law sets requirements for all alcoholic beverages, including imports, to bear a health warning statement on labeling.

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) ended it pilot testing electronic data filing for importers of alcohol and tobacco products, it said in a notice (here). The pilot allowed for electronic filing by importers of distilled spirits, wine, beer and malt beverages, tobacco products, processed tobacco, and cigarette papers and tubes, and U.S. government and industrial alcohol users. Effective Dec. 31, the pilot, which began in 2015, ended and all importers of TTB-regulated goods "must follow TTB's amended regulations to submit required information on paper or electronically," it said. TTB finalized regulations related to ACE and the International Trade Data System last month (see 1612210013).

The Office of Foreign Assets Control added three individuals and two entities to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, under transnational criminal organizations designations, OFAC said (here).