Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is removing fenfluramine from schedule IV of the Controlled Substances Act, it said in a notice of the final rule in the Dec. 23 Federal Register. The DEA said the drug has no abuse potential. The removal eliminates “the regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal sanctions applicable to controlled substances, including those specific to schedule IV controlled substances, on persons who handle (manufacture, distribute, reverse distribute, dispense, engage in research, import, export, conduct instructional activities or chemical analysis with, or possess) or propose to handle fenfluramine,” the DEA said. The delisting is effective Dec. 23.
On the last day of the current Congress, retiring Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, introduced a bill that would ask the Commerce Department and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to analyze the economic integration between the U.S. and China in priority sectors, and the U.S. government's views of how that integration should change over the next five to 19 years.
Russia is mulling the prospect of installing a price floor for international oil sales in retaliation for the price cap imposed on Russian oil set by G-7 nations, Bloomberg reported. Moscow is weighing two options: a fixed price for Russian oil or imposing maximum discounts to international benchmarks. There is no information yet about what the exact level may be. One of the unnamed officials told Bloomberg Russia is looking to install a market-based transparent pricing mechanism for oil buyers to respond to the price cap, as Moscow does not want to alienate neutral states. The discount approach would set a "maximum discount of Russian oil to global benchmarks, which the nation’s crude producers will not be allowed to exceed," Bloomberg reported. The discount, along with the other option of a fixed price, would be regularly revised.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is listing methiopropamine, a central nervous stimulant that is structurally related to the schedule II stimulants methamphetamine and amphetamine, under schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, it said in a notice released Dec. 8. “This action imposes the regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal sanctions applicable to schedule I controlled substances on persons who handle (manufacture, distribute, reverse distribute, import, export, engage in research, conduct instructional activities or chemical analysis with, or possess) or propose to handle methiopropamine," DEA said. The listing takes effect Jan. 9.
Switzerland-based global technology firm ABB agreed to pay over $315 million to settle a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation over the bribery of an official at South Africa's state-owned energy company, DOJ announced Dec. 2. DOJ coordinated the resolution of the case with the SEC and authorities in South Africa and Switzerland.
The Sierra Club and the Trade Justice Fund say that the EU and the U.S. should agree on a Climate Peace Cause, because otherwise, trade disputes could slow the progress of reducing carbon emissions. The two groups, in a white paper published Dec. 1, noted that Japan and the EU successfully challenged a Canadian program that supported renewable energy, and the U.S. and India each successfully challenged buy local rules for solar energy. "Trade scholars are already questioning the trade legality of the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and ... [t]he European Union and South Korea, among other countries, have threatened a trade case against the tax credit for electric vehicles and other measures included in the United States’ Inflation Reduction Act," the paper said.
The U.S. is likely to see several more resolutions under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the coming months, Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri said at an annual FCPA conference this week. Argentieri made the remark after highlighting FCPA enforcement action taken in 2022. These moves included three corporate FCPA resolutions, involving Stericycle, Glencore and GOL Linhas Airlines, and one declination under the Corporate Enforcement Policy with disgorgement, involving Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group Holdings (JLT).
The Drug Enforcement Administration is listing mesocarb, a substance with stimulating properties marketed in Russia for treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder that has no approved medical use and no known therapeutic application in the U.S., under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, it said in a notice published Nov. 22. “This action imposes the regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal sanctions applicable to schedule I controlled substances on persons who handle (manufacture, distribute, reverse distribute, import, export, engage in research, conduct instructional activities or chemical analysis with, or possess), or propose to handle mesocarb," DEA said. The listing takes effect Dec. 22.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is listing amineptine, a synthetic tricyclic antidepressant with central nervous system (CNS) stimulating properties, under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, it said in a notice released Nov. 16. “This action imposes the regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal sanctions applicable to schedule I controlled substances on persons who handle (manufacture, distribute, reverse distribute, import, export, engage in research, conduct instructional activities or chemical analysis with, or possess), or propose to handle, amineptine," DEA said. The listing takes effect Dec. 19.