The Drug Enforcement Administration placed para-methoxymethamphetamine (PMMA), a drug similar to methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) that is also sold as “ecstasy,” into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, in a final rule released June 24. “This action imposes the regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal sanctions applicable to schedule I controlled substances on persons who handle (manufacture, distribute, import, export, engage in research, conduct instructional activities or chemical analysis, or possess), or propose to handle PMMA,” DEA said. The final rule takes effect July 26.
German companies must now take preventive measures to combat human rights violations in their supply chains, under law passed June 11. The regulation mandates compliance and reporting mechanisms on due diligence activities and sets a Jan. 1, 2023, deadline to come into full compliance for companies with more than 3,000 employees and a Jan. 1, 2024, deadline for companies with more than 1,000 employees. Companies with more than 400 million Euros in annual turnover can be fined up to 2%.
More countries are using cryptocurrencies to evade U.S. sanctions, a troubling trend that could damage U.S. sanctions regimes if not managed correctly, sanctions experts told Congress this week. The experts said lawmakers should provide more funding to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control to address the issue and should push for more public-private partnerships to help OFAC target cryptocurrency users.
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis is seeking comments on an information collection involving its annual mandatory survey on foreign direct investment in the U.S. (see 2103120009), a notice said. The survey is used to collect “reliable, useful, and timely measures” of the impact of foreign direct investment on the U.S. economy. Comments are due Aug. 16.
The leaders of Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, the U.S. and Italy agreed to work collectively toward eradicating the use of all forms of forced labor in global supply chains, and said they want concrete suggestions ready before the G-7 trade ministers' meeting in October.
President Joe Biden on June 8 sent to the Senate the nomination of Grant Harris to be the Commerce Department's assistant secretary for industry and analysis within the International Trade Administration (see 2106040030). Harris runs a consulting company that helps companies do business in emerging markets and was previously an official in the Obama administration.
The Commerce Department is unsure whether the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement will be able to meet in person this year after the regime’s 2020 plenary was canceled, potentially creating more uncertainty surrounding the group’s next batch of multilateral export control proposals. The agency also still has not made a decision on eliminating electronic export filing requirements for shipments to Puerto Rico, but has made some progress on its long-awaited routed export rule, a Commerce official said.
A bill that would establish both a carbon tax and a carbon border adjustment tax has been introduced in both the House and Senate. Rep. Marie Newman, D-Ill., said that the bill she sponsored "serves as one comprehensive plan to achieving critical reductions in greenhouse gas emissions while providing workers in declining energy sectors with a fair transition into new good-paying jobs. By investing in clean energy and embracing economy-wide carbon pricing, the plan will renew America’s leadership in technology and innovation while also building a sustainable future for all communities. "
When voluntary licensing fails, compulsory licensing should be used as a tool to ameliorate vaccine production globally, the European Union said in a proposal to the World Trade Organization. The proposal calls for ensuring that COVID-19 vaccines can freely cross borders, encouraging vaccine producers to expand production and offer them to countries most in need at a fair price and facilitating the use of compulsory licensing within the WTO's existing Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the European Commission said in a June 4 news release.
President Joe Biden will nominate Grant Harris to be the Commerce Department's assistant secretary for industry and analysis within the International Trade Administration, the White House announced June 3. Harris is the CEO of the consulting firm Connect Frontier, which advises companies doing business in “emerging and frontier markets,” the White House said. He also teaches strategy and political risk in emerging markets and previously served as a special assistant to President Barack Obama and deputy chief of staff to former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice.