The Fish and Wildlife Service is issuing a final rule reclassifying the smooth coneflower (Echinacea laevigata), a perennial herb native to Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The listing includes a 4(d) rule for this species that prohibits importation and exportation without a permit.

The Fish and Wildlife Service on July 5 released a final rule listing the Canoe Creek clubshell (Pleurobema athearni), a freshwater mussel species endemic to a single watershed in north-central Alabama, as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. New import and export restrictions set by the agency’s final rule take effect Aug. 5.

The Census Bureau has seen a large “spike” in voluntary disclosures during the past few years, with some officials handling 10 at a time, a Commerce Department official said during the Bureau of Industry and Security's annual update conference June 29. The official said disclosures increased at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and have remained high since but are just starting to return to normal levels. “My staff was like, … 'Oh, my God. I have like 10 I’m processing.’ Everybody was processing 10,” the official said, speaking on background under a conference policy for certain career personnel.

The EPA published a final rule June 27 setting new significant new use rules (SNURs) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for 21 chemical substances subject to Premanufacture Notices (PMNs). As a result of the SNURs, persons planning to manufacture, import or process any of the chemical substances for an activity designated as a significant new use by this rule are required to notify EPA at least 90 days in advance. Importers of chemicals subject to these SNURs will need to certify their compliance with the SNUR requirements, and exporters of these chemical substances will now become subject to export notification requirements. The final rule takes effect Aug. 26. The SNURs cover the following:

The Census Bureau June 21 emailed tips on how to address the most frequent messages generated this month in the Automated Export System. Response code 103 is a fatal error for when the estimated date of export reported was more than 120 days in the future, Census said. AES can't accept an estimated date of export more than 120 days before the expected departure date. The agency said the filer should verify the date, correct the shipment and resubmit.

CBP posted multiple documents ahead of the June 29 Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting:

The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet remotely June 29, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by June 24.

The Drug Enforcement Administration is listing methoxetamine (MXE), a member of the arylcyclohexylamine class of drugs with dissociative anesthetic and hallucinogenic properties, similar to phencyclidine (PCP) and ketamine, under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, it said in a notice published June 6. “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, methoxetamine.” The listing takes effect July 6.

The Drug Enforcement Administration is placing the newly approved drug ganaxolone in Schedule V of the Controlled Substances Act, it said in an interim final rule. Effective June 1, ganaxolone, which was granted approval by the FDA in March, is subject to new registration, labeling, record-keeping, and import and export requirements. DEA is accepting comments on the rule until July 1.

The Drug Enforcement Administration permanently placed six synthetic cathinones -- N-Ethylhexedrone, alpha-Pyrrolidinohexanophenone, 4-Methyl-alpha-ethylaminopentiophenone, 4'-Methyl-alpha-pyrrolidinohexiophenone, alpha-Pyrrolidinoheptaphenone and 4'-Chloro-alpha-pyrrolidinovalerophenone -- into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, in a final rule released May 31. The substance had been temporarily listed in Schedule I since 2019 (see 2107150020). The final rule takes effect June 1.