PGAs List Plans for New Regulations in Spring 2018 Unified Agenda

The Trump administration looks set to continue its focus on deregulation, judging by its recently released Spring 2018 unified regulatory agenda. Regulatory agencies with a hand in trade laid out their plans to harmonize and streamline regulatory requirements, including on Lacey Act implementation, a modernized seafood inspection program and an update to Toxic Substances Control Act chemical data reporting requirements. On the other hand, regulatory plans also include enforcement measures, including procedures for Commerce scope rulings during CBP investigations of antidumping and countervailing duty evasion and increased oversight over organic imports.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service for the first time announced plans to seek comments on a Lacey Act implementation plan for composite plant materials, it said the Agriculture Department agenda. “We are soliciting public comment on regulatory options that could address certain issues that have arisen with the implementation of the declaration requirement,” APHIS said. Meanwhile, a plan to propose an exception to the Lacey Act declaration requirement for products containing a minimal amount of plant materials remains on the APHIS agenda. The agency also plans to propose a rule harmonizing branding requirements for bovines imported from Mexico.

A proposed rule strengthening enforcement on organic imports makes a return to the Agricultural Marketing Service’s regulatory agenda, after a four-year absence. “AMS intends this rule to deter fraud, enhance enforcement and protect organic integrity,” it said. The Food Safety and Inspection Service said it plans to propose changes to its labeling regulations to “remove provisions that require packages of meat or poultry products that contain at least one pound or pint, but less than four pounds or one gallon, to express the net weight or net contents as a dual declaration on the product label.” Conforming changes would also be made for packages containing margarine and bacon, the agenda said.

The Commerce Department’s regulatory agenda for the first time includes an overhaul of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s seafood inspection regulations, which NOAA said have not been “significantly updated since the 1970s.” The overhaul would remove outdated language, procedures and definitions and eliminate inconsistencies, including by “clarifying current language and titles (e.g., sampler vs. inspector),” NOAA said. “In addition, the regulations for the U.S. Standards for Grades of Fish and Fishery Products would be revised to increase uniformity in inspection results, decrease inspection time, and maintain fairness, reliability and validity of inspection results,” it said.

NOAA also plans to publish its final rule establishing a Commerce Trusted Trader program for seafood importers, following up on a proposal issued in January (see 1801160041). Elsewhere at Commerce, the International Trade Administration announced plans for a proposed rule to set procedures for addressing covered merchandise referrals from CBP in Enforce and Protect Act investigations of antidumping and countervailing duty evasion, and the Bureau of Industry and Security said it will finalize regulations on the process for requesting exemptions from Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum.

The Food and Drug Administration continues to list plans announced in the fall for a direct final rule setting ACE filing requirements for veterinary devices, it said in the Department of Health and Human Services regulatory agenda. The rule would ensure “that the regulations on import submissions for veterinary devices are the same as for all other FDA regulated products,” the agency said.

A proposed rule, also listed In FDA’s fall 2017 regulatory agenda, would remove requirements under the Foreign Supplier Verification regulations, as well as preventive controls and produce safety rules, for certain written assurance requirements for food with hazards controlled by a downstream customer. Importers would “no longer be required to obtain written assurance from the customer that the identified hazard will be controlled,” though they would still have to notify the downstream processor that the hazard has not been addressed. FDA announced an indefinite enforcement discretion policy for written assurance requirements in January (see 1801040035).

A regulation listed for the first time would “allow a Food Contact Substance Notification (FCN) to become no longer effective for reasons other than safety,” FDA said. “In addition, under the proposed rule, FDA would provide manufacturers or suppliers an opportunity to address any safety concerns earlier in the determination process.” The agency continues to list rulemakings on labeling requirements for food refused admission into the U.S. and registration of food facilities, including “edits to the definition of farm.” A proposed rule listed for the first time would address administrative detention of tobacco products.

The Environmental Protection Agency continues to list plans to revise Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) requirements, in light of recently enacted TSCA reform legislation. The agency plans to finalize the changes by the next CDR reporting period in 2020. Newly proposed TSCA reporting requirements for mercury, as well as proposed user fees for administration of TSCA, are now listed as planned EPA final rules.

The Fish and Wildlife Service for the first time listed plans to propose regulations clarifying the definition of “shellfish and fishery products” that are exempt from FWS regulations on the importation, exportation and exportation of wildlife, according to the Interior Department’s agenda. “This proposed rule would include additional species to those currently included in the exemption,” FWS said. FWS also continued to list its perennially included rulemaking on the agency’s ACE requirements. FWS recently said it will restart its ACE pilot on May 21 (see 1804200042).