Ocean carrier Hapag-Lloyd provided motor carrier S.P.F. Logistics of Long Beach, California, with inadequate opportunities to return empty containers, forcing SPF to store the containers at its own expense, according to a complaint filed July 16 with the Federal Maritime Commission.

The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a rule last week to finalize changes to its Defense Priorities and Allocations System regulation with “minor technical amendments” from the proposed version BIS released in February. The rule, effective Aug. 21, will clarify the “existing standards and procedures” by which BIS may provide special priorities assistance, providing “transparency and differentiation between other departments’ priorities” and the Commerce Department’s jurisdiction. Other changes make “technical edits to reflect certain non-substantive updates since the DPAS regulation was last amended in 2014.”

The State Department approved a possible $138.26 million military sale to the Czech Republic, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said July 17. The sale includes "Hellfire Missiles and Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System" and other logistics and program support, and the principal contractors will be Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems.

Trade ministers from the U.S., the EU, Germany, Italy, France, Canada, Japan and the U.K. said they are working together to ensure that economic coercion and attempts to weaponize economic dependencies fail, and are developing new tools to do so.

The Federal Maritime Commission is working on a notice of proposed rulemaking that could put in place a permanent process under which shippers and other companies in the cargo logistics industry can file charge complaints with the FMC. The FMC said it hopes to issue the rule in June 2025.

Brian Nelson, the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, and Andrea Gacki, director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, will visit Columbus, Ohio, July 16 to discuss FinCEN’s new beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting rule with small business owners. FinCEN Deputy Director Jimmy Kirby participated in a similar event in Lakewood, Colorado, last week. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently said her department is undertaking extensive efforts across the country to make small businesses aware of the BOI reporting requirement (see 2407090053).

CBP’s Baltimore Field Office intercepted 343 stolen vehicles, worth about $17.7 million, set to be exported from the U.S. in FY 2023, a 44% increase from the previous year, the agency said in a news release this month. CBP said 90% of the vehicles stopped by CBP Baltimore were destined to West Africa.

The Treasury Department is drafting revisions to its customer due diligence (CDD) rule and hopes to “get something out this fall,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said July 9.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is preparing to launch a survey of the pharmaceutical industry to gain a better understanding of the “supply chain network that underpins U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities,” the agency said in a July 9 news release. BIS will survey hundreds of U.S. manufacturers, distributors, suppliers and customers involved in the U.S. “active pharmaceutical ingredient industrial base” in part to identify supply chain vulnerabilities and better plan for potential supply shortages. The Department of Health and Human Services requested the survey.

The State Department this week urged companies to increase their due diligence efforts for supply chains that involve certain critical minerals from Rwanda and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, saying illegal trade in gold, tantalum and other minerals from the African Great Lakes Region “continues to play” a role in financing conflict in the region. In a “statement of concern,” the agency said companies trading in these critical minerals may be aiding human rights abuses, including forced labor.