Regulatory Transactions

Editor’s Note: Cross-posted from the Counterfeit Cigarette Enforcement Forum.

The European Union will be implementing a European-wide track-and-trace system “to prevent the smuggling and counterfeiting of cigarettes, which costs €10 billion a year. . . .” Under the new system, all tobacco pack are “marked with a unique identifier,” and with a special security stamp, so that the packet can be tracked from the factory to the shop floor.”

The key issue that remains unresolved is whether obstructionists who oppose the existence of the tobacco industry will be allowed to participate in operating the track-and-trace system.

From: The National Law Review

Article By Kristen W. Ng | Greenberg Traurig, LLP

From: The Hill

By Lydia Wheeler

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Stoves

The Department of Energy is expected to finalize new energy efficiency standards for residential gas and electric stove tops and ovens that are designed to reduce energy costs and help with climate change.

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Organic meat 

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is working on new standards for how animals should be treated before meat is sold as “certified organic.”

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Editor’s Note: The Corporation for National and Community Service has established an exemplary social media policy which covers text messages, blogs, Tweets, Snapchat and all other social media technologies.  The CNCS police emphasis the need for social media posts to comply with the Data Quality Act. See here.

From: FederalNewsRadio.com | 1500AM

By Eric White | @FedNewsUpdates

In today’s Top Federal Headlines, the Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general says agency managers to need to put in guidelines for employees’ use of texting so they don’t violate the rules.

From: Feedstuffs

Jacqui Fatka

Earlier this month the National Grain and Feed Assn. led a coalition in meeting with the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to urge that it not allow the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue final changes to the agency’s new source performance standard (NSPS) that determines whether grain elevators are required to obtain costly permits under the Clean Air Act.

From: American Action Forum

Sam Batkins

Editor’s Note: Cross-posted from Regulatory Cyber Security: The FISMA Focus IPD.

From: The Hill

By Berin Szoka

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Our model is clear: In 2004, my former think tank, The Progress & Freedom Foundation, convened scholars on the left and right to explore how to re-write American telecom law. This remarkably diverse group included not only free marketeers but also Howard Shelanski, now President Obama’s regulatory czar, and Clinton allies. Together, the two sides produced a clear vision for reforming the FCC to work more like the FTC: the Digital Age Communications Act. That may or may not be where Congress winds up now, but the underlying process is proven.

From: TheTrucker.com

by LYNDON FINNEY

WASHINGTON — The 30-hour minimum behind-the-wheel training requirement was stripped from the final rule on entry-level driver training by the Office of Management and Budget, a source close to the rulemaking told The Trucker.

One of the key tenants among the recommendations from the Entry Level Driver Training Advisory Committee appointed by the FMCSA was establishing the minimum of 30 hours of behind-the-wheel training with at least 10 hours of training on a driving range and 10 hours on the open highway.

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From: FEDWeek

Two House members active in government oversight again have pressed OMB to issue overdue reports on federal agency compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act.

House Small Business Committee chairman Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, and Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said that OMB had previously promised to publish reports in the fall on the federal government’s efforts to reduce the paperwork burden on individuals and small businesses over fiscal 2015-2016.

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From: Americans for Safe Access

PFC Review Board Member, Jim Tozzi’s Role in Stopping the DEA from Classifying Drug in Schedule 1 Status

Mike Liszewski

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In its sudden rush to ban kratom, the DEA also violated several fundamental statutes including the Data Quality Act, Executive Order 12866, and the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Peer Review guidelines. So in an unprecedented act, with help from Jim Tozzi and his team, the DEA withdrew their notice to classify kratom as a Schedule 1 drug. This is something that has never been done before, and the first time in DEA history that an organization was able to stop an order to place a substance in Schedule 1.