Agency Rulemaking Highlights

Ukraine/Russia Related Actions 

Additional Russia Sanctions Announced

Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is issuing an order, pursuant to the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act, to prohibit certain transmittals of funds by any covered financial institution involving Bitzlato Limited. The company was determined to be a money laundering operation in connection with Russian illicit finance.

Notable Actions

Emission Standards for New Heavy-Duty Vehicles

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing a program to further reduce air pollution and particulate matter from heavy-duty engines and vehicles across the United States. The final rule aims to lower emissions and air pollutants beginning no later than model year 2027. Effective March 27.

Strengthening Organic Enforcement

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a final rule to strengthen oversight and enforcement of the production, handling, and sale of organic agricultural products. The amendments aim to protect integrity in the organic supply chain and build consumer and industry trust in the USDA organic label by strengthening organic control systems, improving farm to market traceability, and providing robust enforcement of the USDA organic regulations. Effective March 20.

Prevention of Digital Discrimination in Broadband Access

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seeks comment through a proposed rule to address digital discrimination of access to broadband internet access service. The proposal would revise FCC’s informal consumer complaint process to accept complaints of digital discrimination of access, and it proposes model policies and best practices for states and localities combating digital discrimination. Comments due March 21.

Data Breach Reporting Requirements

The FCC proposed a rule to strengthen its protections against data breaches. The proposal expands the definition of “breach” to include inadvertent disclosures of customer information and seeks comment on adopting a harm-based trigger for breach notifications. The rule would also require carriers to notify the FCC, in addition to the Secret Service and FBI, as soon as practicable after discovery of a breach. Comments due February 22.

NuScale Small Modular Reactor Design Certification

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a final rule amending its regulations to certify the NuScale standard design for a small modular reactor. Effective February 21.

Disclosure of Order Execution Information

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is proposing to amend existing requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to update the disclosure required for order executions in national market system stocks. The proposal expands the scope of reporting entities subject to the rule that requires market centers to make available to the public monthly execution quality reports to encompass broker-dealers with a larger number of customers. To better reflect the speed of the marketplace, SEC is proposing that the time of order receipt and time of order execution be measured in increments of a millisecond or finer. Comments due March 31.