🚗New Tariff Process for Automobile Parts Under Section 232 Regulations
On March 26, 2025, the President issued Proclamation 10908, "Adjusting Imports of Automobiles and Automobile Parts into The United States" (Automobile Proclamation). The Automobile Proclamation required the Secretary of Commerce to establish a process for including additional automobile parts articles for passenger vehicles and light trucks within the scope of the tariffs imposed by the President in the Automobile Proclamation. This interim final rule (IFR) establishes the requisite process.
Learn More🌊Gulf of America Renaming
This final rule will, throughout the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's regulations, rename the area formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) as the Gulf of America (GOA). The Gulf of America is the U.S. Continental Shelf area bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the States of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida and extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba.
Learn More⚖️New Civil Penalties for Oil and Gas Operations Effective 2025
This final rule adjusts the maximum daily civil monetary penalty amount contained in the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) regulations for violations of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), in accordance with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance. The civil penalty inflation adjustment, using a 1.02598 multiplier, accounts for 1 year of inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) from October 2023 to October 2024.
Learn More📋New Merit-Based Hiring Regulations Impact Federal Employment Practices
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing this final rule to implement changes authorized by the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2019 governing the selection of candidates from competitive lists of eligibles. These changes are meant to encourage the use of rigorous, merit-based candidate rankings when hiring in the competitive and excepted service. They also provide expanded flexibility to agencies in the selection of candidates under delegated examining procedures. These changes also affect how agencies select candidates for excepted service appointments.
Learn More📈Proposed Changes to Small Business Size Standards by SBA
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA or the Agency) proposes to increase its monetary based small business size definitions (commonly referred to as "size standards") for 263 industries (259 receipts based and four assets based). SBA proposes to retain receipts based size standards for 237 industries and 12 subindustries ("exceptions") and remove one exception. SBA's proposal relied on its recently revised "Size Standards Methodology" (Revised Methodology). SBA seeks comments on its proposed changes to size standards and data sources it evaluated to develop the proposed size standards. SBA also invites comments on its proposed policy of not lowering any size standards, except for excluding dominant firms from qualifying as small. In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(4), a summary of this rule may be found at www.regulations.gov.
Learn More🌊Offshore Downhole Commingling Regulatory Updates Overview
The Department of the Interior (DOI or Department), through the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), is revising the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) downhole commingling regulations consistent with the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (OBBB). These administrative revisions update the regulations to ensure consistency with the OBBB when BSEE reviews a request for downhole commingling.
Learn More💰Civil Monetary Penalty Inflation Adjustment Impacts For Businesses
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) is issuing this final rule to adjust its civil monetary penalties (CMP) under the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1922 (RHA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), and the National Fishing Enhancement Act (NFEA) to account for inflation.
Learn More⚒️BSEE Removes Outdated Sulphur Operations Regulations
The Department of the Interior (DOI or Department), through the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), is rescinding the majority of the provisions in its sulphur operations subpart and revising the subpart by applying other available regulatory requirements for similar operations to sulphur operations in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The existing regulations are outdated, duplicative of, or inconsistent with, other Department regulations. This direct final rule provides consistency and clarity to industry regarding regulatory requirements for sulphur operations by aligning the requirements with the Department's other BSEE-administered regulations.
Learn More⚖️Updated Bonding Requirements for Civil Penalty Appeals
On November 14, 2024, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) published final rules that amended appeal rights. Some of the language from the appeal rights section was inadvertently erased. This document corrects the final regulations.
Learn More☀️Investigations on Antidumping Duties for Photovoltaic Cells
The Commission hereby gives notice of the institution of investigations and commencement of preliminary phase antidumping and countervailing duty investigation Nos. 701-TA-772-774 and 731-TA-1756- 1758 (Preliminary) pursuant to the Tariff Act of 1930 to determine whether there is a reasonable indication that an industry in the United States is materially injured or threatened with material injury, or the establishment of an industry in the United States is materially retarded, by reason of imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled into modules, from India, Indonesia, and Laos, provided for in subheadings 8541.42.00 and 8541.43.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, that are alleged to be sold in the United States at less than fair value and alleged to be subsidized by the governments of India, Indonesia, and Laos. Unless the Department of Commerce ("Commerce") extends the time for initiation, the Commission must reach preliminary determinations in antidumping and countervailing duty investigations in 45 days, or in this case by September 2, 2025. The Commission's views must be transmitted to Commerce within five business days thereafter, or by September 9, 2025.
Learn More