The Investigative Journal reviewed the public-inspection versions of the documents below, which the Office of the Federal Register has placed on file for publication in today’s August 26, 2026 edition. Links point to the Federal Register’s permanent document pages, which display the official versions upon publication. Quotations and figures are drawn from the agencies’ own filed texts.
Today’s Federal Register carries more than 90 documents from roughly 40 agencies, according to the Office of the Federal Register’s public-inspection docket. The edition is headlined by a Postal Service final rule reshaping how mail-in ballots move through the mail system, a Treasury action tightening Iran sanctions, a new drug scheduling order aimed at concentrated kratom derivatives, and a 164-page customs mandate for rail exports. Several proposed rules open or extend comment periods that readers may wish to note.
Postal Service Finalizes “Federal Ballot Mail” Rule — With Implementation on Hold
The most consequential item in today’s edition is the Postal Service’s 95-page final rule, Ballot Mail for Federal Elections, which amends the Domestic Mail Manual to establish uniform preparation and data-reporting standards for mail-in and absentee ballots in federal elections. The rule implements Executive Order 14399, “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,” issued March 31, 2026 (91 FR 17125). According to the filed text, the rule carries an immediate effective date of August 21, 2026, which the agency says is necessary to permit implementation ahead of the November 3, 2026 general election.
The rule’s standards, as described in the document, include envelope-design requirements for outbound and return ballot envelopes under new DMM section 705.24.3 — incorporating the Official Election Mail logo, automation-compatible design, and uniquely serialized Intelligent Mail barcodes — together with electronic data-reporting obligations under which states submit mail-in and absentee participation information to a new Federal Ballot Mail Portal. The filing indicates the Postal Service may decline to accept ballot mailings that do not satisfy the rule’s preparation and data-entry conditions, a provision the agency defends at length under its authority in 39 U.S.C. 401 and 404. The rulemaking drew more than 200,000 public responses and over 250 organizational letters. The document records support from a thirteen-state coalition of attorneys general led by Alabama, which called the burdens “plainly justified by the security and accountability benefits,” and opposition from postal unions, election officials, voting-rights organizations, and other state officials who questioned the agency’s legal authority and implementation readiness.
Notably, the Postal Service acknowledges in the filed rule that injunctions in State of California v. Trump (D. Mass., June 25, 2026) and League of Women Voters of Massachusetts v. Trump (D. Mass., Aug. 11, 2026) currently constrain the program: the agency states it “will not take actions to implement the rule specifically for the 2026 election unless and until the government obtains relief from those injunctions.” How the courts resolve those cases will determine whether the portal and verification provisions touch this year’s ballots at all — a question worth close watching between now and September, when most states begin mailing ballots.
OFAC Indefinitely Suspends Five Iran General Licenses
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control filed a final rule staying five general licenses under the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, effective August 24, 2026. The suspended authorizations are 31 CFR 560.544 (certain educational activities by U.S. persons in third countries), 560.550 (certain noncommercial personal remittances to or from Iran), and 560.554 (services related to conferences), along with General License F (professional and amateur sports exchanges) and General License G (academic exchanges and certain educational services).
OFAC attributes the action to “Iran’s continued disruptions to global energy markets, attacks on partners and allies in the Middle East, reconstitution of its conventional and nuclear weapons programs, efforts to monetize the Strait of Hormuz, and continued support to terrorist proxies.” The practical effect, per the rule, is that transactions previously covered by these licenses — including family remittances and academic exchange programs — are no longer authorized as of August 24. The document notes that willful violations may carry criminal penalties under 50 U.S.C. 1705.
CBP Mandates Electronic Export Manifests for Rail Cargo
U.S. Customs and Border Protection filed the largest document of the day: a 164-page final rule requiring electronic export manifest data in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) for all cargo departing the United States by rail. The rule, to be codified at 19 CFR 123.93, requires an initial filing no later than 24 hours before a train departs a U.S. port of export, with remaining data due at least two hours before departure, and imposes a bond requirement to secure compliance.
CBP states that current regulations leave a significant data gap on the export side — unlike imports, exported rail cargo has had no comprehensive pre-departure electronic review regime — which the agency characterizes as a cargo-security and national-security concern. The rule takes effect 60 days after publication, but the agency says it will not begin enforcement until October 26, 2027, giving railroads and exporters to Canada and Mexico a transition year.
DEA Places Three Kratom-Related Compounds in Schedule I — Temporarily
The Drug Enforcement Administration filed a temporary scheduling order placing three 7-hydroxymitragynine-related substances — mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15, and MGM-16 — in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, effective upon publication today and running through August 26, 2028. These compounds are related to the potent alkaloid found in concentrated kratom-derived products. DEA based the order on a finding that scheduling is “necessary to avoid an imminent hazard to public safety,” following a notice of intent published July 6, 2026 (91 FR 40909). Records indicate the FDA found no investigational or approved new drug applications for the three substances, and HHS did not object to the placement.
In a related item, the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health extended the comment period on its request for information concerning the proposed threshold for scheduling 7-hydroxymitragynine itself. Comments on docket HHS-OASH-2026-0232 are now due September 10, 2026 — a deadline of interest to manufacturers, researchers, and consumer groups in the kratom market.
IRS Proposes CFC “Pro Rata Share” Regulations Under the OBBBA
The Internal Revenue Service filed a 93-page notice of proposed rulemaking (REG-115646-25) on determining a United States shareholder’s pro rata share of subpart F income, tested income, or tested loss of a controlled foreign corporation. The proposal implements changes made by the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act (Pub. L. 119-21, enacted July 4, 2025), including guidance on the statute’s transition rule, and would affect U.S. shareholders of foreign corporations broadly — a significant compliance item for multinational businesses and their advisers.
Comments and requests for a public hearing are due 60 days after publication — on or about October 25, 2026, per the document’s formula (the published edition states the precise date). Submissions go to regulations.gov under the REG number above.
CFTC Proposes Dropping the Order-Book Requirement for “Permitted” Swaps
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a proposed rule (RIN 3038-AF79) to remove the requirement that swap execution facilities maintain an order book for “permitted transactions” — swaps not subject to the trade-execution mandate of section 2(h)(8) of the Commodity Exchange Act. The change would relieve SEFs of an infrastructure obligation for instruments that market participants may already execute flexibly.
The comment window is short: submissions are due 30 days after publication, on or about September 25, 2026, via regulations.gov or the CFTC’s comments portal. Derivatives-market participants weighing the trade-offs between execution flexibility and pre-trade transparency will want to engage quickly.
EPA Finalizes Significant New Use Rules for PMN Chemicals
The Environmental Protection Agency filed a 56-page batch of significant new use rules (SNURs) under the Toxic Substances Control Act for chemical substances that were the subject of premanufacture notices and TSCA section 5(e) orders (docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2024-0281). Under the rules, anyone intending to manufacture, import, or process the listed substances for a designated significant new use must notify EPA at least 90 days in advance, triggering agency review before the activity may commence.
The action finalizes proposals published November 3, 2025 (90 FR 49148). The rules take effect 60 days after publication. Chemical manufacturers, importers, and processors should verify whether their substances appear in the listed PMN batch — the SNURs bind conduct that departs from the restrictions in the underlying consent orders.
Finland and Sweden Cleared for NATO Atomic Information Sharing
In today’s presidential documents, Presidential Determination No. 2026-22 (August 21, 2026) approves application of NATO’s ATOMAL Agreement — the 1965 framework governing the exchange of U.S. Restricted Data and Formerly Restricted Data within the alliance — to Finland and Sweden. The determination, addressed to the Secretary of War, finds that cooperation with the two newest NATO members “will promote, and will not constitute an unreasonable risk to, the common defense and security,” and authorizes the Department of War to proceed once Atomic Energy Act section 123 requirements are satisfied. The memorandum formally integrates Helsinki and Stockholm into the alliance’s nuclear information architecture.
On TIJ’s Beats: Accountability and Transparency Items
Three additional filings intersect with this publication’s investigative interests. The U.S. Trade Representative opened the 2026 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy (docket USTR-2026-0529), with written comments due October 7, 2026 and rebuttals due October 21, 2026; this year’s issue focus is high-quality counterfeits known as “superfakes.” The Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board filed a 36-page formal determination on records release — a document we will review for what it opens to public view. And the FDA filed an information-collection notice concerning allegations of regulatory misconduct voluntarily submitted to its device center — a channel whose volume and disposition bear on medical-device oversight. The Energy Department also filed a short rule rescinding its regulations for loans to minority business enterprises seeking DOE contracts, per the issue’s table of contents.
The Investigative Journal monitors the Federal Register daily. Documents cited above were reviewed in their public-inspection form; official versions publish today at federalregister.gov and govinfo.gov.
Sources: All documents via the Federal Register Public Inspection docket for the August 26, 2026 edition; individual document permalinks linked inline above.