User Fees; Agricultural Quarantine and Inspection Services

AGENCY:

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

This notice pertains to user fees charged for agricultural quarantine and inspection services we provide in connection with commercial vessels, commercial trucks, commercial railroad cars, commercial aircraft, and international airline passengers arriving at ports in the Customs territory of the United States. The purpose of this notice is to remind the public of the user fees for fiscal year 2001 (October 1, 2000, through September 30, 2001).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

For information concerning program operations, contact Mr. Colonel Locklear, Senior Staff Officer, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 60, Riverdale, MD 20737-1236; (301) 734-8372.

For information concerning rate development, contact Ms. Donna Ford, User Fees Section Head, FSSB, BASEU, MRP-BS, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 54, Riverdale, MD 20737-1232; (301) 734-8351.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The regulations in 7 CFR 354.3 (referred to below as the regulations) contain provisions for the collection of user fees for agricultural quarantine and inspection (AQI) services provided by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). These services include, among other things, inspecting commercial vessels, commercial trucks, commercial railroad cars, commercial aircraft, and international airline passengers arriving at ports in the Customs territory of the United States from points outside the United States. (The Customs territory of the United States is defined in the regulations as the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.)

These user fees are authorized by section 2509(a) of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (21 U.S.C. 136a). This statute, known as the Farm Bill, was amended by section 504 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-127, 110 Stat. 888) on April 4, 1996.

On July 24, 1997, we published in the Federal Register (62 FR 39747-39755, Docket No. 96-038-3) a final rule that amended the regulations by adjusting our user fees for servicing commercial vessels, commercial trucks, commercial railroad cars, commercial aircraft, and international airline passengers arriving at ports in the Customs territory of the United States from points outside the United States and by setting user fees for these services for fiscal years 1997 through 2002. Additionally, on November 16, 1999, we published in the Federal Register (64 FR 62089-62096, Docket No. 98-073-2) another final rule that amended the regulations by updating some of the user fees. When we established the user fees for fiscal years 1997 through 2002, we stated that, prior to the beginning of the fiscal year, we would publish a notice to remind the public of the user fees for that fiscal year. This document provides notice to the public of the user fees for fiscal year 2001.

We inspect commercial vessels of 100 net tons or more. As specified in § 354.3(b)(1), our user fee for inspecting commercial vessels will be $474.50 during fiscal year 2001 (October 1, 2000, through September 30, 2001).

We inspect commercial trucks entering the Customs territory of the United States. Commercial trucks may pay the APHIS user fee each time they enter the Customs territory of the United States from Mexico or purchase a prepaid APHIS permit for a calendar year. Since commercial trucks are also subject to Customs user fees, our regulations provide that commercial trucks must prepay the APHIS user fee if they are prepaying the Customs user fee. In that case, the required APHIS user fee is 20 times the user fee for each arrival and is valid for an unlimited number of entries during the calendar year (see § 354.3(c)(3)(i) of the regulations). The truck owner or operator, upon payment of the APHIS and the Customs user fees, receives a decal to place on the truck windshield. This is a joint decal, indicating that both the Customs and APHIS user fees for the truck have been paid for that calendar year. As specified in § 354.3(c)(1), our user fee for inspecting commercial trucks will be $4.50 for individual arrivals and, as specified in § 354.3(c)(3)(i), $90 for a calendar year 2001 decal.

We inspect commercial railroad cars entering the Customs territory of the United States. These user fees may be paid per inspection or prepaid. Prepaid user fees cover 1 calendar year's worth of AQI inspections. As specified in § 354.3(d)(1), the user fee for this service will be $7.00 per loaded commercial railroad car for each arrival or, if user fees are prepaid, $140 (20 times the individual arrival fee) for each loaded railcar during fiscal year 2001 (October 1, 2000, through September 30, 2001).

We also inspect international commercial aircraft arriving at ports in the Customs territory of the United States. As specified in § 354.3(e)(1), the user fee will be $64.75 during fiscal year 2001 (October 1, 2000, through September 30, 2001).

We also inspect international airline passengers arriving at ports in the Customs territory of the United States. As specified in § 354.3(f)(1), the international airline passenger user fee will be $3.00 during fiscal year 2001 (October 1, 2000, through September 30, 2001).