[Federal Register: April 28, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 81)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 21921-21924]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr28ap05-1]
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Rules and Regulations
Federal Register
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This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains regulatory documents
having general applicability and legal effect, most of which are keyed
to and codified in the Code of Federal Regulations, which is published
under 50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.
The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by the Superintendent of Documents.
Prices of new books are listed in the first FEDERAL REGISTER issue of each
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[[Page 21921]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration
7 CFR Part 800
RIN 0580-AA87
Export Inspection and Weighing Waiver for High Quality Specialty
Grains Transported in Containers
AGENCY: Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration, USDA.
ACTION: Interim final rule with request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration
(GIPSA) is amending regulations under the United States Grain Standards
Act (USGSA) to waive the mandatory inspection and weighing requirements
of the Act for high quality specialty grains exported in containers.
GIPSA is establishing this waiver to facilitate the marketing of high
quality specialty grains exported in containers. This action is
consistent with the objectives of the USGSA. This action will
facilitate the continuing development of the high quality specialty
export market. This waiver will be in effect for a maximum of 5 years,
and if after this time period GIPSA determines that this waiver
continues to advance the objectives of the USGSA, GIPSA will consider
making this waiver permanent.
DATES: Effective April 29, 2005; comments received by June 27, 2005
will be considered prior to issuance of a final rule. Pursuant to the
Paperwork Reduction Act, comments on the information collection and
recordkeeping requirements burden must be received by June 27, 2005.
ADDRESSES: We invite you to submit comments on this interim final rule.
You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
E-Mail: Send comments via electronic mail to
comments.gipsa@usda.gov.
Mail: Send hardcopy written comments to Tess Butler,
GIPSA, USDA, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Room 1647-S, Washington, DC
20250-3604.
Fax: Send comments by facsimile transmission to (202) 690-
2755.
Hand Deliver or Courier: Deliver comments to: Tess Butler,
GIPSA, USDA, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Room 1647-S, Washington, DC
20250-3604.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
Please send comments regarding the information collection
and recordkeeping requirements via electronic mail to:
OIRA.Submission@OMB.EOP.GOV and to GIPSA at: comments.gipsa@usda.gov.
Instructions: All comments should make reference to the date and
page number of this issue of the Federal Register.
Read Comments: All comments will be available for public inspection
in the above office during regular business hours (7 CFR 1.27(b)).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Sharpe, Director, Compliance
Division, at his e-mail address: John.R.Sharpe@usda.gov or telephone
him at (202) 720-8262.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The USGSA authorizes the Department to waive the mandatory
inspection and weighing requirements of the USGSA in circumstances when
the objectives of the USGSA would not be impaired. Current waivers from
the official inspection and Class X weighing requirements for export
grain appear in section 7 CFR part 800.18 of the regulations. These
waivers are provided for grain exported for seeding purposes, grain
shipped in bond, grain exported by rail or truck to Canada or Mexico,
grain not sold by grade, for exporters and individual elevator
operators shipping less than 15,000 metric tons during the current and
preceding calendar year, and when services is not available or in
emergency situations.
This interim final rule provides a waiver for high quality
specialty grains exported in containers.
Transactions involving high quality specialty grains are typically
made between dedicated buyers and sellers who have ongoing business
relationships and fully understand each other's specific needs and
capabilities. Containerization allows the producer or processor to
extend control of the product from the field to customer, rather than
fields to local terminal elevators or export port elevators where
commingling can occur.
The high quality specialty grain market has evolved for the past
years as U.S. shippers have catered to the specific needs of buyers
around the world. Frequently, sales are for small volumes of grain
meeting strict commercial contract specifications for quality,
production, handling, and packaging. Seller and buyers in this
specialty market typically refer to these grains as ``food quality''
grain. The contractual specifications may require a single or limited
number of seed varieties; may require production in accordance with
specific agronomic practices; may specify certain harvesting and
handling practices; may require cleaning and sorting of the grain to
remove most foreign material and immature or damaged seeds; and
frequently call for some degree of identity preservation from point of
origin to final buyer. The quality management processes employed by
participants of the high quality specialty grain market far exceed
those practiced by the typical commodity grain market where commingling
and blending of different quality grains is an inherent part of the
marketing process. In return, the market value of these high quality
specialty grains is substantially higher than commodity grain.
Traditionally, shippers of high quality specialty grain in
containers handled less than 15,000 metric tons of grain annually and
thereby, were exempt from mandatory inspection and weighing in
accordance with Section 800.18(b) of the regulations under the USGSA.
However, as the high quality specialty grain market has grown volumes
have begun to exceed the 15,000 metric ton waiver threshold requiring
shippers to have their high quality specialty grains inspected and
weighed in accordance with the Act. The cost of official inspection and
weighing for these specialty operations is approximately $1.80 per
metric ton compared to an
[[Page 21922]]
average $0.34 per metric ton for bulk commodity exports. Furthermore,
the contract quality specifications for the high quality specialty
grains far exceed the Official United States Standards for Grain
applied during the mandatory inspection and weighing process. GIPSA is
therefore waiving high quality specialty grain exported in containers
from the mandatory export inspection and weighing requirements.
Accordingly, this action will promote the marketing of grain of high
quality and will not impair the objectives of the USGSA.
High quality specialty grain for the purposes of this waiver is
grain sold under contract terms that (1) specify quality better than
the grade limits for U.S. No. 1 grain, or (2) specify ``organic'' as
defined by the regulations 7 CFR part 205 under the Organic Foods
Production Act of 1990, as amended. The following are examples of what
GIPSA would consider to be high quality specialty grains: Corn with
broken corn limits of 0.5 percent or less; post-harvest, pesticide-free
corn; and organically grown soybeans. The following would not meet
GIPSA's definition of high quality specialty grain: U.S. No. 2 or
better Yellow soybeans grown in a particular geographic area; U.S. No.
2 or better Soft White wheat with maximum 10.5 percent protein and
minimum Falling Number of 300 seconds; and non-genetically modified
corn.
This waiver will not prevent the buyer or seller from requesting
and receiving official inspection and weighing service should they
desire such services. Moreover, this waiver will be in affect for a
maximum of 5 years and if after this time period GIPSA determines that
this waiver continues to advance the objectives of the USGSA, GIPSA
will consider making this waiver permanent. GIPSA will monitor this
waiver of official inspection and weighing requirements; however, if at
any time, GIPSA determines that this waiver is not consistent with the
objectives of the Act, GIPSA will remove this waiver.
Pursuant to 5 U.S.C 553, it is found and determined upon good cause
that it is impracticable, unnecessary, and contrary to public interest
to give preliminary notice prior to putting this rule in effect and
that good cause exists for not postponing the effective date of this
rule until 30 days after publication in the Federal Register because:
(1) The relieving of regulatory burden on affected entities is
necessary to facilitate the continuing development of the high quality
specialty export market and; therefore, this action should be
implemented as soon as possible and (2) this rule provides a 60-day
opportunity for comment; and all written comments timely received will
be considered prior to finalization of the rule.
Executive Order 12866 and Effect on Small Entities
This interim final rule has been determined not to be significant
for the purpose of Executive Order 12866 and, therefore, has not been
reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This rule would
provide regulatory relief to both large and small businesses. Small
agricultural service firms have been defined by the Small Business
Administration (SBA) (13 CFR 121.201) as those that employ fewer than
500 employees. This action would effectively eliminate the cost impact
on small businesses that would otherwise have to pay for onsite
inspection and weighing.
In addition, pursuant to requirements set forth in the Regulatory
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.), GIPSA has considered the
economic impact of this interim final rule on small entities and has
determined that its provisions would not have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities because it is an
elimination of burden. Interested parties are invited to submit
information on the regulatory and informational impacts of this action
on small businesses.
The growing market for high quality specialty grain exported in
containers has caused shippers of high quality specialty grains to
exceed the 15,000 metric ton waiver threshold for export inspection and
weighing. GIPSA posed this situation to its Advisory Committee on
November 16, 2004. GIPSA's Advisory Committee is composed of members
representing producers, handlers, processors, and exporters. The
Advisory Committee resolved that GIPSA should continue to enforce the
mandatory export inspection and weighing requirements for commodity
grains and establish a waiver for high quality specialty grains
exported in containers. GIPSA believes that waiving high quality
specialty grains exported in containers is consistent with the intent
of the USGSA and will allow this market to continue to grow.
Various methods were considered to address the challenges facing
U.S. high quality specialty grain producers, marketers, processors, and
handlers exporting via containers from global competition. GIPSA looked
at requiring relaxed inspection and weighing requirements for these
grains and decided that they would still place an undue burden on these
types of shipments.
This rule will allow exporters of high quality specialty grains
shipped in containers to ship such grain without the burden of
mandatory inspection and weighing, while allowing them to request the
service when desired. Relieving this burden will allow the industry to
grow and equitably compete with global competitors.
This rule poses minimal additional cost to exporters as explained
below in the Paperwork Reduction Act section of this rule. However,
this rule eliminates the cost of the mandatory export inspection and
weighing requirements for high quality specialty grain exported in
containers. GIPSA estimates this cost to be at $1.80 per metric ton of
grain exported and GIPSA believes that the benefits of this rule
outweighs the cost.
Paperwork Reduction Act
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
Chapter 35), this rule announces that GIPSA has requested emergency
approval for a new information collection request that waives high
quality specialty grain exported in containers from the mandatory
inspection and weighing requirements outlined in the United States
Grain Standards Act. The emergency clearance is necessary because
insufficient time is available to follow normal clearance procedures.
OMB has approved this emergency information collection request under
OMB Control No. 0580-0022.
GIPSA is committed to compliance with the GPEA, which requires
Government agencies, in general, to provide the public the option of
submitting information or transacting business electronically to the
maximum extent possible.
Title: Export Inspection and Weighing Waiver for High Quality
Specialty Grains Transported in Containers.
OMB Number: 0580-0022.
Type of Request: New.
Abstract: GIPSA is amending regulations under the United States
Grain Standards Act (USGSA) to waive the mandatory inspection and
weighing requirements for high quality specialty grains exported in
containers. GIPSA is establishing this waiver to facilitate the
marketing of high quality specialty grains exported in containers. This
action is consistent with the objectives of the USGSA and will
facilitate the continuing development of the high quality specialty
export market.
Traditionally, shippers of high quality specialty grain in
containers handled less than 15,000 metric tons of grain
[[Page 21923]]
annually and thereby, were exempt from mandatory inspection and
weighing in accordance with Section 800.18(b) of the regulations under
the USGSA. However, as the high quality specialty grain market has
grown volumes have begun to exceed the 15,000 metric ton threshold
requiring shippers to have their high quality specialty grains
inspected and weighed in accordance with the USGSA.
To ensure that exporters of high quality specialty grains comply
with this waiver, GIPSA is asking these exporters to maintain records
generated during their normal course of business that pertain to these
shipments and make these documents available to the GIPSA upon request,
for review or copying purposes. GIPSA is not requiring exporters of
high quality specialty grains to complete or submit new Federal
government record(s), form(s), or report(s). GIPSA is requesting
exporters to maintain and make available documentation that fully and
correctly disclose transactions concerning high quality specialty grain
exported in containers. These records shall be maintained for a period
of 3 years. This information collection requirement in this request is
essential to ensure that exporters who ship high quality specialty
grain in containers comply with the waiver.
The Paperwork Reduction Act requires the Agency to measure
recordkeeping burden. Under this interim final rule, exporters must
maintain records generated during the normal course of business.
Experience has shown that the U.S. grain industry maintains grain
contracts which specify quality parameters agreed to by buyers and
sellers of grain. GIPSA believes that grain contracts would provide
sufficient information to determine if exporters of high quality
specialty grain are complying with the waiver. GIPSA made estimates
regarding the number of entities who would likely export high quality
specialty grain. Because GIPSA has no basis to determine the number of
prospective exporters of high quality specialty grain, GIPSA drew upon
its oversight experience of the U.S. grain industry and believes that
the overall estimates presented in this interim final rule are
accurate. GIPSA estimates that approximately 80 organizations will
export high quality specialty grain in containers. GIPSA estimates that
the time required for each exporter to maintain and make available
contractual information in a manner consistent with this rule is an
average of 5-hours per year at $5.50 per hour for a total annual burden
of $27.50 per exporter. Assuming that the estimated 80 exporters of
high quality specialty grain in containers provide GIPSA's this
contractual information, the total annual burden is estimated to be
$2,200.
(1) Grain Contracts
Estimate of Burden: Public burden for maintaining contract
information is estimated to average 5.0 hours per exporter.
Respondents: Exporters of high quality specialty grain in
containers.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 80.
Estimated Number of Respondents per Request: 1.
Estimated Total Burden on Respondents: 400 hours.
Estimated Total Cost: $2,200.
Comments are invited on: (1) Whether maintaining and providing
contractual information is necessary to ensure compliance with the
waiver; (2) The accuracy of the Agency's burden estimates for
respondents to maintain and provide contractual information including
the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; and (3) Ways to
minimize burden of maintaining and providing contractual information on
those respondents, including through the use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology. Please send comments regarding
the information collection and recordkeeping requirements via
electronic mail to: OIRA.Submission@OMB.EOP.GOV. In addition, please
send GIPSA comments regarding the information collection and
recordkeeping requirements to: comments.gipsa@usda.gov.
Executive Order 12988
Executive Order 12988, Civil Justice Reform, instructs each
executive agency to adhere to certain requirements in the development
of new and revised regulations in order to avoid unduly burdening the
court system. This interim final rule has been reviewed under this
Executive Order. This interim final rule is not intended to have a
retroactive effect. The United States Grain Standards Act provides in
Section 87g that no State or subdivision may require or impose any
requirements or restrictions concerning the inspection, weighing, or
description of grain under the Act. Otherwise, this interim final rule
will not preempt any State or local laws, regulations, or policies
unless they present irreconcilable conflict with this rule. There are
no administrative procedures which must be exhausted prior to any
judicial challenge to the provisions of this interim final rule.
Action
To provide waivers from official inspection and Class X weighing
for exporters of high quality specialty grains shipped in containers,
GIPSA, under the United States Grain Standards Act, is:
1. Revising section 800.0 to include a definition of high quality
specialty grains.
2. Revising section 800.18 to include a new paragraph (b)(8) to
exempt high quality specialty grain shipped in containers from
mandatory export inspection and weighing requirements.
List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 800
Administrative practice and procedure, Export, Grain
0
For reasons set out in the preamble, 7 CFR Part 800 is amended as
follows:
PART 800--GENERAL PROVISIONS
0
1. The authority citation for Part 800 continues to read as follows:
Authority: Pub. L. 94-582, 90 Stat. 2867, as amended (7 U.S.C.
71 et seq.).
0
2. Section 800.0 is amended as follows:
0
a. Paragraphs (b)(44) through (106) are redesignated as (b)(45) through
(107), respectively.
0
b. New paragraph (b)(44) is added to read as follows:
Sec. 800.0 Meaning of terms.
* * * * *
(b) * * *
(44) High Quality Specialty Grain. Grain sold under contract terms
that specify quality better than the grade limits for U.S. No. 1 grain,
or specify ``organic'' as defined by 7 CFR Part 205. This definition
expires July 31, 2010.
* * * * *
0
3. Section 800.18 is amended by adding a new paragraph (b)(8) to read
as follows:
Sec. 800.18 Waivers of the official inspection and Class X weighing
requirements.
* * * * *
(b) * * *
(8) High quality specialty grain shipped in containers. Official
inspection and weighing requirements do not apply to high quality
specialty grain exported in containers. Records generated during the
normal course of business that pertain to these shipments shall be made
available to the Service upon request, for review or copying. These
records shall be maintained for a
[[Page 21924]]
period of 3 years. This waiver expires July 31, 2010.
David R. Shipman,
Acting Administrator, Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards
Administration.
[FR Doc. 05-8519 Filed 4-27-05; 8:45 am]