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 week.

Rules and Regulations Federal Register

36597

Vol. 65, No. 112

Friday, June 9, 2000

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Parts 27 and 28

[Docket No. CN–00–001]

RIN 0581–AB67

Revision of Cotton Classification

Procedures for Determining Upland

Cotton Color Grade

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service,

USDA.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing

Service (AMS) is revising the procedure

for determining the official color grade

for Upland cotton. The color grade for

Upland cotton is a part of the official

classification which denotes cotton fiber

quality used in the marketing and

manufacturing of cotton. Previously, the

color grade was determined by visual

examination and comparison to the

Official Cotton Standards by qualified

cotton classers. The revision replaces

the classer’s color determination with

the instrument color measurement made

by the High Volume Instrument (HVI)

system used for official cotton

classification for Upland Cotton since

1991.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lee

Cliburn, 202–720–2145.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A

proposed rule detailing the revision was

published in the Federal Register on

March 1, 2000 (65 FR 10979). A 30-day

comment period was provided for

interested persons to respond to the

proposed rule. No comments were

received.

This final rule has been determined to

be not significant for purposes of

Executive Order 12866, therefore, it has

not been reviewed by the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB).

This final rule has been reviewed

under Executive Order 12988, Civil

Justice Reform. It is not intended to

have retroactive effect. This rule would

not preempt any state or local laws,

regulations, or policies unless they

present an irreconcilable conflict with

this rule. There are no administrative

procedures which must be exhausted

prior to any judicial challenge to the

provisions of this rule.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

Pursuant to requirements set forth in

the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) (5

U.S.C. 601 et seq.), AMS has considered

the economic impact of this action on

small entities and has determined that

its implementation will not have a

significant economic impact on a

substantial number of small businesses.

The purpose of the RFA is to fit

regulatory actions to the scale of

businesses subject to such actions in

order that small businesses will not be

disproportionately burdened. There are

an estimated 35,150 cotton growers,

merchants, and textile manufacturers in

the U.S. who voluntarily use the AMS

cotton classing services annually under

the United States Cotton Standards Act,

the Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act,

and the Cotton Futures Act. The

majority of these entities are small

businesses under the criteria established

by the Small Business Administration

(13 CFR § 121.601). The change in

procedure will not significantly affect

small businesses as defined in the RFA

because:

(1) Classification will continue to be

based upon the Official Standards for

Upland Cotton Color Grade established

and maintained by the Department;

(2) The High Volume Instrument color

measurement has been a part of the

official classification record since 1991.

Implementation of the revision for all

cotton classification will not affect

competition in the marketplace or

adversely impact on cotton

classification fees; and

(3) The use of cotton classification

services is voluntary. For the 1999 crop,

15,825,000 running bales were

produced by growers, and virtually all

of them were voluntarily submitted for

USDA classification. Classification

services provided for merchants and

manufacturers during the same period

totaled approximately 404,000 bales.

Paperwork Reduction Act

In compliance with OMB regulations

(5 CFR part 1320) which implement the

Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44

U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the information

collection requirements contained in the

provisions amended by this final rule

have been previously approved by OMB

and were assigned OMB control number

0581–0009 under the Paperwork

Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

Background

Pursuant to the authority contained in

the United States Cotton Standards Act,

the Secretary of Agriculture maintains

official cotton standards of the United

States and provides classification and

testing services to cotton producers,

textile manufacturers, merchants, and

others in the domestic and international

cotton industry. The standards are used

for the classification of American

upland cotton and provide a basis for

the determination of value for

commercial purposes. Classification

services provide information on quality

of cotton. The National Cotton Council

represents the interests of all seven

segments of the U.S. cotton industry:

growers, ginners, warehousers,

merchants, cooperatives, manufacturers,

and cottonseed oil crushers.

Need for Revisions

High Volume Instrument

classification was adopted for all USDA

classification of American upland

cotton in 1991. The color grade is a

component of the official USDA

classification. Although High Volume

Instrument colormeter readings have

been reported since 1991, at the request

of the industry, USDA continued the

procedure of determining the official

color grade by human cotton classers

because of the historical importance of

color in determining the quality of

cotton. With the passage of time,

confidence in USDA High Volume

Instrument measurements of fiber

quality characteristics for classification

of cotton grew to the extent that

industry representatives requested that

High Volume Instrument colormeter

readings be used for the official

determination of color grade.

AMS conducted a pilot project during

the 1998 and 1999 cotton classing

seasons to implement an adjustment to

the existing High Volume Instrument

color measurement so that it would

36598 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 112 / Friday, June 9, 2000 / Rules and Regulations

more closely match the Official Cotton

Standards used by classers for official

color grade determination. Data from the

project, which the AMS Cotton Program

conducted in cooperation with the

National Cotton Council’s Quality Task

Force, showed that the HVI color

measurement closely matched the

Official Cotton Grade Standards for

color. Results from the 1998 and 1999

crops showed that the HVI colormeter

determines Official color grades as

accurately as cotton classers. In

December of 1999, the National Cotton

Council Quality Task Force

recommended that AMS replace the

cotton classer determination with the

HVI colormeter determination for color

grade. AMS will now use the HVI

colormeter determination as the official

component of classification of American

Upland cotton for color grade.

For the reasons set forth above, this

proposal amends the sections in Parts

28—Cotton Classing, Testing, and

Standards, Subpart A—Regulations

Under the United States Cotton

Standards Act, which establish the

procedures for determining official

cotton classification based on the

Official Cotton Grade Standards. Since

cotton classification services under the

United States Cotton Futures Act must

conform to the requirements of the

Cotton Standards Act, this final rule

also amends the sections in Part 27—

Cotton Classification Under Cotton

Futures Legislation which establish the

procedures for determining cotton

classification for cotton submitted for

futures certification.

Accordingly, under Part 27, in § 27.2

(n), the definition of the term

‘‘classification’’ is revised to reflect the

changes in procedures made under Part

28.

Also under Part 27, § 27.31 is revised

to reflect the deletion of the requirement

for cotton classers to determine color

grade. The revised heading and section

reflect the changes made in procedures

for determination of cotton quality in

accordance with the official standards.

In Part 28, § 28.8 is revised to reflect

the change in cotton classification

procedures which replaces classer

visual examinations to fix color with

instrument color measurement by High

Volume Instruments. Miscellaneous

other changes are made to the sections

to better reflect current procedures in

view of color determination change. For

example, those determinations made by

cotton classers or by authorized Cotton

Program employees will be specified.

These changes will be made effective

on July 1, 2000, when classification of

newly harvested 2000 crop cotton will

begin.

List of Subjects

7 CFR Part 27

Commodity Futures, Cotton.

7 CFR Part 28

Administrative practice and

procedure, Cotton, Reporting and

recordkeeping requirements,

Warehouses.

For the reasons set forth in the

preamble, 7 CFR parts 27 and 28 is

revised to read as follows:

PART 27—[AMENDED]

1. The authority citation for 7 CFR

part 27 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 15b, 7 U.S.C. 4736, 7

U.S.C. 1622(g).

2. In § 27.2, paragraph (n) is revised

to read as follows:

§ 27.2 Terms defined.

* * * * *

(n) Classification. The classification of

any cotton shall be determined by the

quality of a sample in accordance with

Official Cotton Standards of the United

States for the color grade and the leaf

grade of American upland cotton, the

length of staple, and fiber property

measurements such as micronaire. High

Volume Instruments will determine all

fiber property measurements except leaf

grade and extraneous matter. High

Volume Instrument colormeter

measurements will be used for

determining the official color grade.

Cotton classers, designated as such by

the Director, will determine the official

leaf grade and extraneous matter, and

authorized Cotton Program employees

will determine all fiber property

measurements using High Volume

Instruments.

* * * * *

3. Section 27.31 is revised to read as

follows:

§ 27.31 Classification of Cotton.

For the purposes of subsection 15b (f)

of the Act, classification of cotton is the

determination of the quality of a sample

in accordance with the Official Cotton

Standards of the United States for the

color grade and the leaf grade of

American upland cotton, the length of

staple, and fiber property measurements

such as micronaire. High Volume

Instruments will determine all fiber

property measurements except leaf

grade and extraneous matter. High

Volume Instrument colormeter

measurements will be used for

determining the official color grade.

Cotton classers, designated as such by

the Director, will determine the official

leaf grade and extraneous matter, and

authorized Cotton Program employees

will determine all fiber property

measurements using High Volume

Instruments.

PART 28—[AMENDED]

1. The authority citation for 7 CFR

part 28, Subpart A is revised to read as

follows:

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 55 and 61.

2. Section 28.8 is revised to read as

follows:

§ 28.8 Classification of cotton;

determination.

For the purposes of the Act, the

classification of any cotton shall be

determined by the quality of a sample

in accordance with Official Cotton

Standards of the United States for the

color grade and the leaf grade of

American upland cotton, the length of

staple, and fiber property measurements

such as micronaire. High Volume

Instruments will determine all fiber

property measurements except leaf

grade and extraneous matter. High

Volume Instrument colormeter

measurements will be used for

determining the official color grade.

Cotton classers will determine the

official leaf grade and extraneous

matter, and authorized Cotton Program

employees will determine all fiber

property measurements using High

Volume Instruments. The classification

record of a classing office or the Quality

Assurance Unit with respect to any

cotton shall be deemed to be the

classification record of the Department.

Dated: June 6, 2000.

Kathleen A. Merrigan,

Administrator, Agricultural Marketing

Service.

[FR Doc. 00–14693 Filed 6–8–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 28

[Docket No. CN–00–003]

RIN 0581–AB82

Grade Standards and Classification for

American Pima Cotton

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service,

USDA.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing

Service (AMS) is revising the official

standards for the grade of American

Pima to provide for the separation of