United States Department of Agriculture

Agricultural Marketing Service

Federal Grain Inspection Service

Program Notice FGIS-PN-23-03 April 17, 2023

Distribution: FGIS, OSP Disposal Date: 4/17/2024 Originating Office: FMD PPMAB

Cover

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in its programs on the basis of race, color, 

national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, and marital or familial status. (Not all prohibited 

bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternate means for communication of program 

information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and 

TDD).

To file a complaint, write to the USDA, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, 

Washington, DC 20250-9410, or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal employment opportunity 

employer.

ENTERING A UNIQUE IDENTIFIER FOR WEIGHING OR INSPECTION IN THE 

CERTIFICATE PROGRAM

Contents

ENTERING A UNIQUE IDENTIFIER FOR WEIGHING OR INSPECTION IN THE 

CERTIFICATE PROGRAM �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������1

1.PURPOSE �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

2. BACKGROUND �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

3.POLICY ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

4.PROCEDURE �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

5.EFFECTIVE DATE ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

6.QUESTIONS �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
FGIS Notice PN-23-03 April 17, 2023

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1. PURPOSE

This notice outlines procedures for entering a unique identifier for a weighing or 

inspection activity upon applicant request, for all grains and commodities listed under 

the United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA) and the Agricultural Marketing Act 

(AMA) of 1946

2. BACKGROUND

The Agricultural Marketing Service, Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) was 

asked to allow a unique identifier to be included with the summary or detail inspection/

weighing records managed in the Inspection Data Warehouse (IDW), as described in 

FGIS Directive 9290.16. The unique identifier would allow the applicant to track certain 

conveyances that are reused in the course of business. FGIS has determined that 

using an unused field will not be problematic. 

3. POLICY

Upon request to include a unique identifier supplied by an applicant and pertaining to 

a weighing or inspection service into a specific unused field, the unique identifier shall 

be included with the summary/detail record for the activity in the requested field. This 

allowance is available for any weighing or inspection service as long as a properly 

formatted unused field of appropriate size is available as identified in FGIS Directive 

9290.1

Official personnel may utilize the FGISonline Certificates program (CRT) to capture 

and forward this information to IDW with the certificate creation process. Otherwise, 

the necessary summary or detail records shall be submitted to IDW containing the 

requested information in the requested field.

An example of a unique identifier is an applicant requesting a provided Bill of Lading 

Date be recorded as the Load Order Number with an associated barge weighing activity. 

In this case, FGIS personnel would enter the unique identifier in the Load Order Number 

field of the CRT program. There is a 50-character maximum for this field.

Program Directive 9290.16: INSPECTION DATA WAREHOUSE (IDW) FOR GRAIN

PROGRAM SERVICES is updated to reflect this change. 

4. PROCEDURE

In the example of an inbound barge weighing, the Weigher, Supervisor, or official 

personnel entering barge weights into CRT or creating summary/detail inspection 

records shall capture the Bill of Lading information showing on the elevator’s screen, 

elevator’s AWS printout, or supplied by the elevator in writing and enter that text into the 

Load Order Number field.
FGIS Notice PN-23-03 April 17, 2023

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5. EFFECTIVE DATE

This policy is effective on April 17, 2023.

6. QUESTIONS

Please direct any questions regarding this Program Notice to

AMS - FGIS Policies Procedures and Market Analysis Branch