58504 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 190 / Friday, September 29, 2000 / Notices

330 or in 9 CFR, chapter I, subchapter D of the

regulations. Exemptions to these user fees are

specified in § 354.3(f)(2).

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).

Done in Washington, DC, this 25th day of

September 2000.

Craig A. Reed,

Administrator, Animal and Plant Health

Inspection Service.

[FR Doc. 00–25021 Filed 9–28–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–34–U

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Grain Inspection, Packers and

Stockyards Administration (GIPSA).

[00–B]

Pilot Programs for Official Agencies

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: GIPSA is extending the

current three pilot programs (timely

service, open season, and barge)

pending changes to the current statutory

authority for such programs. These pilot

programs were established in 1995 and

1998 to allow more than one official

agency to provide official services

within a single geographic area. These

programs are scheduled to end on

September 30, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Neil

E. Porter, telephone 202–720–8262.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Sections

7(f) and 7A of the United States Grain

Standards Act (Act) (7 U.S.C. 79(f)) and

(7 U.S.C. 79a) were amended by the

United States Grain Standards Act

Amendments of 1993 (Public Law 103–

156) on November 24, 1993, to authorize

GIPSA’s Administrator to conduct pilot

programs allowing more than one

official agency to provide official

services within a single geographic area

without undermining the declared

policy of the Act. The purpose of the

pilot programs is to evaluate the impact

of allowing more than one official

agency to provide official services

within a single geographic area. These

pilot programs are scheduled to end on

September 30, 2000.

On September 27, 1995, GIPSA

published a Federal Register Notice (60

FR 49828), announcing two new pilot

programs (timely service and open

season) to begin on November 1, 1995.

The timely service pilot program

allowed official agencies to provide

official services to facilities outside their

assigned geographic area on a case-bycase basis when these services could not

be provided in a timely manner by the

official agency designated to serve the

area. The open season pilot program

allowed official agencies to offer their

services to facilities outside their

assigned geographic area where no

official sample-lot or official weighing

services had been provided in the

previous 6 months. On October 3, 1996,

GIPSA published a Federal Register

Notice (61 FR 51674), which reduced

the qualification period to 3 months.

On January 15, 1998, GIPSA

published a Federal Register Notice (63

FR 2360), announcing a pilot program

allowing barges on all rivers to be

sampled by probe by any official

agency. This barge pilot option was

initiated on March 1, 1998.

On October 1, 1998, GIPSA published

a Federal Register Notice (63 FR 52682)

extending the three pilot programs to

September 30, 2000.

The pilot programs are extended

pending changes to the current statutory

authority for the pilot programs. GIPSA

will continue to monitor and evaluate

the pilot programs. If, at any time,

GIPSA determines that any pilot

program is having a negative impact on

the offical system or is not working as

intended, the program may be modified

or discontinued.

Authority: Pub. L. 94–582, 90 Stat. 2867,

as amended (7 U.S.C. 71 et seq.).

Dated: September 22, 2000.

Neil E. Porter,

Director, Compliance Division.

[FR Doc. 00–24925 Filed 9–28–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–EN–U

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Rural Utilities Service

Publication of Depreciation Rates

AGENCY: Rural Utilities Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The Rural Utilities Service

(RUS) hereby announces the

depreciation rates for

telecommunications plant for the period

ended December 31, 1999.

DATES: These rates are effective for the

period beginning January 1, 1999 and

ending December 31, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jonathan P. Claffey, Deputy Assistant

Administrator, Telecommunications

Program, Rural Utilities Service, 1400

Independence Avenue, SW., Room

4056, STOP 1590, Washington, DC

20250–1590. Telephone: (202) 720–

9556.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section

206(a)(3) of the Rural Electrification Act

of 1936 requires RUS to annually

determine and publish average

depreciation rates used by its borrowers

for the purposes of depreciating

telecommunications plant. The

following chart provides those rates,

compiled by RUS for the reporting

period ended December 31, 1999:

AVERAGE DEPRECIATION RATES OF

RUS BORROWERS BY EQUIPMENT

CATEGORY FOR PERIOD ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1999:

Telecommunications plant

category

Depreciation

rate (percent)

1. Land and Support Assets:

a. Motor vehicles ............... 15.00

b. Aircraft ........................... 10.00

c. Special purpose vehicles ................................ 12.00

d. Garage and other work

equipment ...................... 10.00

e. Buildings ....................... 3.01

f. Furniture and office

equipment ...................... 10.00

g. General purpose computers ............................. 18.57

2. Central Office Switching:

a. Digital (a) ...................... 8.33

b. Analog & electro-mechanical ......................... 10.00

c. Operator systems .......... 8.86

d. Radio systems .............. 9.50

e. Circuit equipment (b) .... 10.00

3. Information Origination/

Termination:

a. Station apparatus .......... 11.59

b. Customer premises

equipment ...................... 10.00

c. Large private branch exchanges ......................... 12.50

d. Public telephone terminal equipment ............ 11.10

e. Other terminal equipment ............................... 10.55

4. Cable and Wire Facilities:

a. Aerial cable-Poles ......... 6.67

a. Aerial cable-metal ......... 6.00

b. Aerial cable-fiber ........... 5.00

c. Underground cablemetal .............................. 4.81

d. Underground cable-fiber 4.82

e. Buried cable-metal ........ 5.00

f. Buried cable-fiber ........... 5.00

g. Conduit systems ........... 3.02

h. Other ............................. 7.21

Christopher A. McLean,

Administrator, Rural Utilities Service.

[FR Doc. 00–25020 Filed 9–28–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–15–U