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

21033

Vol. 60, No. 83

Monday, May 1, 1995

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 28

[CN–95–001]

RIN 0581–AB15

Revision of User Fees for 1995 Crop

Cotton Classification Services to

Growers

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service,

USDA.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing

Service (AMS) is reducing user fees for

cotton producers for 1995 crop cotton

classification services under the Cotton

Statistics and Estimates Act in

accordance with the formula provided

in the Uniform Cotton Classing Fees Act

of 1987. The 1994 user fee for this

classification service was $1.80 per bale.

This final rule will reduce the fee for the

1995 crop to $1.60 per bale. The

reduced fee is due to increased

efficiency in classing operations, and it

is sufficient to recover the costs of

providing classification services,

including costs for administration,

supervision, and development and

maintenance of standards.

EFFFECTIVE DATES: July 1, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lee

Cliburn, 202–720–2145.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A

proposed rule detailing the revisions

was published in the Federal Register

on February 24, 1995, (60 FR 10335). 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, and therefore

has not been reviewed by the Office of

Management and Budget.

This final rule has been reviewed

under Executive Order 12778, Civil

Justice Reform. It is not intended to

have retroactive effect. This rule will

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.

The Administrator, Agricultural

Marketing Service (AMS), has

considered the economic impact of this

final rule on small entities pursuant to

the requirements set forth in the

Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) (5

U.S.C. 601 et seq.).

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

about 40,000 cotton growers who

voluntarily submit their cotton for the

classification service. The majority of

the growers are small businesses under

the criteria established by the Small

Business Administration. The

Administrator of AMS has certified that

this action will not have a significant

economic impact on a substantial

number of small entities as defined in

the RFA because:

(1) The fee reduction reflects a

decrease in the cost-per-unit currently

borne by those entities utilizing the

services;

(2) The cost reduction will not affect

competition in the marketplace; and

(3) The use of classification services is

voluntary.

In compliance with OMB regulations

(5 CFR part 1320) which implement the

Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1980

(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 of 1980 (44 U.S.C. 3501

et seq.).

The changes will be made effective

July 1, 1995, as provided by the Cotton

Statistics and Estimates Act.

Fees for Classification Under the Cotton

Statistics and Estimates Act of 1927

The user fee charged to cotton

producers for High Volume Instrument

(HVI) classification services under the

Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act (7

U.S.C. 473a) was $1.80 per bale during

the 1994 harvest season as determined

by using the formula provided in the

Uniform Cotton Classing Fees Act of

1987, as amended by Public Law 102–

237. The fees cover salaries, cost of

equipment and supplies, and other

overhead costs, including costs for

administration, supervision, and

development and maintenance of cotton

standards.

This final rule establishes the user fee

charged to producers for HVI

classification at $1.60 per bale during

the 1995 harvest season.

Public Law 102–237 amended the

formula in the Uniform Cotton Classing

Fees Act of 1987 for establishing the

producer’s classification fee so that the

producer’s fee is based on the prevailing

method of classification requested by

producers during the previous year. HVI

classing was the prevailing method of

cotton classification requested by

producers in 1994. Therefore, the 1995

producer’s user fee for classification

service is based on the 1994 base fee for

HVI classification.

The fee was calculated by applying

the formula specified in the Uniform

Cotton Classing Fees Act of 1987, as

amended by Public Law 102–237. The

1994 base fee for HVI classification

exclusive of adjustments, as provided by

the Act, was $1.96 per bale. A 2.3

percent, or five cents per bale increase

due to the implicit price deflator of the

gross domestic product added to the

$1.96 results in a 1995 base fee of $2.01

per bale. The formula in the Act

provides for the use of the percentage

change in the implicit price deflator of

the gross national product (as indexed

for the most recent 12-month period for

which statistics are available). However,

this has been replaced by the gross

domestic product by the Department of

Commerce as a more appropriate

measure for the short-term monitoring

and analysis of the U.S. economy.

The number of bales to be classed by

the United States Department of

Agriculture from the 1995 crop is

estimated at 19,202,000. The 1995 base

fee was decreased 15 percent based on

the estimated number of bales to be

classed (one percent for every 100,000

bales or portion thereof above the base

of 12,500,000, limited to a maximum

adjustment of 15 percent). This

percentage factor amounts to a 30 cents

per bale reduction and was subtracted
21034 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 83 / Monday, May 1, 1995 / Rules and Regulations

from the 1995 base fee of $2.01 per bale,

resulting in a fee of $1.71 per bale.

Assuming a fee of $1.71 per bale, the

projected operating reserve would be 30

percent. The Act specifies that the

Secretary shall not establish a fee

which, when combined with other

sources of revenue, will result in a

projected operating reserve of more than

25 percent. Accordingly, the fee of $1.71

must be reduced by 11 cents per bale,

to $1.60 per bale, to provide an ending

accumulated operating reserve for the

fiscal year of 25 percent of the projected

cost of operating the program. This

establishes the 1995 season fee at $1.60

per bale.

Accordingly, § 28.909, paragraph (b)

is revised to reflect the reduction in the

HVI classification fees.

As provided for in the Uniform Cotton

Classing Fees Act of 1987, as amended,

a five cents per bale discount will

continue to be applied to voluntary

centralized billing and collecting agents

as specified in § 28.909 (c).

Growers or their designated agents

will continue to incur no additional fees

if only one method of receiving

classification data is requested. The fee

for each additional method of receiving

classification data in § 28.910 will

remain at five cents per bale, and it will

be applicable even if the same method

was requested. The other provisions of

§ 28.910 concerning the fee for an owner

receiving classification data from the

central database and the fee for new

classification memoranda issued for the

business convenience of such an owner

without reclassification of the cotton

will remain the same.

The fee for review classification in

§ 28.911 will be reduced from $1.80 per

bale to $1.60 per bale.

The fee for returning samples after

classification in § 28.911 will remain at

40 cents per sample.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 28

Administrative practice and

procedures, Cotton, Cotton samples,

Grades, Market news, Reporting and

recordkeeping requirements, Standards,

Staples, Testing, Warehouses.

For the reasons set forth in the

preamble, 7 CFR Part 28 is amended as

follows:

PART 28—[AMENDED]

1. The authority citation for Subpart

D of Part 28 is revised to read as follows:

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 473a; 7 U.S.C. 473c.

2. In § 28.909, paragraph (b) is revised

to read as follows:

§ 28.909 Costs.

* * * * *

(b) The cost of High Volume

Instrument (HVI) cotton classification

service to producers is $1.60 per bale.

* * * * *

3. In § 28.911, the last sentence of

paragraph (a) is revised to read as

follows:

§ 28.911 Review classification.

(a) * * * The fee for review

classification is $1.60 per bale.

* * * * *

Dated: April 25, 1995.

Lon Hatamiya,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 95–10602 Filed 4–28–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P

7 CFR Part 75

[Docket No. LS–94–011]

RIN 0581–AB35

Increase Seed Inspection Fees

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service,

USDA.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing

Service (AMS) is increasing the

applicable fees for testing seed under

the voluntary seed inspection and

certification program. The fees which

will be paid by the users of the service

are intended to generate sufficient

revenue to offset the cost of operating

the program.

EFFECTIVE DATE: May 31, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

James P. Triplitt, Chief, Seed Regulatory

and Testing Branch, Livestock and Seed

Division, Agricultural Marketing

Service, USDA, Building 506, BARC–E,

Beltsville, Maryland 20705, 301–504–

9430.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This rule

has been determined to be not

significant for the purposes of Executive

Order 12866 and has not been reviewed

by the Office of Management and

Budget.

This rule has been reviewed under

Executive Order 12778, Civil Justice

Reform. It is not intended to have a

retroactive effect. The 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 judicial challenge to the

provision of this rule.

This action was also reviewed under

the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C.

601 et seq.). The Administrator of AMS

has determined that this action will not

have a substantial economic impact on

a significant number of small entities.

Although some seed growers and

shippers using this service may be

classified as small entities, the effect of

the increased fees will be minimal.

Under the proposal the cost for a typical

test will increase from about $57.00 to

approximately $64.50. It is estimated

that the total revenue generated by this

increase will be approximately $15,000

annually.

Background

This rule is authorized by the

Agricultural Marketing Act (AMA) of

1946, as amended, 7 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.

Section 203(h) of the AMA authorizes

the Secretary to inspect and certify the

quality of agricultural products and

collect such fees as reasonable to cover

the cost of service rendered. This

revision is to increase the fees to be

charged for the inspection and

certification of quality of agricultural

and vegetable seeds to reflect the

Department’s cost of operating the

program.

The purpose of the voluntary program

is to promote efficient, orderly

marketing of seeds, and assist in the

development of new and expanding

markets. Under the program samples of

agricultural and vegetable seeds

submitted are tested for factors such as

purity and germination at the request of

the applicant for the service. In

addition, grain samples, submitted at

the applicant’s request, by the Grain

Inspection, Packers and Stockyards

Administration are examined for the

presence of certain weed and crop seed.

A Federal Seed Analysis Certificate is

issued giving the test results. Of 1,650

samples tested in fiscal year 1994 most

represented seed or grain scheduled for

export. Many importing countries

require a Federal Seed Analysis

Certificate on United States seed.

After reviewing the current costs the

department has determined that the

present fee is insufficient to cover the

program’s cost of operation. The fee

increase is necessary to offset increased

salaries and fringe benefits to personnel,

as well as increases in rent and other

program costs. Based on the Agency’s

analysis of costs and revenue, AMS is

proposing to increase the hourly rate for

the voluntary service from $35.40 to

$40.40 per hour. In addition, the cost of

issuing additional duplicate original

certificates will be increased from $8.85

to $10.10. Approximately one-fourth

hour is required to issue additional

duplicate certificates.

A proposed rule was published in the

Federal Register on January 4, 1995 (60

FR 379). Comments on the proposed