Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 100 / Wednesday, May 24, 1995 / Proposed Rules 27437

which is incorporated by reference at

§ 300.1 of this chapter.

(c) Each shipment of pears must be

accompanied by a phytosanitary

certificate issued by the Chinese

Ministry of Agriculture stating that the

conditions of paragraphs (a) and (b) of

this section have been met.

Done in Washington, DC, this 18th day of

May 1995.

Terry L. Medley,

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant

Health Inspection Service.

[FR Doc. 95–12748 Filed 5–23–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P

7 CFR Part 354

[Docket No. 94–074–1]

RIN 0579–AA68

User Fees—Commercial Aircraft and

Vessels; Phytosanitary Certificates

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health

Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

SUMMARY: We are proposing to amend

the user fee regulations by lowering the

fees charged for certain agricultural

quarantine and inspection services we

provide in connection with the arrival

of an international commercial aircraft

at a port in the customs territory of the

United States. We are also proposing to

amend the user fee regulations by

raising the fees charged for export

certification of plants and plant

products. We have determined, based

on a review of our user fees, that the

fees must be adjusted to reflect the

actual cost of providing these services.

In addition, we are proposing to amend

the user fee regulations to clarify the

exemption for certain vessels which sail

only between the United States and

Canada.

DATES: Consideration will be given only

to comments received on or before June

23, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Please send an original and

three copies of your comments to

Docket No. 94–074–1, Regulatory

Analysis and Development, PPD,

APHIS, suite 3CO3, 4700 River Road

Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737–1238.

Please state that your comments refer to

Docket No. 94–074–1. Comments

received may be inspected at USDA,

room 1141, South Building, 14th Street

and Independence Avenue SW.,

Washington, DC, between 8 a.m. and

4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday,

except holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For

information concerning program

operations, contact Mr. Don Thompson,

Staff Officer, Port Operations, PPQ,

APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 136,

Riverdale, MD 20737–1236, (301) 734–

8295.

For information concerning rate

development, contact Ms. Donna Ford,

PPQ User Fees Section Head, FSSB,

BAD, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 54,

Riverdale, MD 20737–1232, (301) 734–

5901.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The regulations in 7 CFR 354.3

(referred to below as the ‘‘regulations’’)

contain provisions for the collection of

user fees for certain international

services provided by the Animal and

Plant Health Inspection Service

(APHIS). In this docket we are

proposing to amend 2 user fees: (1) The

user fee for servicing international

commercial aircraft arriving at ports in

the customs territory of the United

States; and (2) the user fee for certifying

plants and plant products for export. We

are also proposing to clarify the

exemption from user fees which applies

to certain vessels which sail only

between the United States and Canada.

Each amendment is discussed

separately below.

International Commercial Aircraft

One service our user fees cover is the

cost of agricultural quarantine and

inspection (AQI) services provided by

APHIS in connection with the arrival of

an international commercial aircraft at a

port in the customs territory of the

United States. (The customs territory of

the United States is defined in the

regulations as the 50 States, the District

of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.)

The current user fee for international

commercial aircraft became effective on

January 1, 1993, following the

publication of an interim rule in the

Federal Register on December 31, 1992

(Docket No. 92–148–1, 57 FR 62468–

62473). At that time the fee was set at

$61.00. This fee was later affirmed in a

document published in the Federal

Register on November 9, 1993 (Docket

No. 92–148–2, 58 FR 59354–59356).

As we have stated in previous

proposed and final regulations, we

intend to monitor our user fees and

review them at least annually to

determine whether the fees should be

adjusted. After reviewing the fees that

were collected in FY 1993 and FY 1994

and calculating our cost and revenue

projections for FY 1995, we have

determined that the fee for international

commercial aircraft needs to be lowered

from $61.00 to $53.00 for each arrival.

This is necessary to avoid collecting

more revenue than needed to cover the

costs of the services we provide.

Calculation of User Fees for

Commercial Aircraft

To calculate the adjusted user fees for

commercial aircraft, we determined the

total projected cost of providing AQI

services in FY 1995 for international

commercial aircraft. The cost of

providing these services in FY 1993 and

FY 1994 served as a basis for calculating

our projected FY 1995 costs. It is

important to note that each year in the

budget process, Congress limits or

specifies how much APHIS can

withdraw from the AQI User Fee

Account. For FY 1993, APHIS was

authorized to spend $83.3 million. For

FY 1994 we were authorized to spend

$91.6 million, plus $6.9 million to cover

additional AQI program needs.

In FY 1992, APHIS established

accounting procedures to segregate AQI

user fee program costs. We published a

detailed description of these procedures

in the Federal Register on December 31,

1992 (57 FR 62469–62471), as part of a

document (Docket No. 92–148–1)

amending some of our user fees.

As part of our accounting procedures,

we established distinct accounting

codes to record costs that can be directly

related to each inspection activity. At

the State level and below, the following

costs are direct-charged to the AQI User

Fee Account: Salaries and benefits for

inspectors and canine officers,

supervisors (such as officers-in-charge)

and clerical staff, user-fee-specific

equipment, contracts, and large supply

items such as x-ray equipment or

uniforms.

Other costs that cannot be directly

charged to individual accounts are

charged to ‘‘distributable’’ accounts

established at the State level. The

following types of costs are charged to

distributable accounts: utilities, rent,

telephone, vehicles, office supplies, etc.

The costs in these distributable accounts

are prorated (or distributed) among all

the activities that benefit from the

expense, based on the ratio of the costs

that are directly charged to each activity

divided by the total costs directly

charged to each account at the field

level. For example, if a State office

performs work on domestic programs,

AQI user fee programs, and AQI

appropriated programs, the costs are

distributed among each program, based

on the percentage of the direct costs for

that activity at the field level that is

charged to that activity. Costs incurred

at the regional, headquarters program

staff, and agency-level support offices

are also prorated to the separate AQI
27438 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 100 / Wednesday, May 24, 1995 / Proposed Rules

activities based on the percentage of the

costs that were directly charged to each

activity at the field level, as discussed

above.

Under these accounting procedures,

we calculated the total cost of providing

AQI services in FY 1993 and FY 1994

by determining the amounts in each

direct-charge account, then adding the

pro rata share of the distributable

accounts maintained at the State,

regional, headquarters, and agency

levels. In FY 1993, it cost APHIS

approximately $13.9 million to provide

services to commercial aircraft; in FY

1994 the cost was approximately $17.5

million.

We projected that in FY 1995, it will

cost APHIS a total of $18.9 million to

provide inspection services for

international commercial aircraft. Of

this total, $15.7 million is for program

delivery costs, which are costs incurred

at the State level and below. The total

also includes $1.7 million for a pro rata

share of the program direction and

support costs, as explained above,

which include items at the regional and

headquarters program staff levels.

Finally, the total includes $1.5 million

for a pro rata share of agency-level

support costs, as discussed above,

which include activities that support

the entire agency, such as recruitment

and development, legislative and public

affairs, regulations development,

regulatory enforcement, budget and

accounting services, and payroll and

purchasing services. The exceptions are

costs for billing and collection services,

legal counsel, and rate development

services. These costs are directly related

to user fee activities, so these costs are

directly added to the user fee activities

they support and are not included in the

proration of agency-level costs.

For the commercial aircraft user fee,

we also have the authority to include an

amount that would provide for a

reasonable reserve balance in the AQI

User Fee Account (referred to below as

‘‘the Account’’). We defined a

‘‘reasonable reserve balance’’ as equal to

3 months’ normal operating expenses.

We have now accumulated a reserve

balance equal to this amount in the

Account for international aircraft.

Therefore, the reserve component of this

user fee would be eliminated in our

proposed fee adjustments.

Volumes

We estimated the annual number of

international commercial aircraft that

would be subject to inspection. The

estimates, which were based on our FY

1993 and FY 1994 collection history,

were then used as a basis for projecting

activity volumes for FY 1995.

A total of 357,442 commercial aircraft

were subject to inspection during FY

1993. During FY 1993, we revised the

aircraft clearance fee from $76.75 per

arrival to $61.00 per arrival. The

decrease became effective for all aircraft

arriving in the United States on or after

January 1, 1993. To arrive at the FY

1993 volume for aircraft, we divided the

first quarter collections (October 1

through December 31, 1992) of

$6,187,047.75 by $76.75, the per arrival

fee, for a total first quarter volume of

80,613. We divided the 3 remaining

quarter collections of $16,886,569.00 by

$61.00, the revised per arrival fee, for a

volume total of 276,829 for the

remainder of the fiscal year. This

produced a total FY 1993 volume of

357,442. Our FY 1994, volume

projection is 350,293. To arrive at the

FY 1994 volume for aircraft, we divided

our projected FY 1994 collections of

$21,367,873.00 by $61.00, the per

arrival fee, for a volume total of 350,293.

While the actual volume went down in

FY 1994, we do not expect that to

happen again in FY 1995. In fact, in FY

1995 we are projecting a modest volume

increase of 2 percent. Therefore, we

applied a 2 percent increase to the FY

1994 volume of 350,293 to arrive at a

projected FY 1995 commercial aircraft

volume of 357,299.

Fee Adjustments and Rounding of Fees

In calculating the adjusted user fees,

our final step was to divide the sum of

the cost of providing service by the

projected number of international

commercial aircraft subject to

inspection, thereby arriving at a ‘‘raw’’

fee.

For the commercial aircraft user fee,

the raw fee was $52.99; rounding this

fee up to the nearest quarter yields a fee

of $53.00. Rounding up ensures that the

fee would be easy to calculate and

collect. The lower fee of $53.00 would

be sufficient to recover the full cost of

providing aircraft inspection services,

without collecting more revenue than

needed to cover the costs of the services

provided.

Commercial Vessels

Another AQI service we offer is

inspection of commercial vessels of 100

net tons or more. Certain categories of

commercial vessels are exempt from

paying APHIS user fees under the

current regulations. Among those is

‘‘any vessel which sails only between

United States and Canadian ports’’ (see

current § 354.3(b)(2)(vi)).

The United States Customs Service

(Customs), U.S. Department of the

Treasury, collects APHIS user fees and

remits them to us. Customs has

requested that we amend our

regulations to make it easier for them to

determine which vessels are exempt

from our fees.

Under our regulations, certain vessels

are exempt from paying APHIS user

fees. Customs must determine, when

reviewing the paperwork presented for

each arriving vessels, which vessels are

exempt. In order to ensure that they

have the necessary information to make

this determination, Customs has

requested that we amend

§ 354.3(b)(2)(vi) of our regulations to

require Masters of vessels in the United

States-Canada trade arriving from

Canada to certify, in the ‘‘Remarks’’

block of the General Declaration,

Customs Form 1301, that the vessel has

sailed solely between the United States

and Canada for the previous 2 years.

The proposed certification would be

placed in a document which vessels

arriving in the United States are

required, under Customs regulations in

19 CFR 4.7, to present to the Customs

official on duty at the port of arrival. In

addition to helping Customs to more

accurately and efficiently collect APHIS

user fees, the proposed requirement

would also clarify that vessels which

‘‘sail only between United States and

Canada ports’’ are vessels which have

done so for at least the previous 2 years.

The 2-year restriction is necessary to

ensure that pests and regulated articles

brought on board the vessel at ports

outside Canada or the United States no

longer pose a pest or disease risk. This

requirement is identical to requirements

in our regulations concerning the

handling and disposal of garbage from

places outside the United States (see 7

CFR 330.400 and 9 CFR 95.4).

Phytosanitary Certificates

In addition to AQI services, our user

fees also cover the issuance of

phytosanitary certificates for the export

of plants and plant products.

Phytosanitary certificates are issued in

accordance with 7 U.S.C. 147a and

regulations in 7 CFR part 353. These

documents certify agricultural products

as being free from plant pests, according

to the phytosanitary requirements of the

foreign countries to which the plants or

plant products may be exported, or to

the freedom from exposure to plant

pests while in transit through the

United States. These certificates must be

issued in accordance with 7 CFR part

353 to be accepted in international

commerce.

The user fees for some phytosanitary

certificates issued by APHIS became

effective on March 17, 1993, upon

publication of a final rule in the Federal

Register on March 17, 1993 (Docket 92–
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 100 / Wednesday, May 24, 1995 / Proposed Rules 27439

088–2, 58 FR 14305–14307). The user

fees for other phytosanitary certificates

issued by APHIS became effective on

February 9, 1992, following the

publication of a final rule in the Federal

Register on January 9, 1992 (Docket No.

91–135, 57 FR 755–773). The fees were

set at: (1) $30.00 for a certificate for a

commercial shipment; (2) $19.00 for a

certificate for certain low-value

commercial shipments; (3) $19.00 for a

certificate for a non-commercial

shipment; (4) $30.00 for a certificate for

reexport of a commercial shipment; (5)

$19.00 for a certificate for reexport of

certain low value commercial

shipments; (6) $30.00 for a processed

product certificate for a commercial

shipment; (7) $6.00 for reissuing any

certificate or certificate for reexport (see

current 7 CFR 354.3(g)(5)). In addition,

there is a $6.00 user fee for processing

unissued phytosanitary certificates of all

types (see 7 CFR 354.3(h)).

After reviewing the fees for

phytosanitary certificates that were

collected in FY 1993 and FY 1994 and

calculating our cost and revenue

projections for FY 1995, we have

determined that, for the reasons

discussed below, the fees need to be

adjusted in order to recover the full cost

of providing services. Therefore, we are

proposing to raise our user fees for

phytosanitary certificates as follows: (1)

to $50.00 for a certificate for a

commercial shipment; (2) to $23.00 for

a certificate for certain low-value

commercial shipments; (3) to $23.00 for

a certificate for a non-commercial

shipment; (4) to $50.00 for a certificate

for reexport of a commercial shipment;

(5) to $23.00 for a certificate for reexport

of certain low value commercial

shipments; (6) to $50.00 for a processed

product certificate for a commercial

shipment; (7) to $7.00 for reissuing any

certificate or certificate for reexport. In

addition, we are proposing to raise the

user fee for processing unissued

phytosanitary certificates of all types to

$7.00.

Calculation of User Fees for

Phytosanitary Certificates

To calculate the adjusted user fees for

phytosanitary certificates, we

determined the total projected cost of

providing phytosanitary certificate

services in FY 1995. The cost of

providing these services in FY 1993 and

FY 1994 served as a basis for calculating

our projected FY 1995 costs.

In FY 1992, APHIS established

accounting procedures to segregate

phytosanitary certificate-related costs.

We established distinct accounting

codes to record costs that can be directly

related to this activity. At the State level

and below, the following costs are

charged directly to the phytosanitary

certificate user fee account: salaries and

benefits for inspectors, supervisors

(such as officers-in-charge) and clerical

staff, user-fee-specific equipment,

contracts, and large supply items such

as uniforms.

Other costs that cannot be directly

charged to individual accounts are

charged to ‘‘distributable’’ accounts

established at the State level. The

following types of costs are charged to

distributable accounts: utilities, rent,

telephone, vehicles, office supplies, etc.

The costs in these distributable accounts

are prorated (or distributed) among all

the activities that benefit from the

expense, based on the ratio of the costs

that are directly charged to each activity

divided by the total costs directly

charged to each account at the field

level. For example, if a State office

performs work on domestic programs

and phytosanitary certificate programs,

the costs are distributed among each

program, based on the percentage of the

direct costs for that activity at the field

level that is charged to that activity.

Costs incurred at the regional,

headquarters program staff, and agencylevel support offices are also prorated to

the separate phytosanitary certificaterelated activities, based on the

percentage of the costs that were

directly charged to each activity at the

field level, as discussed above.

Under these accounting procedures,

we calculated the total cost of providing

phytosanitary certificate services in FY

1993 and FY 1994 by determining the

amounts in each direct-charge account,

then adding the pro rata share of the

distributable accounts maintained at the

State, regional, headquarters, and

agency levels. In FY 1993, it cost APHIS

approximately $3.5 million to issue

phytosanitary certificates, and it cost

APHIS approximately $4.1 million in

FY 1994. We project our FY 1995 costs

to be $4.6 million. Of this total, $3.83

million is for program delivery costs,

which are costs incurred at the State

level and below. The total also includes

$389,000 for a pro rata share of the

program direction and support costs, as

explained above, which include items at

the regional and headquarters program

staff levels. Finally, the total includes

$384,000 for a pro rata share of agencylevel support costs, as discussed above,

which include activities that support

the entire agency, such as recruitment

and development, legislative and public

affairs, regulations development,

regulatory enforcement, budget and

accounting services, and payroll and

purchasing services. The exceptions are

costs for billing and collection services,

legal counsel, and rate development

services. These costs are directly related

to user fee activities, so these costs are

directly added to the user fee activities

they support and are not included in the

proration of agency-level costs.

To calculate the adjusted user fees for

phytosanitary certificates, we

determined the total projected cost of

issuing phytosanitary certificates in FY

1995, based on our costs to provide

these services in FY 1993 and FY 1994.

Under our accounting procedures, we

calculated the total cost of issuing

phytosanitary certificates in FY 1993 by

determining the amount in each directcharge account, then adding the prorata

share of the distributable accounts

maintained at the State, regional,

headquarters, and agency levels.

We then used a weighted average

method to develop the rate for each type

of phytosanitary certificate. The average

time to complete each type of certificate

was calculated. Each type of

phytosanitary certificate fee was

assigned a weighted value. This was

done by comparing the time value for

each certificate type relative to the time

value for commercial certificates. The

time value of commercial certificates

was 2.45. This was weighted 1.00 (2.45/

2.45). Non-commercial certificates were

given a value of 0.46 (1.13/2.45), and

reissued certificates were given a value

of 0.14 (0.35/2.45).

We then applied the weighted values

to our volume estimates for FY 1995 to

determine the weighted transaction

amounts. The total number of

transactions for each category was then

added and divided into the total

program cost. In this way we arrived at

an average per inspection cost of $49.84.

We multiplied the average per

inspection cost by the activity weight.

This produced the weighted average

cost for each type of certificate. The raw

fees calculated using this method were:

$49.84 for commercial phytosanitary

certificates; $22.76 for non-commercial

phytosanitary certificates; and $7.05 for

reissued and returned phytosanitary

certificates. We then rounded the raw

fees for commercial and noncommercial certificates up to the nearest

quarter, for final fees of $50.00 and

$23.00. Due to the small number of

reissued and returned certificates which

we process, and in order to make

collecting fees easier, we rounded the

raw fee for these certificates down for a

final fee of $7.00.

Executive Order 12866 and Regulatory

Flexibility Act

This rule has been reviewed under

Executive Order 12866. The rule has

been determined to be significant for the
27440 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 100 / Wednesday, May 24, 1995 / Proposed Rules

purposes of Executive Order 12866 and,

therefore, has been reviewed by the

Office of Management and Budget.

This proposed rule, if adopted, would

increase the user fees for phytosanitary

certificates to recover the cost to APHIS

of providing export certification services

for plants and plant products. This

proposed rule, if adopted, would also

reduce the user fee for international

commercial aircraft to correspond with

the cost to APHIS of providing services.

Amendments to user fees are necessary

to adjust for changes in service volume

and in costs.

Federal phytosanitary certificates are

issued in accordance with the

International Plant Protection

Convention. They certify that

agricultural products moving between

countries are free from injurious insects

and diseases. These certificates must be

issued by APHIS to be accepted in

international commerce, and must

accompany the majority of agricultural

commodities (except livestock products)

traded. Traded commodities generally

include cereals and grains (such as

soybeans, wheat, and corn), fruit and

vegetables, and other horticultural

products. In 1993, the value of exported

agricultural products requiring

phytosanitary certificates was estimated

at $3 billion.

Current user fees for phytosanitary

certificates do not fully recover APHIS’s

costs for services performed. In the past

fiscal year, the total cost of providing

phytosanitary certificate services was

$3,487,347, while total fee collections

amounted only to $2,875,716. The

reason for the discrepancy is that we

overestimated the number of certificates

that would be issued, thereby

underestimating the cost of issuing each

certificate. The total program cost for

the 1994–1995 fiscal year, which we

must recover through user fees, is

estimated at $4,643,385. This amount

includes costs associated with program

delivery, program direction and

support, agency support, departmental

charges, and Office of the General

Counsel services. If the proposed fee

increases are adopted, estimated

collections would rise to $4,717,947.

Exporters of agricultural commodities

would be affected by this rule. The

Regulatory Flexibility Act requires

APHIS to address the economic impact

of imposing user fees on ‘‘small’’

entities. The Small Business

Administration (SBA) criteria for a

small wholesale business engaged in the

trading of fresh fruits and vegetables is

that the business have 100 or fewer

employees. SBA criteria for a small crop

production business is that it have

annual revenues up to $500,000.

Approximately 90,000 phytosanitary

certificates were issued in 1993.

Certificates for commercial shipments

are issued to wholesale businesses

engaged in the trading of fresh fruits and

vegetables, and to crop production

businesses. Certificates are also issued

to export brokers who handle shipments

of produce from various sources. The

proportion of exporters in this group

which may qualify as small is unknown.

It is likely that a large number of these

brokers employ fewer than 100 workers.

In general, the value of an average

commercial shipment is likely to be

well over the proposed $50 user fee.

Given that the total value of agricultural

products requiring phytosanitary

certificates exported in 1993, estimated

at $3 billion, is much larger in

magnitude than the $4.7 million in total

user fee collection, any impact on U.S.

producers/exporters is expected to be

small.

Phytosanitary certificates for

noncommercial exporters are generally

issued to individuals and to exporters of

low value commodities. The user fee for

this category of phytosanitary certificate

is proposed to increase from $19 to $23,

an increase of 21 percent. Although user

fees represent a proportionately larger

share of the total value of

noncommercial and low-value exports,

these small exports may possess a much

higher value in the foreign country than

in the United States. Moveover, exports

by individuals may be gift items with

nonmonetary values offsetting some of

the impact of the fee increase.

SBA criteria for a small airline is that

it have 1,500 or fewer employees. Data

from the 1988 Census indicates that

there were 67 domestic and

international airline operators

employing a total of 481,000 employees.

Although the size distribution of air

carriers that enter the customs territory

of the United States is unknown, the

impact of the proposed user fee change,

regardless of carrier size, is positive—

we are proposing a 13 percent user fee

reduction, from $61 to $53 per aircraft.

The lower fee is sufficient to recover the

full cost of providing aircraft inspection

services, without collecting more

revenue than needed to recover costs.

The estimated cost to provide

inspection services for international

commercial aircraft in FY 1995 is $18.9

million. At the proposed user fee of $53

per aircraft and a projected FY 1995

commercial aircraft volume of 357,299,

total collections would amount to $18.9

million.

Under these circumstances, the

Administrator of the Animal and Plant

Health Inspection Service has

determined that this action would not

have a significant economic impact on

a substantial number of small entities.

Executive Order 12372

This program/activity is listed in the

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

under No. 10.025 and is subject to

Executive Order 12372, which requires

intergovernmental consultation with

State and local officials. (See 7 CFR part

3015, subpart V.)

Executive Order 12778

This proposed rule has been reviewed

under Executive Order 12778, Civil

Justice Reform. If this proposed rule is

adopted: (1) All State and local laws and

regulations that are inconsistent with

this rule will be preempted; (2) no

retroactive effect will be given to this

rule; and (3) administrative proceedings

will not be required before parties may

file suit in court challenging this rule.

Paperwork Reduction Act

In accordance with the Paperwork

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

et seq.), the information collection or

recordkeeping requirements included in

this proposed rule have been approved

by the Office of Management and

Budget (OMB), and there are no new

requirements. The assigned OMB

control number is 1515–00–62.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 354

Exports, Government employees,

Imports, Plant diseases and pests,

Quarantine, Reporting and

recordkeeping requirements, Travel and

transportation expenses.

Accordingly, 7 CFR part 354 would be

amended as follows:

PART 354—OVERTIME SERVICES

RELATING TO IMPORTS AND

EXPORTS; AND USER FEES

1. The authority citation for part 354

would continue to read as follows:

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 2260; 21 U.S.C. 136

and 136a; 49 U.S.C. 1741; 7 CFR 2.17, 2.51,

and 371.2(c).

2. Section 354.3 would be amended as

follows:

a. By revising paragraph (b)(2)(vi) to

read as set forth below.

b. In paragraph (e)(1), the last

sentence, by removing ‘‘$61’’ and

adding ‘‘$53’’ in its place.

c. In paragraph (g)(5)(i)(A), by

removing ‘‘$30’’ and adding ‘‘$50’’ in its

place.

d. In paragraph (g)(5)(i)(B), by

removing ‘‘$19’’ and adding ‘‘$23’’ in its

place.

e. In paragraph (g)(5)(ii), by removing

‘‘$19’’ and adding ‘‘$23’’ in its place.
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 100 / Wednesday, May 24, 1995 / Proposed Rules 27441

f. In paragraph (g)(5)(iii)(A), by

removing ‘‘$30’’ and adding ‘‘$50’’ in its

place.

g. In paragraph (g)(5)(iii)(B), by

removing ‘‘$19’’ and adding ‘‘$23’’ in its

place.

h. In paragraph (g)(5)(iv), by removing

‘‘$30’’ and adding ‘‘$50’’ in its place.

i. In paragraph (g)(5)(v), by removing

‘‘$6’’ and adding ‘‘$7’’ in its place.

j. In paragraph (h)(2), by removing

‘‘$6’’ and adding ‘‘$7’’ in its place.

§ 354.3 User fees for certain international

services.

* * * * *

(b)(2)(vi) Any vessel which sails only

between United States and Canadian

ports, when the Master of such vessel

arriving from Canada certifies, in the

‘‘Remarks’’ block of the General

Declaration, Customs Form 1301, that

the vessel has sailed solely between the

United States and Canada for the

previous 2 years.

(Approved by the Office of Management and

Budget under control number 1515–00–62).

* * * * *

Done in Washington, DC, this 19th day of

May 1995.

Terry L. Medley,

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant

Health Inspection Service.

[FR Doc. 95–12750 Filed 5–23–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Immigration and Naturalization Service

8 CFR Part 264

[INS No. 1686–95]

RIN 1115–AD87

Removal of Form I–151, Alien

Registration Receipt Card, From the

Listing of Forms Recognized as

Evidence of Registration for Lawful

Permanent Resident Aliens

AGENCY: Immigration and Naturalization

Service, Justice.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

SUMMARY: This proposed rule would

amend the Immigration and

Naturalization Service (‘‘the Service’’)

regulations by removing Form I–151,

Alien Registration Receipt Card, from

the listing of forms recognized as

evidence of registration as a lawful

permanent resident alien. This rule is

necessary to complete the establishment

of the current Alien Registration Receipt

Card, Form I–551, as the exclusive alien

registration receipt card for use by

permanent resident aliens.

DATES: Written comments must be

submitted on or before July 24, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Please submit written

comments, in triplicate, to the Director,

Policy Directives and Instructions,

Immigration and Naturalization Service,

425 I Street, NW., Room 5307,

Washington, DC 20536, Attn: Public

Comment Clerk. To ensure proper

handling, please reference INS No.

1686–95 on your correspondence.

Comments are available for public

inspection at this location by calling

(202) 514–3048 to arrange an

appointment.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Gerard Casale, Senior Adjudications

Officer, Immigration and Naturalization

Service, Room 3214, 425 I Street NW.,

Washington, DC 20536, telephone (202)

514–5014.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On September 20, 1993, the Service

published a final rule in the Federal

Register at 58 FR 48775–48780,

establishing the Form I–551, Alien

Registration Receipt Card, as the

exclusive form of registration for lawful

permanent resident aliens, by

terminating the validity of the old Form

I–151, Alien Registration Receipt Card.

In addition, the final rule provided the

procedures by which a lawful

permanent resident alien in possession

of a Form I–151 or a prior alien

registration document, such as the Form

AR–3 or AR–103, could replace these

documents with the current Form I–551.

The final rule provided that the

amendments to 8 CFR part 264

concerning the procedures for applying

for a replacement card became effective

on October 20, 1993.The final rule also

provided that the effective date for the

removal of references to the Form I–151

from 8 CFR parts 204, 211, 223, 223a,

235, 251, 252, 247a, 299, 316, and 334

would be September 20, 1994. On

September 14, 1994, the Service

published a final rule at 59 FR 47063,

delaying the effective date of the

amendments to 8 CFR parts 204, 211,

223, 235, 251, 252, 247a. 299, 316, and

334, from September 20,1994, until

March 20, 1995. On March 17, 1995, a

final rule was published in the Federal

Register at 60 FR 14353, further

delaying the effective date of the

amendments to 8 CFR parts 204, 211,

235, 251, 252, 274a, 299, 316, and 334,

from March 20, 1995, until March 20,

1996.

Removal of Form I–151 From the List

of Prescribed Service Forms

The Service’s reasons for terminating

the validity of the Form I–151, Alien

Registration Receipt Card have been

discussed in detail in the previous

notice of proposed rulemaking

published on May 28, 1993, at 58 FR

31000–31003, and in the final

rulemaking published on September 20,

1993, at 58 FR 48775–48780, which

considered and addressed the public

comments received. These rulemakings

advised the public of the Service’s

conclusion that the current Form I–551

Alien Registration Receipt Card must be

established as the exclusive Alien

Registration Receipt card because ‘‘it is

no longer sound public policy to

recognize Alien Registration Receipt

Cards that predate the use of the Form

I–551.’’ 58 FR 48775 (September 20,

1993).

In the course of that rulemaking

process, however, the intended removal

of Form I–151 from the list of prescribed

Service forms in 8 CFR 264.1(b) was

inadvertently omitted. By removing the

Form I–151 from that list, the proposed

rule would correct that previous

omission and complete the I–151 card

replacement program’s declared

objective of establishing the current

Form I–551 as the sole Alien

Registration Receipt Card recognized by

the Service. The Service intends that

this rule, if adopted, would take effect

on March 20, 1996, the date on which

the validity of the old Form I–151 Alien

Registration Receipt Card will terminate

under the final rule published March

17, 1995, at 60 FR 14353. By taking

effect upon the same date, the proposed

rule would preclude any discrepancy or

confusion over the effective date on

which the validity of the old cards will

terminate.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

The Commissioner of the Immigration

and Naturalization Service, in

accordance with the Regulatory

Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 605(b)), has

reviewed this regulation and by

approving it certifies that the rule will

not have a significant adverse economic

impact on a substantial number of small

entities because of the following factors.

The provisions of this rule merely

clarify the requirements of existing

regulations concerning documentation

of lawful permanent resident aliens. As

such, the new provisions have no

significant adverse economic impact on

the small entities.