3538 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 10 / Tuesday, January 16, 2001 / Notices

issued or transferred, including transfers

across State and international

boundaries; and (3) the standardization

of such electronic documents. This new

paperless flow of agricultural

commodities from the farm to the enduser will provide significant savings and

efficiencies for producers, bankers,

warehouse operators, and other affected

parties across the nation and throughout

the world, and will make U.S.

agricultural more competitive in world

markets.

Included in USWA 2000 were

statutory deadlines for the issuance of

proposed and final regulations, and the

new statute provides that the current

USWA that was enacted in 1916 expires

no later than August 1, 2001.

Items that will be discussed in the

subject meeting include, but are not

limited to the following:

(1) What documents and transactions

should USDA make available for ecommerce?

(2) Should USDA standardize criteria

and formats for e-commerce concerning

commodity warehousing? Financial and

business records? Electronic data

interchanges? Recordkeeping?

Commodity merchandising?

(3) The regulations at 7 CFR 735.100

through 735.105 currently provide

specifically for cotton Electronic

Warehouse Receipts (EWR) and EWR

provider requirements and standards.

Should similar regulations and

processes be adopted or expanded when

including additional commodities? If

not, what criteria and requirements

should USDA establish for electronic

warehouse commerce providers?

(4) What industry and business-based

processes should USWA offer?

The agenda includes: (1) Presentation

on options currently under

consideration for implementing USWA

2000; (2) discussions on the

implementation of electronic commerce

authorized under USWA 2000, with

opportunity for comment; and (3)

discussions on warehouse issues, with

opportunity for comment.

From 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., the discussion

will concentrate on electronic

commerce initiatives that are authorized

by USWA 2000, and from 1 p.m. to 4

p.m. the discussion will concentrate on

the statutory changes that will affect

warehousing issues. Each session will

(1) outline options that are under

consideration for implementing USWA

2000, and (2) provide attendees with an

opportunity to present oral comments

and submit written and oral questions.

An official transcript will be prepared

and will be available online at

www.fsa.usda.gov/daco/uswamain/

uswa2000-transcript.pdf. This official

transcript will also be available for

public inspection in Room 5968, South

Agriculture Building, U.S. Department

of Agriculture, 1400 Independence

Avenue, SW., Washington, DC, between

8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through

Friday, except holidays. Persons with

disabilities who require alternative

means for communication of regulatory

information (braille, large print,

audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s

TARGET Center at (202) 720–2600

(voice and TDD).

Comments: Written comments can be

submitted in hard copy by mail to Roger

Hinkle at the address shown above, or

by fax at (202) 690–3123, or by e-mail

to Roger_Hinkle@wdc.fsa.usda.gov. In

order to ensure comments will be

received before the meeting, submit

written comments no later than January

15, 2001.

Signed at Washington, DC on January 8,

2001.

Carolyn B. Cooksie,

Acting Administrator, Farm Service Agency.

[FR Doc. 01–1020 Filed 1–12–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–05–P

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food Safety and Inspection Service

[Docket No. 00–053N]

Codex Alimentarius Commission:

Meeting of the Codex Committees on

Fats and Oils and Methods of Analysis

and Sampling

AGENCY: Office of the Under Secretary

for Food Safety, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting and

request for comments.

SUMMARY: The Office of the Under

Secretary for Food Safety, U.S.

Department of Agriculture (USDA) and

the Food and Drug Administration

(FDA), U.S. Department of Health and

Human Services (HHS) are sponsoring a

public meeting on Wednesday, January

17, 2001. The objective of the public

meeting is to provide information and

receive public comments on agenda

items and draft United States’ positions

that will be discussed at two upcoming

Codex Committee meetings. The Under

Secretary for Food Safety and FDA

recognize the importance of providing

interested parties the opportunity to

obtain background information on the

Sessions of the Codex Committee on

Fats and Oils (CCFO) and the Codex

Committee on Methods of Analysis and

Sampling (CCMAS) and to address

items on the agenda.

DATES: The public meeting is scheduled

for Wednesday, January 17, 2001, from

9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon.

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be

held in Room 1813, Federal Office

Building 8, Food and Drug

Administration, 200 C Street, SW.,

Washington, DC 20204. To receive

copies of the documents referenced in

this notice, contact the FSIS Docket

Room, U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Food Safety and Inspection Service,

Room 102 Cotton Annex, 300 12th

Street, SW., Washington, DC 20250–

3700. The documents will also be

accessible via the world wide web at the

following address: http://www.fao.org/

waicent/faoinfo/economic/esn/codex.

Submit one original and two copies of

written comments to the FSIS Docket

Room at the address above and

reference docket number 00–053N. All

comments submitted in response to this

notice will be available for public

inspection in the FSIS Docket Room

between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.,

Monday through Friday.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Patrick J. Clerkin, Assistant U.S.

Manager for Codex, U.S. Codex Office,

FSIS, Room 4861, South Agriculture

Building, 14th Street and Independence

Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20250.

Telephone (202) 205–7760; Fax (202)

720–3157. Persons requiring a sign

language interpreter or other special

accommodations should notify Mr.

Clerkin at the above number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The Codex Alimentarius Commission

(Codex) was established in 1962 by two

United Nations organizations, the Food

and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and

the World Health Organization (WHO).

Codex is the major international

organization for encouraging fair

international trade in food and

protecting the health and economic

interests of consumers. Through

adoption of food standards, codes of

practice, and other guidelines

developed by its committees, and by

promoting their adoption and

implementation by governments, Codex

seeks to ensure that the world’s food

supply is sound, wholesome, free from

adulteration, and correctly labeled.

The public meeting announced in this

notice will provide information and an

opportunity for public comment on two

upcoming Codex Committee meetings:

• Seventeenth Session of the Codex

Committee on Fats and Oils (CCFO) that

will be held in London, United

Kingdom, February 19–23, 2001.

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 10 / Tuesday, January 16, 2001 / Notices 3539

• Twenty-third Session of the Codex

Committee on Methods of Analysis and

Sampling (CCMAS) that will be held in

Budapest, Hungary, February 26–March

2, 2001.

The CCFO was established to

elaborate worldwide standards for fats

and oils and their products. The

CCMAS performs multiple functions

such as defining criteria appropriate to

Codex methods of analysis and

sampling, specifying reference methods

of analysis and sampling, endorsing

methods of analysis and sampling

proposed by the Codex Committees,

elaborating sampling plans, and

considering specific sampling and

analysis problems. The Government of

the United Kingdom will chair the

CCFO meeting and the Government of

Hungary will chair the CCMAS meeting.

Issues To Be Discussed at the Public

Meeting

The U.S. delegate for the Codex

Committee on Methods Analysis and

Sampling will discuss the following

subjects at the public meeting from 9:00

a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Agenda item Subject matter Document reference

1 .................. Adoption of the Agenda.

2 .................. Matters referred to the committee .............................................................................................. CX/MAS 01/2.

3 .................. Proposed draft general guidelines on sampling at step 4 ......................................................... CX/MAS 01/3.

4 .................. Criteria for evaluating acceptable methods of analysis for Codex purposes ............................ CX/MAS 01/4.

(a) Proposed draft guidelines on the application of the criteria approach at step 4 ................. CX/MAS 01/4, Add. 1.

(b) Amendments to the procedural manual of the Codex Alimentarius Commission relevant

to the criteria approach.

ALINORM 99/23, Appendix II.

—Principles for the establishment of Codex methods of analysis and sampling.

—Relations between commodity committees and general committees.

5 .................. Consideration of harmonized guidelines for the use of recovery information in analytical

measurements.

CX/MAS, 01/6.

6 .................. Harmonization of analytical terminology in accordance with international standards: ‘‘measurement limits’’.CX/MAS, 01/7.

7 .................. Measurement uncertainty.

(a) Progress report by relevant Organizations.

(b) Relationship between the analytical result, the measurement uncertainty and the specification in the Codex standard.CX/MAS, 01/8.

8 .................. In-house method validation ........................................................................................................ CX/MAS, 01/9.

9 .................. Endorsement of methods of analysis provisions in Codex standards ....................................... CX/MAS, 01/10.

The U.S. delegate for the Codex

Committee on Fats and Oils will discuss

the following subjects at the public

meeting from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon.

Agenda item Subject matter Document reference

1 .................. Adoption of the Agenda.

2 .................. Matters referred to the Committee ............................................................................................. CX/FO, 01/2.

3 .................. Draft revised standard for olive oils and olive pomace oils at step 7 ........................................ CL 2000/32–FO.

4 .................. Proposed draft amendments to the standard for named vegetable oils (including provisions

for high oleic acid safflower oil and high oleic sunflower oil at step 4).

CL 2000/25–FO, CL 2000/25 A,

FO.

5 .................. Proposed draft standard for fat spreads and blended spreads at step 3 .................................. ALINORM 99/1, Appendix VI.

6 .................. Proposed draft amendment to the code of practice for the storage and transport of edible

fats and oils in bulk: lists of acceptable previous cargoes and lists of banned immediate

previous cargoes at step 4.

CL 2000/26–FO, Part I and II.

Additional Public Notification

Public awareness of all segments of

rulemaking and policy development is

important. Consequently, in an effort to

better ensure that minorities, women,

and persons with disabilities are aware

of this notice, FSIS will announce it and

provide copies of this Federal Register

publication in the FSIS Constituent

Update. FSIS provides a weekly FSIS

Constituent Update, which is

communicated via fax to over 300

organizations and individuals. In

addition, the update is available on-line

through the FSIS web page located at

http://www.fsis.usda.gov. The update is

used to provide information regarding

FSIS policies, procedures, regulations,

Federal Register notices, FSIS public

meetings, recalls, and any other types of

information that could affect or would

be of interest to our constituents/

stakeholders. The constituent fax list

consists of industry, trade, and farm

groups, consumer interest groups, allied

health professionals, scientific

professionals, and other individuals that

have requested to be included. Through

these various channels, FSIS is able to

provide information to a much broader,

more diverse audience. For more

information and to be added to the

constituent fax list, fax your request to

the Congressional and Public Affairs

Office, at (202) 720–5704.

Done at Washington, DC, on: January 9,

2001.

F. Edward Scarbrough,

U.S. Manager for Codex Alimentarius.

[FR Doc. 01–1157 Filed 1–12–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–DM–P

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Southwest Washington Provincial

Advisory Committee Meeting Notice

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of meeting.

SUMMARY: The Southwest Washington

Provincial Advisory Committee will

meet on Wednesday, January 31, 2001,

at the Gifford Pinchot National Forest