Source: http://www.thefederalregister.com/d.p/2005-03-21-05-5501
Timestamp: 2013-05-25 04:42:42
Document Index: 54006084

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 7114', 'art 3944', 'art 6726', 'art 140', 'art 5250', 'art 1739', 'art 30206', 'art 514', 'art 9740', 'art 180', 'art 800', 'art 800', 'art 800', 'ART 800', 'art 800']

Official inspection and weighing services, Daily Rules, Proposed Rules, and Notices of the Federal Government
14 CFR Part 7114 CFR Part 3944 CFR Part 6726 CFR Part 140 CFR Part 5250 CFR Part 1739 CFR Part 30206 CFR Part 514 CFR Part 9740 CFR Part 180	Federal Register: March 21, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 53)
DOCID: FR Doc 05-5501
CFR Citation: 7 CFR Part 800
RIN ID: RIN 0580-AA88
ACTION: Fees:
SUBJECT CATEGORY: Fees Assessed by the Service DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before May 20, 2005.
DOCUMENT SUMMARY: The Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS), of the Grain
industry. The increase in fees is necessary to collect sufficient
revenue to cover the current and future cost of supervising the performance of the official agencies. Current supervision fees are charged to official agencies on a unit
basis and represent an average rate of approximately 0.8 cent per
metric ton of grain inspected or weighed by the official agencies. The
proposed supervision fee increases the rate to a 1.1 cents per metric
ton charge. Official agencies include the cost of GIPSA's supervision
fee as part of the fee they charge their customers for grain services.
The current average cost for services provided by official agencies is 21 cents per metric ton. Increasing the supervision fee by
approximately 0.3 cent per metric ton should minimally increase the
total cost of inspection and weighing services to the grain industry.
SUMMARY: Official inspection and weighing services, SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
Background The United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA) (7 U.S.C. 71 et seq.)
authorizes GIPSA to supervise grain inspection and weighing services
provided by official agencies and to charge and collect reasonable fees
to cover the cost of such supervision. These fees are charged by
official agencies to their customers (grain industry) as part of the
overall fee charged for inspection and weighing services. Supervision
fees collected by GIPSA cover, as nearly as practicable, the program
and administrative costs of supervising official agencies. The current
supervision fees were published in the Federal Register on May 13, 2004
(69 FR 26476), and became effective June 14, 2004. This action adjusted
only the supervision fee charged to delegated States for the inspection
and weighing of export grain shipments. All other supervision fees
remained unchanged. The fee for export grain shipments was increased
from a unit fee of $49.20 per inspection to 1.6 cents per metric ton.
The fees unchanged by the June 14, 2004, action were last amended
in September 23, 1985, as published in the Federal Register (50 FR
38503) and became effective on October 1, 1985. At that time,
supervision fees were lowered an average 40 percent due to the
accumulation of a $4.5 million reserve in retained earnings. The fee
rates established on October 1, 1985, were set at a level so that the
program operated at a net loss in order to reduce the operating
reserves on a planned gradual basis. During the 19 year span from 1985
to 2004, GIPSA has gradually reduced the retained earnings in this
program and has reached a point where an adjustment is needed to cover
current and future program costs. In FY 2004, the official agency
supervision program operating costs totaled $2,606,826, while revenue
amounted to $1,527,713, a negative margin of $1,079,113. The retained
earnings balance was $867,191 at the end of FY 2004. GIPSA projects the
official agency supervision program deficit to continue at a comparable
rate, and estimates that at the end of FY 2006, the program's retained earnings will be negative $1.1 million. GIPSA regularly reviews its userfeefinanced programs under the
USGSA (7 U.S.C. 71 et seq.) to determine if the fees are adequate.
GIPSA recognizes the need to reduce inspection and weighing supervision
costs as much as possible before increasing fees and therefore has
taken action through the years to minimize costs. GIPSA plans to reduce
costs by initiating a transition to a central monitoring program. This
action, scheduled for implementation in FY 2008, should reduce overall
operating expenses an estimated $1.2 million or 43 percent.
Implementing the central monitoring process, coupled with a new
supervision fee, will assist GIPSA in reaching an adequate 3month retained earnings balance. GIPSA reviewed the official agency inspection and weighing programs
and proposes to change the manner in which it collects user fees and
increase fees in order to recover the retained earnings to their desired 3month level.
[[Page 13412]]
The current supervision fee is assessed on a unit or carrier basis
and does not necessarily reflect the amount of grain inspected and
weighed. GIPSA believes assessing supervision fees proportionate to the
weight of grain inspected and/or weighed is a reasonable approach. This
process was implemented for the supervision of export grain inspected
and weighed by Delegated States in the changes effective June 14, 2004
(69 FR 26476). Therefore, GIPSA proposes charging all supervision fees based on a per metric ton basis. In FY 2004, customers of official agencies, the grain industry,
paid an estimated $39 million or 21 cents per metric ton for official
inspection and weighing services on an estimated 187 million metric
tons of grain. Of the $39 million paid for services, $1,527,713 (3.92
percent or 0.82 cents per metric ton) represented GIPSA collected
supervision fees. GIPSA's actual program costs for FY 2004 were
$2,606,826 or 1.39 cents per metric ton which resulted in a net loss of approximately 0.57 cents per metric ton. To minimize the impact of a fee increase, GIPSA has decided to
propose supervision fee rates that will collect sufficient revenue over
time to cover operating expenses, while striving to create a 3month
operating reserve by FY 2014. The cost of living projections used in
calculating future salary, benefits, and all other nonsalary expenses
out to FY 2014 were supplied by the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) as set forth in their Federal Register publication (69 FR 26900)
on May 14, 2004. In projecting revenue to FY 2014, GIPSA used a 5 year
average of the total tons inspected and/or weighed by official
agencies. GIPSA will evaluate the financial status of the supervision
of the grain inspection and weighing program on a continuous basis to
determine if it is meeting the goal of obtaining a 3month operating
reserve by FY 2014, and to determine if other adjustments are necessary. GIPSA proposes to gradually replenish the reserve rather than
sharply increase supervision fees in the short term to immediately
replenish the retained earnings. GIPSA welcomes all comments regarding the proposed action.
GIPSA is proposing a change in the supervision fees and a change in
the methodology for assessing supervision fees to official agencies.
Section 800.71 of the regulations provides that the fees shown in
Schedule C apply to official inspection and weighing services performed
by delegated States and designated agencies in the United States,
except for those State agencies that are delegated additional
responsibilities by GIPSA. These States are assessed annual charges as
noted in the State's Delegation of Authority document. GIPSA has a
longstanding agreement with the State of Washington whereby the State
pays GIPSA for direct local costs along with their portion of the
national administrative costs. The financial data and information used
to develop the fees for Schedule C do not include the costs and tonnage
associated with the State of Washington since the State is charged for
their direct local costs and their share of the national administrative costs as established by the agreement. GIPSA projected that the new fees should be implemented no later
than FY 2007 and has projected costs to FY 2014 to develop the new fees
for Schedule C. GIPSA projections are based on an average total
inspection and weighing tonnage of 170 million metric tons per year.
GIPSA has determined that if the new fees are implemented by FY
2007 and the goal is to replenish the retained earnings and 3month
operating reserve by FY 2014, then GIPSA will need to collect
approximately $1.9 million per year from FY 2007 through FY 2014 to
achieve this goal. GIPSA has concluded that a 1.1 cents per metric ton
fee would generate approximately $1.9 million per year based on an
average annual service volume of 170 million metric tons. This new fee
would generate sufficient funds to rebuild the retained earnings to its
desired 3month level by FY 2014. GIPSA will continue to monitor and evaluate the program to ensure the goal is achieved. GIPSA is also proposing to change the method to assess supervision
fees to the official agencies. GIPSA has historically charged
supervision fees based on the type of carrier serviced and further
charged supervision fees based on the kinds and levels of services
received. GIPSA is proposing to charge the 1.1 cents per metric ton
supervision fees based on the total tonnage of grain officially
inspected and/or weighed by official agencies. GIPSA proposes to
utilize a standard metric ton conversion rate for submitted samples and
specific carriers serviced in order to calculate and assess the
supervision fees to the official agencies. The following table
transmits the standard metric ton conversion rate that GIPSA will use
to assess the total tons serviced by the official agencies.
Carrier/service metric tons
Truck...................................................... 19.39
Submitted Sample........................................... 19.39
Container.................................................. 20.04
Railcar.................................................... 103.42
Midwest Barge.............................................. 1,292.74
Pacific Northwest Barge.................................... 2,267.96
GIPSA has determined that ships will be assessed the 1.1 cents per
metric ton supervision fee based on the actual certified weight for the ship. The proposed change in supervision fees will increase the average
current fee rate by approximately 0.3 cent per metric ton. This
additional increase should minimally affect the amount an applicant (grain industry) pays for service.
This proposed rule has been determined to be nonsignificant for
the purposes of Executive Order 12866 and therefore has not been
reviewed by the OMB. This proposed rule has been reviewed under
Executive Order 12988, Civil Justice Reform. This action is not
intended to have a retroactive effect. The USGSA provides in Sec. 87g
that no subdivision may require or impose any requirements or
restrictions concerning the inspection, weighing, or description of
grain under the Act. Otherwise, this proposed rule will not preempt any
State or local laws, regulations, or policies unless they present
irreconcilable conflict with this proposed rule. There are no
administrative procedures that must be exhausted prior to any judicial challenge to the provisions of this proposed rule.
Paperwork Reduction Act and Government Paperwork Elimination Act
In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
Chapter 35), the information collection and record keeping requirements
included in this proposed rule has been approved by the OMB under control number 05800013. GIPSA is committed to compliance with the Government Paperwork
Elimination Act, which requires Government agencies, in general, to
provide the public the option of submitting information or transacting business electronically to the maximum extent possible.
GIPSA has determined that this proposed rule does not have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities, as [[Page 13413]]
defined in the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.),
because the majority of applicants (grain industry) that apply for
these official services, and are subjected to GIPSA supervision fees,
do not meet the requirements for small entities. This rule will affect
entities engaged in shipping grain to and from points within the United
States and exporting grain from the United States. GIPSA estimates
there are approximately 9,500 offfarm storage facilities and 18 export
elevators in the United States that could receive services from
delegated States or designated agencies. Official services are
available from 7 delegated States and 49 designated agencies. For
clarification, any and all grain that is exported from the U.S. export
port locations must, as required by the USGSA, be inspected and/or
weighed. These services are either performed by GIPSA or delegated
States. Further, some grain exported from interior locations may also
require inspection and/or weighing services unless the services are
waived as provided in section 800.18 of the regulations. These services
are provided by designated agencies. The USGSA does not require
inspection or weighing services for grain marketed within the U.S.
Consequently, these services are permissive and may be performed by
official agencies. The USGSA (7 U.S.C. 71 et seq.) authorizes GIPSA to
provide supervision of official grain inspection and weighing services,
and to charge and collect reasonable fees for performing these
services. The fees collected are to cover, as nearly as practicable,
GIPSA's costs for performing these services, including related administrative and supervisory costs. GIPSA realizes that any increase in supervision fees will be
charged by official agencies to the users (grain industry) of the
official grain inspection and weighing system. Although, the overall
effect of this proposal will be passed on to the users of official
grain inspection and weighing services, mostly large corporations,
David R. Shipman, Deputy Administrator, GIPSA, has determined that this
proposed rule will not have a significant impact on a substantial
number of small entities as defined in the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 800 Administrative practice and procedure, Grain. For the reasons set out in the preamble, 7 CFR part 800 is proposed to be amended as follows:
PART 800GENERAL REGULATIONS
1. The authority citation for part 800 continues to read as follows: Authority: Public Law 94582, 90 Stat. 2867, as amended (7 U.S.C. 71 et seq.) 2. In Sec. 800.71(a), Schedule C is amended by removing Table 1 and
adding introductory text in its place as set forth below, and by redesignating Table 2 as Table 1. Sec. 800.71 Fees assessed by the Service. (a) * * *
Schedule CFees for FGIS Supervision of Official Inspection and
Weighing Services Performed by Delegated States and/or Designated Agencies in the United States. The supervision fee is charged at $0.011 per metric ton inspected and/or weighed. * * * * * David R. Shipman,
David Orr, Director, Field Management
Division, telephone (202) 7200228 at USDA, GIPSA, Room 2409, 1400
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC, 202503630; Fax Number (202)
7201015; Email address David.M.Orr@usda.gov.