2021/2022 Rates Charged for AMS Services: Revised Tobacco Grading Rates
| Published date | 31 August 2021 |
| Citation | 86 FR 48659 |
| Record Number | 2021-18771 |
| Section | Notices |
| Court | Agricultural Marketing Service |
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER
contains documents other than rules or
proposed rules that are applicable to the
public. Notices of hearings and investigations,
committee meetings, agency decisions and
rulings, delegations of authority, filing of
petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are
examples of documents appearing in this
section.
Notices Federal Register
48659
Vol. 86, No. 166
Tuesday, August 31, 2021
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Agricultural Marketing Service
[Document No. AMS–CN–21–0064]
2021/2022 Rates Charged for AMS
Services: Revised Tobacco Grading
Rates
AGENCY
: Agricultural Marketing Service,
USDA.
ACTION
: Notice.
SUMMARY
: The Agricultural Marketing
Service (AMS) is announcing revisions
to the 2021/2022 rates it will charge for
voluntary grading services for tobacco.
Revised rates are based on financial
information obtained since the 2021/
2022 rates were announced on April 21,
2021, and will be applied to all services
provided since July 1, 2021, and
thereafter.
DATES
: September 1, 2021.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
: Dr.
Stephen Slinsky, Economist, Cotton and
Tobacco Program, AMS, USDA, 3275
Appling Road, Memphis, TN 38133;
telephone (901) 384–3000, or email
stephen.slinsky@usda.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
: The
Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, as
amended (AMA) (7 U.S.C. 1621–1627),
provides for the collection of fees to
cover costs of various inspection,
grading, certification, or auditing
services covering many agricultural
commodities and products. More
specifically, the Tobacco Inspection Act
(7 U.S.C. 511–511s) provides for the
recovery of costs associated with
tobacco inspection and grading services.
On November 13, 2014, the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA)
published in the Federal Register a final
rule that established standardized
formulas for calculating fee rates
charged by AMS user-funded programs
(79 FR 67313). Every year since then,
USDA has published in the Federal
Register a notice announcing rates for
its user-funded programs.
On April 21, 2021, the notice
announcing the 2021/2022 fee rates was
published in the Federal Register (86
FR 20476). Since publication of this
notice, per-unit rates necessary to cover
direct and indirect costs associated with
providing tobacco inspection and
grading services and necessary to
maintain mandated financial reserves
have decreased. Therefore, AMS is
announcing revisions to the 2021/2022
rates it will charge for voluntary grading
services for tobacco. Revised rates are
based on updated financial information
and will be applied to all services
provided since July 1, 2021, and
thereafter.
Rates reflect direct and indirect costs
of providing services. Direct costs
include the cost of salaries, employee
benefits, operating costs and, if
applicable, travel costs. Indirect or
overhead costs include the cost of
Program and Agency activities
supporting services provided to the
industry. The formula used to calculate
these rates also considers the need to
maintain operating reserves.
Services provided to the tobacco
industry include the grading and
certification of quality factors in
accordance with established U.S. Grade
Standards. The quality grades serve as a
basis for market prices and reflect the
value of agricultural commodities to
both producers and consumers. AMS’s
grading and certification services are
voluntary tools paid for by the users on
a fee-for-service basis. Industry
participants may choose to use these
tools to promote and communicate the
quality of tobacco to consumers. AMS is
required by statute to recover costs
associated with providing these
services.
Rates Calculations
AMS calculated rates for services, on
a per-unit basis, by dividing total AMS
operating cost associated with tobacco
grading, inspection and certification by
the total number of units graded,
inspected and certified the previous
year, which is then multiplied by the
next year’s percentage of cost-of-living
increase, plus an allowance for bad debt
rate. If applicable, travel expenses may
also be added to the cost of providing
the service.
2021/2022 R
ATES
Tobacco fees
7 CFR Part 29—Tobacco Inspection:
Subpart A—Policy Statement and Regulations Governing the Extension of Tobacco Inspection and Price Support Services to New Markets
and to Additional Sales on Designated Markets; Subpart B—Regulations;
§§ 29.123–29.129 Fees and Charges; § 29.500 Fees and charges for inspection and acceptance of imported tobacco
Subpart F—Policy Statement and Regulations Governing the Identification and Certification of Non-quota Tobacco Produced and Marketed
in Quota Area;
§ 29.9251 Fees and Charges
Regular Overtime Holiday
Includes travel
costs in rate Start date
Domestic Permissive Inspection and Certification (re-
grading of domestic tobacco for processing plants, re-
testing of imported tobacco, and grading tobacco for
research stations).
$55.00 $64.00 $72.00 ........................... July 1, 2021.
Export Permissive Inspection and Certification (grading of
domestic tobacco for manufacturers and dealers for
duty drawback consideration).
$0.0025/pound X ....................... July 1, 2021.
VerDate Sep<11>2014 20:08 Aug 30, 2021 Jkt 253001 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 E:\FR\FM\31AUN1.SGM 31AUN1
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
48660
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 166 / Tuesday, August 31, 2021 / Notices
1
To view the notice, go to www.regulations.gov
and enter APHIS–2019–0053 in the Search field.
Regular Overtime Holiday
Includes travel
costs in rate Start date
Grading for Risk Management Agency (for Tobacco Crop
Insurance Quality Adjustment determinations). $0.015/pound X ....................... July 1, 2021.
Pesticide Test Sampling (collection of certified tobacco
sample and shipment to AMS National Science Lab-
oratory for testing).
$0.0065/kg or $0.0029/pound X ....................... July 1, 2021.
Pesticide Retest Sampling (collection of certified tobacco
sample from a previously sampled lot for re-testing at
the AMS National Science Laboratory; fee includes
shipping).
$115.00/sample and $55.00/hour X ....................... July 1, 2021.
Standards Course (training by USDA-certified instructor
on tobacco grading procedures). $1,250.00/person ........................... July 1, 2021.
Import Inspection and Certification (grading of imported
tobacco for manufacturers and dealers). $0.0170/kg or $0.0080/pound X ....................... July 1, 2021.
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 511, 511s; and 7
U.S.C. 1621–1627.
Erin Morris,
Associate Administrator, Agricultural
Marketing Service.
[FR Doc. 2021–18771 Filed 8–30–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service
[Docket No. APHIS–2019–0053]
Concurrence With OIE Risk
Designations for Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy
AGENCY
: Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION
: Notice.
SUMMARY
: We are advising the public of
our decision to concur with the World
Organization for Animal Health’s (OIE)
bovine spongiform encephalopathy
(BSE) risk designations for Ecuador and
Serbia. The OIE recognizes Ecuador as
being of controlled risk for BSE and
Serbia as being of negligible risk for
BSE. We are taking this action based on
our review of information supporting
the OIE’s risk designations for these
regions.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
: Dr.
Kari Coulson, Senior Staff Veterinarian,
Strategy and Policy, VS, APHIS, 920
Main Campus Drive, Suite 200, Raleigh,
NC 27606; (919) 480–9876; email:
AskRegionalization@usda.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
: The
regulations in 9 CFR part 92 subpart B,
‘‘Importation of Animals and Animal
Products; Procedures for Requesting
BSE Risk Status Classification With
Regard To Bovines’’ (referred to below
as the regulations), set forth the process
by which the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service (APHIS) classifies
regions for bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE) risk. Section 92.5
of the regulations provides that all
countries of the world are considered by
APHIS to be in one of three BSE risk
categories: Negligible risk, controlled
risk, or undetermined risk. These risk
categories are defined in § 92.1. Any
region that is not classified by APHIS as
presenting either negligible risk or
controlled risk for BSE is considered to
present an undetermined risk. The list
of those regions classified by APHIS as
having either negligible risk or
controlled risk can be accessed on the
APHIS website at https://www.aphis.
usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth/
animal-and-animal-product-import-
information/animal-health-status-of-
regions. The list can also be obtained by
writing to APHIS at Regionalization
Evaluation Services, 4700 River Road,
Unit 38, Riverdale, MD 20737.
Under the regulations, APHIS may
classify a region for BSE in one of two
ways. One way is for regions that have
not received a risk classification from
the World Organization for Animal
Health (OIE) to request classification by
APHIS. The other way is for APHIS to
concur with the classification given to a
country or region by the OIE.
If the OIE has classified a region as
either BSE negligible risk or BSE
controlled risk, APHIS will seek
information to support concurrence
with the OIE classification. This
information may be publicly available
information, or APHIS may request that
regions supply the same information
given to the OIE. APHIS will announce
in the Federal Register, subject to
public comment, its intent to concur
with an OIE classification.
In accordance with this process, we
published a notice
1
in the Federal
Register on October 25, 2019 (84 FR
57384–57385, Docket No. APHIS 2019–
0053), in which we announced our
intent to concur with the OIE risk
classifications of the following regions:
•Regions of negligible risk for BSE:
Serbia.
•Regions of controlled risk for BSE:
Ecuador.
We solicited comments on the notice
for 60 days ending on December 24,
2019. We did not receive any comments
by this date.
Therefore, in accordance with the
regulations in § 92.5, we are announcing
our decision to concur with the OIE risk
classifications for Ecuador and Serbia.
Pursuant to the Congressional Review
Act (5 U.S.C. 801 et seq.), the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs
designated this action as not a major
rule, as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1622 and 8301–
8317; 21 U.S.C. 136 and 136a; 31 U.S.C.
9701; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.4.
Done in Washington, DC, this 25th day of
August 2021.
Michael Watson,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2021–18788 Filed 8–30–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410–34–P
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food and Nutrition Service
National School Lunch, Special Milk,
and School Breakfast Programs,
National Average Payments/Maximum
Reimbursement Rates; Correction
AGENCY
: Food and Nutrition Service
(FNS), USDA.
ACTION
: Notice, correction.
SUMMARY
: The Food and Nutrition
Service published a document on July
16, 2021, concerning reimbursement
rates for the National School Lunch,
Special Milk, and School Breakfast
Programs. The document contained an
incorrect table entry.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
:
Mike Rizzo 703–305–4364.
VerDate Sep<11>2014 20:08 Aug 30, 2021 Jkt 253001 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 E:\FR\FM\31AUN1.SGM 31AUN1
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
I I
