Rule2025-04821
User Fees: Agricultural Quarantine and Inspection Services; Delay of Effective Date and Request for Information
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
March 21, 2025
Effective
June 2, 2025
Issuing agencies
Agriculture DepartmentAnimal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Abstract
On May 7, 2024, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service published in the Federal Register a final rule amending the user fee regulations associated with the agricultural quarantine and inspection program. The final rule went into effect on October 1, 2024, with the exception of the removal of an exemption to the commercial aircraft user fee for small commercial passenger aircraft, which was scheduled to go into effect on April 1, 2025. In this document, we are issuing a postponement of the effective date of the removal of the exemption to the commercial aircraft user fee for small commercial passenger aircraft for 60 days, from April 1, 2025, to June 2, 2025.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 54 (Friday, March 21, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 54 (Friday, March 21, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 13272-13273]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-04821]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
7 CFR Part 354
[Docket No. APHIS-2022-0023]
RIN 0579-AE71
User Fees: Agricultural Quarantine and Inspection Services; Delay
of Effective Date and Request for Information
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Final rule; delay of effective date and request for comment.
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SUMMARY: On May 7, 2024, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
published in the Federal Register a final rule amending the user fee
regulations associated with the agricultural quarantine and inspection
program. The final rule went into effect on October 1, 2024, with the
exception of the removal of an exemption to the commercial aircraft
user fee for small commercial passenger aircraft, which was scheduled
to go into effect on April 1, 2025. In this document, we are issuing a
postponement of the effective date of the removal of the exemption to
the commercial aircraft user fee for small commercial passenger
aircraft for 60 days, from April 1, 2025, to June 2, 2025.
DATES: As of March 21, 2025 the effective date of the rule published on
May 7, 2024 (89 FR 38596) for the removal of 7 CFR 354.3(e)(2)(iv), is
delayed until June 2, 2025. We will consider all comments that we
receive on or before April 21, 2025.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>.
Enter APHIS-2022-0023 in the Search field. Select the Documents tab,
then select the Comment button in the list of documents.
<bullet> Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to
Docket No. APHIS-2022-0023, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD,
APHIS, Station 2C-10.16, 4700 River Road, Unit 25, Riverdale, MD 20737-
1238.
Any comments we receive on this docket may be viewed at
<a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a> or in our reading room, whichis located in room 1620 of
the USDA South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue SW,
Washington, DC. Normal reading room hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, except holidays. To be sure someone is there to
help you, please call (202) 799-7039 before coming.
Response to this action is voluntary. Each individual or
institution is requested to submit only one response. Responses should
include the name of the person(s) or organization(s) filing the
response.
Comments submitted in response to this action are subject to the
Freedom of Information Act. Responses to this action may be posted
without change online.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. George Balady, Senior Regulatory
Policy Specialist, PPQ, APHIS, 67 Thomas Johnson Drive, Ste. 2,
Frederick, MD 21702-4865; (301) 851-2338; <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4726362e69323422356921222234073234232669202831"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="92f3e3fbbce7e1f7e0bcf4f7f7e1d2e7e1f6f3bcf5fde4">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: With this document we are also seeking
information on whether: (1) There are any circumstances under which
small commercial passenger aircraft (those with 64 or fewer seats) can
be considered to have lower sanitary and phytosanitary risk than larger
commercial passenger aircraft under similar conditions; (2) if those
small commercial passenger aircraft merit reduced agricultural
quarantine and inspection user fees as a result of that lower risk, and
(3) whether the user fee could be structured differently, in a manner
commensurate with the services being provided, along with evidence to
support any alternate user fee structures.
Background
Section 2509(a) of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade
(FACT) Act of 1990 (21 U.S.C. 136a) authorizes the Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to prescribe and collect user fees
for agricultural quarantine and inspection (AQI) services. Congress
amended the FACT Act on April 4, 1996, and May 13, 2002.
The FACT Act, as amended, authorizes APHIS to prescribe and collect
user fees for AQI services provided in connection with the arrival, at
a port in the customs territory of the United States, of certain
commercial vessels, commercial trucks, commercial railroad cars,
commercial aircraft, and international passengers. According to the
FACT Act, as amended, these user fees should be ``sufficient'' ``to
cover the cost of'':
<bullet> Providing AQI services ``in connection with the arrival at
a port in the customs territory of the United States'' of the
conveyances and the passengers listed above;
<bullet> Providing ``preclearance or preinspection at a site
outside the
[[Page 13273]]
customs territory of the United States'' to the conveyances and the
passengers listed above; and
<bullet> Administering 21 U.S.C. 136a, concerning the ``collection
of fees for inspection services.''
In addition, the FACT Act, as amended, contains the following
requirements:
<bullet> The amount of the fees shall be ``commensurate with the
costs of [AQI] services with respect to the class of persons or
entities paying the fees.''
<bullet> The cost of AQI services ``with respect to passengers as a
class'' shall ``include the cost of related inspections of the aircraft
or other vehicle.''
The user fees for the AQI activities described above are contained
in 7 CFR 354.3, ``User fees for certain international services.''
APHIS' regulations regarding user fees relating to imports and exports,
as well as overtime services, are found in 7 CFR part 354.
On May 7, 2024, we published a final rule in the Federal Register,
(89 FR 38596-38644, Docket No. APHIS-2022-0023),\1\ amending the user
fee regulations associated with the AQI program. The final rule went
into effect on October 1, 2024, with the exception of the removal of 7
CFR 354.3(e)(2)(iv), which contains an exemption from paying the AQI
user fee for commercial aircraft with 64 or fewer seats meeting certain
conditions. Because small commercial passenger aircraft have not
previously been subject to the fee, we delayed implementation of the
commercial aircraft fee for passenger aircraft with 64 or fewer seats
until April 1, 2025 (89 FR 38621). In this document, we are postponing
the implementation of the removal of Sec. 354.3(e)(2)(iv) for an
additional 60 days, until June 2, 2025.
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\1\ To view the proposed rule, final rule, supporting documents,
and the comments received, go to <a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a>. Enter APHIS-2022-
0023 in the Search box.
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This postponement is in accordance with the Presidential Memorandum
titled ``Regulatory Freeze Pending Review'' issued January 20, 2025,
which orders all agencies to consider postponing for 60 days the
effective date of any rule that has not taken effect, for the purpose
of reviewing any question of fact, law or policy that the rule may
raise.\2\
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\2\ To view the memorandum, go to <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/regulatory-freeze-pending-review/">https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/regulatory-freeze-pending-review/</a>.
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Request for Information
The memorandum also directs agencies, during this 60-day period of
delay of effective date, where appropriate and consistent with
applicable law, to consider opening a comment period to allow
interested parties to provide comments about issues of fact, law, and
policy raised by the rules postponed under this memorandum.
Accordingly, we are soliciting public information about small
commercial passenger aircraft operations, for the reasons discussed
below.
Since the final rule was published, some operators of small
commercial passenger aircraft stated that their aircraft do not pose a
sanitary or phytosanitary risk because they do not have cargo holds
and, therefore, do not carry cargo that requires AQI services. These
same small commercial passenger aircraft operators further stated that
they should continue to be exempt from the AQI user fees for commercial
aircraft. Other small commercial passenger aircraft operators stated
that they were not of an equivalent risk profile to larger commercial
carriers and should pay a lower fee that correlates to this lower risk.
In the May 2024 final rule, we created a separate, lower fee
structure for certain commercial vessels operating in the Great Lakes
and Cascadia based on comments received during the comment period on
the proposed rule (88 FR 54796-54827, Docket No. APHIS-2022-0023) that
the area of departure, route, and arrival were bounded and routine for
many of those vessels (89 FR 38607-38609). Based on the comments
received and available information, APHIS determined that depending on
their cargo, vessels operating in the Great Lakes and Cascadia could
pose a lower sanitary and phytosanitary risk than other types of
commercial vessels traveling internationally warranting a lower fee
rate provided that certain requirements are met (89 FR 38608-38609).
APHIS is therefore open to the possibility of a lower AQI user fee for
small commercial passenger aircraft, if warranted and adequately
supported by data.
We are soliciting public information about small commercial
passenger aircraft operations; in particular, whether small commercial
passenger aircraft operators have additional data regarding the nature
of their activities and whether those activities result in a lower
sanitary and phytosanitary risk profile that would merit less intensive
AQI services and a lower corresponding user fee. We are thus soliciting
information about whether APHIS should consider modifying the
commercial aircraft fee for small commercial passenger aircraft in a
similar way to the fee structure we created for the Great Lakes and
Cascadia commercial vessels. Specifically, we request information about
whether:
<bullet> Small commercial passenger aircraft predominately operate
(and seldom depart from) a distinct geographical or environmental area;
<bullet> Aircraft departures and arrivals are often more frequent
than those of larger commercial aircraft;
<bullet> There is information that indicates that these small
commercial passenger aircraft take the same or substantially similar
routes per flight;
<bullet> There is information that indicates that these small
commercial passenger aircraft carry the same or substantially similar
cargo per shipment and that the cargo carried does not present a
significant sanitary or phytosanitary risk;
<bullet> There are any other considerations that could help us
differentiate aircraft into categories based on sanitary and
phytosanitary risk; and
<bullet> There are other ways that the fee could be structured
differently, in a manner commensurate with the services being provided,
and evidence to support any alternate fee structures.
(Authority: 7 U.S.C. 7701-7772, 7781-7786, and 8301-8317; 21 U.S.C.
136 and 136a; 49 U.S.C. 80503; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.3.)
Done in Washington, DC, this 17th day of March 2025.
Michael Watson,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
[FR Doc. 2025-04821 Filed 3-20-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on March 21, 2025.
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