Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Issuing agencies

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 207 (Wednesday, October 28, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 207 (Wednesday, October 28, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67810-67811]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-21992]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The Department of Agriculture has submitted the following 
information collection requirement(s) to OMB for review and approval 
under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13. Comments 
are requested regarding: whether the collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility; the 
accuracy of the agency's estimate of burden including the validity of 
the methodology and assumptions used; ways to enhance the quality, 
utility and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways to 
minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are 
to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology Comments regarding these 
information collections are best assured of having their full effect if 
received by November 27, 2026. Written comments and recommendations for 
the proposed information collection should be submitted within 30 days 
of the publication of this notice on the following website 
<a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>. Find this particular information 
collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--Open for 
Public Comments'' or by using the search function.
    An agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information 
unless the collection of information displays a currently valid OMB 
control number and the agency informs potential persons who are to 
respond to the collection of information that such persons are not 
required to respond to the collection of information unless it displays 
a currently valid OMB control number.

Agricultural Marketing Service

    Title: Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999.
    OMB Control Number: 0581-0186.
    Summary of Collection: The Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 
1999 (1999 Act) authorizes the collection and reporting of information 
on the prices and quantities of livestock and livestock products. In 
2001, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing 
Service (AMS) implemented the Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR) 
program as required by the 1999 Act [Pub. L. 106-78; 113 Stat. 1188; 7 
U.S.C. 1635-1636(i)]. On September 30, 2015, the Agriculture 
Reauthorizations Act of 2015 (2015 Reauthorization Act) reauthorized 
LMR for an additional five years, until September 30, 2020. The 
Reauthorization was extended through September 30, 2021, in the 
Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 and currently extended through 
September 30, 2022, in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022.
    The request for information, as mandated by the 1999 Act and 
amended under the 2015 Reauthorization Act, requires livestock packing 
plants that annually slaughter an average of 125,000 cattle, 100,000 
barrows and gilts, or 200,000 sows and boars; or slaughter or process 
an average of 35,000 lambs to report information as described in the 
1999 Act. In addition, the 1999 Act, as amended under the 2015 
Reauthorization Act, requires importers that annually import an average 
of 1,000 metric tons of lamb meat products to report information as 
described in the 1999 Act.
    Need and Use of the Information: The information collection and 
recordkeeping requirements mandated by the 1999 Act are essential for 
AMS to administer a mandatory reporting program of livestock and 
livestock products. Using the information submitted by packers and 
importers, AMS publishes over 100 daily, weekly, and monthly reports 
covering market transactions for fed cattle, swine, lamb, beef, lamb 
meat, and pork. Collection is accomplished through electronic means, 
and AMS reports the information up to three times daily and once 
weekly. The information collected is necessary for the proper 
performance of AMS functions concerning mandatory reporting of 
livestock market information.
    Description of Respondents: Business or other for-profit.
    Number of Respondents: 118.
    Frequency of Responses: Reporting; Weekly; Other (Daily).
    Total Burden Hours: 23,712.

Agricultural Marketing Service

    Title: Export Inspection and Weighing Waiver for High-Quality 
Specialty Grains Transported in Containers Under the Authority of the 
United States Grain Standards Act.
    OMB Control Number: 0581-0306.
    Summary of Collection: The United States Grain Standards Act 
(USGSA), with few exceptions, requires official certification of export 
grain sold by grade. The regulations promulgating the USGSA require 
specific information collection and record-keeping necessary to enforce 
provisions in the statue. On July 29, 2011, Federal Grain Inspection 
Service (FGIS) published a final rule in the Federal Register (76 FR 
45397) to amend the regulations under the USGSA to make permanent a 
waiver that expired on July 31, 2012 for high quality specialty grains 
exported in containers from the mandatory inspection and weighing 
requirements

[[Page 67811]]

of the USGSA. To ensure that exporters of high-quality specialty grains 
comply with this waiver, FGIS is asking exporters to maintain records 
generated during their normal course of business that pertain to these 
shipments and make these documents available to the FGIS upon request. 
FGIS has no other means available to monitor the grain industry's 
compliance with provisions of this waiver.
    Need and Use of the Information: To comply with the waiver of the 
mandatory inspection and weighing requirement, FGIS is asking exporters 
of high quality specialty grains transported in containers to maintain 
records generated during their normal course of business that pertain 
to these shipments and make these documents available to FGIS upon 
request. Experience has shown that the U.S. grain industry maintains 
grain contracts that specify quality parameters agreed to by buyers and 
sellers of grain. FGIS believes that grain contracts would provide 
sufficient information to determine if exporters of high-quality 
specialty grain are complying with the waiver. This information 
collection requirement is essential for FGIS to enforce provisions set 
forth in the USGSA. FGIS intends to request copies of the relevant 
documents annually to ensure compliance with this waiver. FGIS also 
will require exporters to maintain records for a 3-year period.
    Description of Respondents: Business or other for-profit.
    Number of Respondents: 40.
    Frequency of Responses: Recordkeeping.
    Total Burden Hours: 240.

Agricultural Marketing Service

    Title: National Organic Program: Strengthening Organic Enforcement 
(SOE).
    OMB Control Number: 0581-0321.
    Summary of Collection: The National Organic Program (NOP) is 
authorized by the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (OFPA), as 
amended, (7 U.S.C. 6501 et seq.). The Agricultural Marketing Service 
(AMS) administers the NOP. Under the NOP, AMS oversees national 
standards for the production and handling of organically produced 
agricultural products. The NOP is issuing a final rule to amend its 
regulations.
    The OFPA authorizes the improvement and strengthening of organic 
production and handling production standards (7 U.S.C. 6513(c)) to 
strengthen oversight and enforcement of the production, handling, and 
sale of organic agricultural products. The NOP identified the need for 
many of the amendments as part of its direct experience in 
administering this program, particularly via complaint investigations 
and audits of certifying agents. Other final amendments are based on 
recent amendments to the OFPA included in the Agriculture Improvement 
Act of 2018; the recommendations of a 2017 Office of Inspector General 
audit; multiple recommendations of the federal advisory committee to 
the NOP, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), from 2002 to 
2018; and industry stakeholder feedback.
    This final rule strengthens enforcement with amendments and new 
requirements to the USDA organic regulations. The amendments in this 
final rule are intended to: (1) strengthen organic control systems; (2) 
improve organic import oversight; (3) clarify organic certification 
standards; and (4) enhance supply chain traceability. Specific 
provisions require: a new group of handlers, brokers and traders, to 
become certified as organic in order to trade or broker certified 
organic products; additional information on nonretail labels; new 
procedures to strengthen traceability; the use of federated organic 
certificates; unannounced on-site inspections; import certificates on 
all imported product; additional inspector training and qualifications; 
more review of foreign conformity systems; and the development and 
expansion of electronic data and document management systems governing 
organic certification of operations and traceability through 
transactions and trade, and clarified compliance and appeals processes 
for certifying agents and organic operations.
    Need and Use of the Information: In general, the information 
collected is used by USDA, State program governing officials, and 
certifying agents. It is created and submitted by accredited certifying 
agents, certified organic producers and handlers, those seeking or 
maintaining accreditation or certification, organic inspectors, State 
and foreign program officials, and parties interested in changing the 
National List. Additionally, accredited certifying agents, certified 
organic producers and handlers, those seeking accreditation or 
certification, and State and foreign program officials have procedures 
and space for recordkeeping.
    Description of Respondents: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Number of Respondents: 51,091.
    Frequency of Responses: On occasion: Annually.
    Total Burden Hours: 231,617.

Levi S. Harrell,
Departmental Information Collection Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2026-21992 Filed 10-27-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P


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