Fees for Official Inspection and Official Weighing Services Under the United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA)

AGENCY:

Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration, USDA.

ACTION:

Final rule.

SUMMARY:

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) is announcing the fee schedule for official inspection and weighing services performed under the United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA), as amended, in order to comply with amendments to the USGSA made by the Agriculture Reauthorizations Act of 2015. The USGSA provides GIPSA with the authority to charge and collect reasonable fees to cover the costs of performing official services and the costs associated with managing the program. This action publishes the annual review of fees in Schedule A and the resulting fees that will be effective January 1, 2017.

DATES:

Effective January 1, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Denise Ruggles, USDA-GIPSA-FGIS-ODA; Telephone: (816) 659-8406; Email: Denise.M.Ruggles@usda.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

USGSA authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to provide 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 associated administrative and supervisory costs. The fees are in the regulations at 7 CFR 800.71.

On July 29, 2016, GIPSA published in the Federal Register (81 FR 49855) a final rule amending 7 CFR 800.71 in accordance with the Reauthorizations Act of 2015, which required GIPSA to calculate fees assessed on tonnage based on the 5-year rolling average of export tonnage volume (§ 800.71) and adjust all Schedule A fees annually to maintain a 3 to 6 month operating reserve for inspection and supervision services (§ 800.71).

GIPSA has conducted the annual review of the fees and operating reserve for the purposes of the annual adjustment of the fees. Accordingly, GIPSA is setting new tonnage fees which will take effect on January 1, 2017, for all field offices. GIPSA has determined that a 5 percent reduction in all Schedule A fees, including the aforementioned tonnage fees, is necessary to attain the goal of 41/2 months of operating reserve.

Fee Calculations

The regulations require GIPSA annually review the national tonnage fees, local tonnage fees, and fees for service. After calculating the tonnage fees according to the regulatory formula in section 800.71(b)(1), GIPSA then reviews the amount of funds in the operating reserve at the end of the fiscal year (FY2016 in this case) to ensure that it has 41/2 months of operating expenses as required by section 800.71(b)(2) of the regulations. If the operating reserve has more, or less than 41/2 months of operating expenses, then GIPSA must adjust all Schedule A fees. For each $1,000,000, rounded down, that the operating reserve varies from the target of 41/2 months, GIPSA will adjust all Schedule A fees by 2 percent. If the operating reserve exceeds the target, all Schedule A fees will be reduced. If the operating reserve does not meet target, all Schedule A fees will be increased. The maximum annual increase or decrease in fees is 5 percent (§ 800.71(b)(2)(i)-(ii)).

(a) Tonnage fees for the 5-year rolling average tonnage were calculated on the previous 5 fiscal years 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. Tonnage fees consist of the national tonnage fee and local tonnage fee and are calculated and rounded to the nearest $0.001 per metric ton. The tonnage fees are calculated as following:

(1) National tonnage fee. The national tonnage fee is the national program administrative costs for the previous fiscal year divided by the average yearly tons of export grain officially inspected and/or weighed by delegated States and designated agencies, excluding land carrier shipments to Canada and Mexico, and outbound grain officially inspected and/or weighed by FGIS during the previous 5 fiscal years.

The national program administrative costs for fiscal year 2016 were $7,214,466. The fiscal year 2017 national tonnage fee, prior to the operating reserve review, is calculated to be at $0.067 per metric ton.

(2) Local tonnage fee. The local tonnage fee is the field office administrative costs for the previous fiscal year divided by the average yearly tons of outbound grain officially inspected and/or weighed by the field office during the previous 5 fiscal years.

The field offices fiscal year tons for the previous 5 fiscal years and calculated 5-year rolling average are as follows:

The local field office administrative costs for fiscal year 2016 and the fiscal year 2017 calculated local field office tonnage fee, prior to the operating reserve review, are as follows:

(3) Operating reserve. In order to maintain an operating reserve not less than 3 and not more than 6 months, GIPSA reviewed the value of the operating reserve at the end of FY2016 to ensure that an operating reserve of 41/2 months is maintained.

The program operating reserve at the end of fiscal year 2016 was $18,863,026 with a monthly operating expense of $3,295,937. The target of 4.5 months of operating reserve is $14,831,717 therefore the operating reserve is greater than 4.5 times the monthly operating expenses by $4,031,311. For each $1,000,000, rounded down, above the target level, all Schedule A fees must be reduced by 2 percent. The operating reserve is $4 million above the target level resulting in a calculated 8 percent reduction. As required by 800.71(b)(2)(ii), the reduction is limited to 5 percent. Therefore, GIPSA is reducing all Schedule A fees for service in Schedule A in paragraph (a)(1) by the maximum 5 percent. All Schedule A fees for service are rounded to the nearest $0.10, except for fees based on tonnage or hundredweight.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 800

• Administrative practice and procedure
• Exports
• Grains
• Reporting and recordkeeping requirements

For the reasons set out in the preamble, GIPSA amends 7 CFR part 800 as follows:

PART 800—GENERAL REGULATIONS

1. The authority citation for part 800 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 71-87k.

2. Section 800.71(a)(1) is amended by revising Tables 1, 2, and 3 of Schedule A to read as follows: