[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 2 (Tuesday, January 4, 1994)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 241-243]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-55]


  Federal Register / Vol. 59, No. 2 / Tuesday, January 4, 1994 /
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[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: January 4, 1994]


                                                     VOL. 59, NO. 2

                                           Tuesday, January 4, 1994
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Parts 907 and 908

[FV93-907-1FIR]

 

Navel and Valencia Oranges Grown in Arizona and Designated Parts 
of California; Change in Reporting Requirements

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Agriculture (Department) is adopting as a 
final rule, without change, the provisions of an interim final rule 
changing reporting requirements prescribed under the California-Arizona 
navel and Valencia orange marketing orders. The marketing orders 
regulate the handling of navel and Valencia oranges grown in Arizona 
and designated parts of California and are administered locally by the 
Navel and Valencia Orange Administrative Committees (committees). This 
rule modifies language in the orders' rules and regulations to 
discontinue the use of Form 38 (Weekly Report of By-Product Oranges) 
and specify that Form 3 (Daily Manifest Report of Oranges Subject to 
Allotment) only be utilized for reporting rail car shipments. These 
actions reduce the burden of information collection requirements under 
the marketing orders.

EFFECTIVE DATE: February 3, 1994.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Caroline C. Thorpe, Marketing 
Specialist, Marketing Order Administration Branch, F&V, AMS, USDA, room 
2522-S, P.O. Box 96456, Washington, DC 20090-6456: telephone: (202) 
720-5127; or Maureen Pello, California Marketing Field Office, 
Marketing Order Administration Branch, F&V, AMS, USDA, 2202 Monterey 
Street, suite 102B, Fresno, California, 93721; telephone: (209) 487-
5901.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This final rule is issued under Marketing 
Order Nos. 907 and 908 (7 CFR parts 907 and 908), as amended, 
regulating the handling of navel and Valencia oranges grown in Arizona 
and designated parts of California, hereinafter referred to as the 
``orders.'' These orders are effective under the Agricultural Marketing 
Agreement Act of 1937, as amended (7 U.S.C. 601-674), hereinafter 
referred to as the ``Act.''
    The Department is issuing this rule in conformance with Executive 
Order 12866.
    This rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778, Civil 
Justice Reform. This action is not intended to have retroactive effect. 
This rule will not preempt any State or local laws, regulations, or 
policies, unless they present an irreconcilable conflict with this 
action.
    The Act provides that administrative proceedings must be exhausted 
before parties may file suit in court. Under section 8c(15)(A) of the 
Act, any handler subject to an order may file with the Secretary a 
petition stating that the order, any provision of the order, or any 
obligation imposed in connection with the order is not in accordance 
with law and request a modification of the order or to be exempted 
therefrom. A handler is afforded the opportunity for a hearing on the 
petition. After the hearing the Secretary would rule on the petition. 
The Act provides that the district court of the United States in any 
district in which the handler is an inhabitant, or has his or her 
principal place of business, has jurisdiction in equity to review the 
Secretary's ruling on the petition, provided a bill in equity is filed 
not later than 20 days after date of the entry of the ruling.
    Pursuant to requirements set forth in the Regulatory Flexibility 
Act (RFA), the Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service 
(AMS) has considered the economic impact of this action on small 
entities.
    The purpose of the RFA is to fit regulatory actions to the scale of 
business subject to such actions in order that small businesses will 
not be unduly or disproportionately burdened. Marketing orders issued 
pursuant to the Act, and rules issued thereunder, are unique in that 
they are brought about through group action of essentially small 
entities acting on their own behalf. Thus, both statutes have small 
entity orientation and compatibility.
    There are approximately 140 handlers of navel oranges and 125 
handlers of Valencia oranges who are subject to regulation under the 
respective marketing order and approximately 3,750 producers of navel 
oranges and 3,700 producers of Valencia oranges in the regulated areas. 
In addition, there are about 35 by-product manufacturers that will be 
affected by this rule. Small agricultural service firms, which includes 
handlers and by-product manufacturers, have been defined by the Small 
Business Administration (13 CFR 121.601) as those having annual 
receipts of less than $3,500,000, and small agricultural producers are 
defined as those whose annual receipts are less than $500,000. The 
majority of handlers, producers, and processors of California-Arizona 
navel and Valencia oranges may be classified as small entities.
    This action finalizes changes in the reporting requirements 
prescribed under the California-Arizona orange marketing orders. This 
rule modifies language in the orders' rules and regulations to 
discontinue the use of Form 38 (Weekly Report of By-Product Oranges) 
and specify that Form 3 (Daily Manifest Report of Oranges Subject to 
Allotment) only be utilized for reporting rail car shipments. These 
changes were unanimously recommended by the committees.
    The interim final rule was issued on October 8, 1993, and published 
in the Federal Register (58 FR 53112, October 14, 1993), with an 
effective date of October 14, 1993. That rule amended Secs. 907.131, 
907.141, 908.131, and 908.141 of the rules and regulations in effect 
under the orders. That rule provided a 30-day comment period which 
ended November 15, 1993. No comments were received.
    Sections 907.67 and 908.67 of the navel and Valencia orange 
marketing orders provide authority for the exemption from order 
regulation the handling of oranges to commercial processors for 
processing into products, including juice. Sections 907.131 and 908.131 
of the orders' rules and regulations prescribe procedures governing the 
exemption from order regulation of such by-product oranges. Included in 
these procedures are certain reporting requirements imposed on handlers 
and by-product manufacturers to help ensure that order requirements and 
regulations governing the exemption for by-product oranges are being 
followed.
    For example, persons who wish to acquire oranges as an approved by-
products manufacturer for commercial processing into by-products exempt 
from regulation must submit an application to the committee on Form 14 
(Application to be Placed on Approved List of Orange By-Product 
Manufacturers). These applications are referred to the committees' 
compliance department for investigation and then, if appropriate, 
referred to the committees for approval to be placed on an approved 
list of by-product manufacturers. Commercial processors are also 
required to submit to the committees copies of Form 15 (Orange 
Diversion Report) which specify how the oranges were disposed. Finally, 
approved by-product manufacturers were required to submit Form 38 
(Weekly Report of By-Product Oranges) during the crop year when 
processing is occurring.
    The committees have recommended that submission of Form 38 no 
longer be required under the marketing orders. Submission of Form 38 
was added to the orders' rules and regulations in 1990 because the 
committees believed that the additional information would help to 
ensure that oranges exempted under the by-products exemption did not 
enter the fresh fruit market. It was believed that comparisons of the 
total amount of oranges received by processors with the total amount of 
by-products manufactured would give the committees a method to verify 
that all oranges received were manufactured into by-products.
    However, the committees have found that the information collected 
on Form 38 is not necessary to ensure compliance with order 
requirements. In addition, much of the information on Form 38 is 
collected on other reports required to be submitted under the orders. 
The committees believe that submission of Form 38 creates an additional 
burden on by-product manufacturers that is not necessary. Thus, the 
committees recommended revising the orders' rules and regulations to 
discontinue the use of Form 38. The Department has also made some minor 
modifications to Sec. 907.131 and 908.131 for the purpose of clarity.
    The second change that the committees recommended concerns Form 3 
(Daily Manifest Report of Oranges Subject to Allotment). Sections 
907.71 and 908.71 of the orange marketing orders provide that handlers 
furnish to the committees information regarding cartons of oranges 
handled, segregated by size, within 24 hours of shipment. Handlers must 
also indicate whether the shipments were destined to points in the U.S. 
and Alaska or Canada.
    Sections 907.141 and 908.141 of the orders' rules and regulations 
require handlers to submit, on Form 3, a manifest report of oranges 
shipped within a 24 hour period. Prior to the effective date of the 
interim final rule, handlers were required to include both truck and 
rail car shipments on Form 3. However, identical information regarding 
truck shipments is submitted by handlers on Form 8 (Certificate of 
Assignment of Allotment). According to the committees, this duplication 
of information created an added burden for handlers and was not 
necessary. Thus, the committees recommended modifying the orders' rules 
and regulations to require that handlers only report rail car shipments 
on Form 3. Handlers are still required to submit rail manifests and 
other appropriate documentation to the committees to substantiate rail 
car shipments.
    The information collection requirements contained in the referenced 
sections have been previously approved by the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) under the provisions of 44 U.S.C. chapter 35 and have been 
assigned OMB numbers 0581-0116 for navel oranges and 0581-0121 for 
Valencia oranges.
    This rule reduces the reporting burden on approximately 25 
processors of navel and Valencia oranges who had been completing Form 
38, taking about 0.33 hour to complete each report. This rule also 
reduces the reporting burden on approximately 210 handlers who ship 
primarily by truck, taking about 0.40 hour to complete each report. 
About 80 handlers who ship by rail at some point during a season will 
continue to use Form 3, taking approximately 0.20 hour to complete the 
report.
    Based on these considerations, the Administrator of the AMS has 
determined that this action will not have a significant economic impact 
on a substantial number of small entities.
    After consideration of all relevant material presented, the 
information and recommendations submitted by the committees, and other 
information, it is found that finalizing the interim final rule, 
without change, as published in the Federal Register (58 FR 53112, 
October 14, 1993) will tend to effectuate the declared policy of the 
Act.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Parts 907 and 908

    Marketing agreements, Oranges, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR parts 907 and 908 
are amended as follows:
    1. The authority citation for both 7 CFR parts 907 and 908 
continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 7 U.S.C. 601-674.

PART 907--NAVEL ORANGES GROWN IN ARIZONA AND DESIGNATED PART OF 
CALIFORNIA

    2. Accordingly, the interim final rule amending 7 CFR part 907, 
which was published at 58 FR 53112 on October 14, 1993, is adopted as a 
final rule without change.

PART 908--VALENCIA ORANGES GROWN IN ARIZONA AND DESIGNATED PART OF 
CALIFORNIA

    3. Accordingly, the interim final rule amending 7 CFR part 908, 
which was published at 58 FR 53112 on October 14, 1993, is adopted as a 
final rule without change.

    Dated: December 27, 1993.
Robert C. Keeney,
Deputy Director, Fruit and Vegetable Division.
[FR Doc. 94-55 Filed 1-3-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P