[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 165 (Friday, August 26, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-21083]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: August 26, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
7 CFR Part 1205

[CN-94-006]
RIN 0581-AB29

 

Amendment to Cotton Research and Promotion Regulations Regarding 
Assessment of Imported Cotton-Containing Products

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is adopting without 
modification an interim final rule amending the Cotton Board Rules and 
Regulations to allow for the continuation of collections on renumbered 
imported cotton-containing products as long as no change in the 
product's Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) description occurs. Since 
renumbering of products by the U.S. Customs Service occurs rather 
frequently, providing for a continuation of assessment collection will 
prevent unnecessary and costly interruptions of the program.

EFFECTIVE DATE: September 26, 1994.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Craig Shackelford, Chief, Cotton 
Research and Promotion Staff, Cotton Division, AMS, USDA, P.O. Box 
96456, Room 2641-S, Washington, DC 20090-6456; or telephone: (202) 720-
2259.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Prior Document: Interim final rule-Amendment 
to Cotton Research and Promotion Regulations Regarding Assessment of 
Imported Cotton-Containing Products published July 1, 1994, (59 FR 
33901).

Regulatory Impact

    This rule has been determined to be not significant for purposes of 
Executive Order 12866, and therefore has not been reviewed by the 
Office of Management and Budget.
    This rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778, Civil 
Justice Reform. It is not intended to have retroactive effect. This 
rule would not preempt any state or local laws, regulations, or 
policies, unless they present an irreconcilable conflict with this 
rule. The Act provides that administrative proceedings must be 
exhausted before parties may file suit in court. Under Section 12 of 
the Act, any person 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. Such person 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 person is an inhabitant, or has his principal 
place of business, has jurisdiction to review the Secretary's ruling, 
provided a complaint is filed within 20 days from the date of the entry 
or the ruling.
    There are an estimated 10,000 importers who are presently subject 
to rules and regulations issued pursuant to the Cotton Research and 
Promotion Order 7 U.S.C. 2101-2118. This rule will affect importers of 
cotton and products containing cotton. The majority of these importers 
are small businesses under the criteria established by the Small 
Business Administration. This rule will help ensure the uninterrupted 
collection of assessments on products already subject to assessment.

Economic Impact

    The AMS Administrator has determined that this final rule will not 
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities, as defined by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et 
seq.).

Paperwork Reduction Act

    In compliance with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
regulations (5 CFR part 1320) which implement the Paperwork Reduction 
Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) the information collection and 
recordkeeping requirements contained in this subpart have been 
previously approved by OMB and assigned control number 0581-0093.

Background

    In July of 1992, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) finalized 
rules and regulations for the authority to collect assessments on 
cotton and cotton-containing products as authorized in the 1990 Farm 
Bill. In order to designate specific imported products subject to 
assessment, AMS published, within the implementing regulations, a table 
of approximately 700 HTS numbers and individual assessment rates for 
each. Collections began on August 1, 1992. Soon after, the Department 
of Commerce changed certain HTS numbers that USDA had identified as 
subject to the assessment. During the first 17 months of import 
assessments, AMS has found that the Department of Commerce may revise 
HTS numbers as a result of presidential proclamation, congressional 
actions, statistical tracking requirements, etc. Often, these changed 
numbers are merely replacements of previous numbers and have no impact 
on the physical properties, description or cotton content of the 
product it represents.
    The U.S. Customs Service informed USDA prior to the publishing of 
this rule that several HTS numbers listed in the Import Assessment 
Table contained in 7 CFR 1205.510 would no longer be valid as of 
January 1, 1994, because of recent statistical changes made by the 
Department of Commerce. These statistical changes to the HTS numbers 
were made for reasons associated with the implementation of the North 
American Free Trade Agreement.
    In order to collect cotton research and promotion assessments on 
imported products containing cotton, HTS numbers listed in the 
Assessment Table in 7 CFR 1205.510 must correspond to numbers listed in 
the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. USDA has found that frequent rulemaking 
is necessary in order to maintain an up-to-date list of HTS numbers in 
the regulations which provide the U.S. Customs Service the authority to 
collect cotton research and promotion assessments on imported cotton 
and products containing cotton.
    Changes made to HTS numbers during calendar year 1993 have resulted 
in reduced collections by U.S. Customs under the import assessment 
program averaging over $30,000 per month.
    USDA has reason to believe that changes in HTS numbering and the 
resulting impact on the Cotton Research and Promotion Program will 
continue. U.S. international trade agreements such as NAFTA, GATT, and 
changes in most favored nation trading status for certain textile 
producing countries will, according to the U.S. Customs Service, 
generate changes in HTS headings on a continuing basis. The Cotton 
Research and Promotion Program would in this environment experience an 
unpredictable loss of revenue.
    With the number and frequency of HTS number changes USDA expects, 
updating the list of HTS numbers through rulemaking is an impractical 
solution to minimizing interruptions in assessment collections. 
Therefore, this rule provides for the continued collection of 
assessments when HTS numbers are changed so long as such changes have 
no impact on the physical properties, description, or cotton content of 
the products involved.
    It is important to note that Commerce does renumber HTS headings 
where an actual change in the product occurs. This rule would not 
address this type of renumbering. USDA will continue to suspend 
assessments in these situations until the cotton content and a revised 
assessment rate could be determined and the assessment table revised.
    Based on discussions with importers and U.S. Customs Service 
officials, USDA has determined that the import community supports 
continuing to pay assessments on products when numbers have changed but 
the product remains the same. In fact, suspending collections on HTS 
headings that undergo mere renumbering is causing confusion for 
importers and Customs. Customs officials have informed USDA that they 
can program their automated computer collection system to continue 
collecting assessments when HTS headings undergo renumbering.
    On July 1, 1994, at 59 FR 33901, AMS published an interim final 
rule amending 7 CFR Part 1205 to allow for the continuation of 
collections on renumbered imported cotton-containing products as long 
as no change in the product's Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) 
description occurs. The rule was published with a request for comments 
to be submitted by August 1, 1994. AMS received no comments pertaining 
to the interim final during the specified comment period. Therefore, 
this rule adopts the interim final rule without change.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 1205

    Advertising, Agricultural research, Cotton, Marketing agreements, 
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR part 1205 is 
amended as follows:

PART 1205--COTTON RESEARCH AND PROMOTION

    Accordingly, the interim final rule amending 7 CFR part 1205 which 
was published at 59 FR 33901 on July 1, 1994, is adopted without 
change.

    Dated: August 22, 1994.
Lon Hatamiya,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 94-21083 Filed 8-25-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P