[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 201 (Wednesday, October 19, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-25748]


  Federal Register / Vol. 59, No. 201 / Wednesday, October 19, 1994 /
  
[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: October 19, 1994]


                                                   VOL. 59, NO. 201

                                        Wednesday, October 19, 1994

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Federal Grain Inspection Service

7 CFR Part 800

RIN 0580-AA36

 

FGIS To Offer Official Pesticide Residue Testing

AGENCY: Federal Grain Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Final rule.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This rule revises the regulations under the United States 
Grain Standards Act (USGSA), as amended, and establishes the fee for a 
new service offered by the Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS). 
This service will provide for an official pesticide residue testing 
program for 29 pesticides in wheat.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This regulation is effective November 18, 1994.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: George Wollam, FGIS, USDA, Room 0623 
South Building, (202) 720-0292.

Executive Order 12866

    This rule has been determined to be significant for purposes of 
Executive Order 12866 and, therefore, has been reviewed by OMB.
    Major importers of U.S. wheat such as Japan, China, Mexico, and 
Korea have indicated a strong interest in having U.S. grain officially 
tested for the presence of specific pesticide residues. FGIS will be 
offering certification of these specific pesticide levels for export 
and domestic wheat. The anticipated volume of requests for this service 
is 500 samples per year or 10 per week. This represents approximately 
$100,000 per year, which will reimburse the costs of providing the 
service.
    FGIS has provided official pesticide residue testing under the 
Agricultural Marketing Act since the early 1980's. Producers, grain 
handlers, processors, and foreign buyers of U.S. grain expect FGIS to 
provide an impartial assessment of grain quality as required by its 
legislative authority. FGIS, in turn, responds to industry requests by 
developing testing procedures and soliciting comments regarding the 
specific action before implementation. It is participants in the grain 
industry who determine who should conduct the analysis based on the 
documentation needed to fulfill contract requirements established by 
the grain market.
    Under these circumstances, the Administrator of the Federal Grain 
Inspection Service has determined that this proposed action will not 
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities.

Executive Order 12778

    This final rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778, 
Civil Justice Reform. This action is not intended to have retroactive 
effect. The USGSA provides in Section 87g that no State or subdivision 
may require or impose any requirements or restrictions concerning the 
inspection, weighing, or description of grain under the Act. This final 
rule will not preempt any State or local laws, regulations, or policies 
unless they present an irreconcilable conflict with this rule. There 
are no administrative procedures which must be exhausted prior to any 
judicial challenge to the provisions of this rule.

Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification

    David Shipman, Acting Administrator, FGIS, has determined that this 
final rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial 
number of small entities as defined in the Regulatory Flexibility Act 
(5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) because most users of the official inspection 
and weighing services and those entities that perform these services do 
not meet the requirements for small entities.

Information Collection Requirements

    In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 (44 U.S.C. 
chapter 35), the information collection requirements contained in part 
800 have been previously approved by OMB under control number 0580-
0013.

Background

    On February 28, 1994, FGIS published in the Federal Register (59 FR 
9424) a proposed rule entitled ``Fees for Official Pesticide Residue 
Testing.'' These fees were established for a new service to provide 
official pesticide residue determinations for 29 pesticides in wheat.
    Since the early 1980's, FGIS has provided official service under 
the Agricultural Marketing Act (AMA) to test grain and processed grain 
products for three pesticide residues: carbon tetrachloride, methyl 
bromide, and ethylene dibromide. This service is available upon request 
from the FGIS Commodity Testing Laboratory in Beltsville, MD.
    FGIS is expanding its pesticide residue testing program to include 
testing wheat for 29 additional pesticides under the authority of the 
USGSA. The service will be performed on a request basis; it will not be 
required for either domestic or export shipments. All samples will be 
tested at the FGIS Technical Center in Kansas City, MO. A minimum of 
500 grams of wheat will be required for testing. The residues (routine 
compounds) that will be certified are as follows: aldrin; azinphos-
methyl; alpha-BHC; beta-BHC; delta-BHC; carbofuran; chlorpyrifos; 
chlorothalonil; chlorpyrifos-methyl; p,p'-DDD; p,p'-DDE; 3-p,p'-DDT; 
diclofop-methyl; dieldrin; dimethoate; endosulfan; endrin; 
esfenvalerate; fenitrothion; fenthion; folpet; lindane; malathion; 
methidathion; methoxychlor; parathion; parathion-methyl; pirimiphos-
methyl; and triallate. These compounds will be analyzed by gas 
chromatography/mass spectrometry. Laboratory analytical results will be 
provided to the applicant as soon as practicable. Generally, the 
testing requires a minimum of 48 hours.
    The fees will be set forth in Section 800.71(a), Schedule A. The 
proposed fee is $200 for each sample tested during a regular workday 
and $300 for each sample tested during a nonregular workday. The USGSA, 
as amended, (7 U.S.C. 71 et seq.) provides that FGIS charge and collect 
reasonable fees that cover its estimated cost of performing official 
inspection, weighing, reinspection, and appeal services. The fees are 
to cover, as nearly as practicable, the FGIS costs for performance of 
these official services, including related administrative and 
supervisory costs. The testing fee does not include charges for 
sampling. Sampling service fees, if required, will be assessed in 
accordance with the sampling rates in Section 800.71(a), Schedule A.
    Testing for additional residues (special compounds) within FGIS 
capabilities will be charged at a proposed rate of $100 per hour during 
a regular workday and $150 per hour during a non regular workday. 
Testing of residues in other grains, oilseeds, and commodities may be 
provided as a service at a later date.
    Major importers of U.S. wheat such as Japan, China, Mexico, and 
Korea have indicated a strong interest in having U.S. grain officially 
tested for the presence of specific pesticide residues. FGIS will be 
offering certification of these specific pesticide levels for export 
and domestic wheat. The anticipated volume of requests for this service 
is 500 samples per year or 10 per week. This represents approximately 
$100,000 per year, which will reimburse the costs of providing the 
service.

Comment Review

    During the 30-day comment period, three comments were filed in 
response to the proposal. The two comments in support of the proposal 
were received from a grain industry association and a state department 
of agriculture. A third comment in opposition to the proposal was filed 
by an independent (private) laboratory association and was received 
after the close of the comment period.
    One comment in support of the proposal encouraged FGIS to use 
statistically valid quality control methods in offering pesticide 
testing. The commentor also requested that the testing not be 
mandatory. In addition, the commentor asked about the memorandum of 
understanding between FGIS and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 
In response to the comment, the testing service will be performed on a 
request basis; it will not be required for either domestic or export 
wheat shipments. Grain samples that have been officially sampled and 
determined to contain violative levels of pesticide residues will be 
reported to the FDA.
    Another comment in support of the proposal stated that the service 
would help to strengthen the marketing of U.S. wheat abroad and the 
service would meet importers' needs for more thorough testing for 
pesticide residues. The commentor also pointed out that importers often 
request official testing rather than what is offered by private 
laboratories and that only FGIS would be able to provide a chain-of-
custody for the tested products from sampling to analysis.
    The third comment was received after the 30-day comment period. 
This comment objected to FGIS testing on the grounds that the 
government would be competing with private laboratories. FGIS has 
provided official pesticide residue testing under the AMA on pesticide 
residue since the early 1980's. Producers, grain handlers, processors, 
and foreign buyers of U.S. grain expect FGIS to provide impartial 
assessment of grain quality as required by its legislative authority. 
FGIS, is turn, responds to industry requests by developing testing 
procedures and soliciting comments regarding the specific action before 
implementation. It is participants in the grain industry who ultimately 
determine who will conduct the analysis (FGIS or independent lab) based 
on documentation needed to fulfill contract requirements established by 
the grain market.

Final Action

    Accordingly, FGIS is revising part 800.71(a), Schedule A, of the 
regulations to establish new fees for testing pesticide residues in 
wheat.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 800

    Administrative practice and procedure, Grain. For reasons set out 
in the preamble, 7 CFR part 800 is amended as follows:
    1. The authority citation for Part 800 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: Pub. L. 94-582, 90 Stat. 2867, as amended, (7 U.S.C. 
71 et seq.).

    2. Section 800.71(a), Schedule A, is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 800.71  Fees assessed by the Service.

    (a) * * *

     Schedule A.--Fees for Official Inspection, Weighing, and Appeal    
          Inspection Services Performed in the United States\1\         
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                  Regular    Non regular
   Inspection and weighing service (bulk or       workday      workday  
                 sacked grain)                   (Monday to  (Sunday and
                                                 Saturday)     Holiday) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Original inspection and official                                    
 weighing:\2\                                                           
     (i) Contract (per hour per service                                 
     representative)..........................       $31.50       $43.10
    (ii) Noncontract (per hour per service                              
     representative)..........................        41.90        57.00
(2) Reinspection, appeal inspection, Board                              
 appeal inspection, and review of weighing                              
 services:\3\\4\                                                        
    (i) Grading service:                                                
        (A) Grade and factors (per sample)....        61.10        79.50
        (B) Protein test (per sample).........        15.30        19.90
        (C) Factor determination (per factor).        30.60        39.75
        (D) Vomitoxin test (per test):                                  
            Qualitative.......................        35.00        44.00
            Quantitative......................        40.00        50.00
    (ii) Sampling services (per hour per                                
     service representative)..................        61.10        79.50
    (iii) Review of weighing service (per hour                          
     per service representative)..............        61.10        79.50
(3) Extra copies of certificates (per copy)...         3.00         3.00
(4) Official track scale testing service......        44.00        59.90
(5) Pesticide residue testing:\5\                                       
        (A) Routine compounds (per sample)....       200.00       300.00
    (B) Special compounds (per hour per                                 
     service representative)..................       100.00      150.00 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Official inspection and weighing services include but are not limited
  to: grading, weighing, sampling, stowage examination, equipment       
  testing, scale testing and certification, test weight reverification, 
  evaluation of inspection and weighing equipment, demonstrating        
  official inspection and weighing functions, furnishing standard       
  illustrations, and certifying inspection and weighing results.        
\2\For vomitoxin tests, a charge of $7.50 per qualitative test and a    
  charge of $12.00 per quantitative test will be assessed in addition to
  the applicable hourly rate for original inspection service.           
\3\Fees for reinspection and appeal inspection services performed at    
  locations where FGIS is providing original inspection service shall be
  assessed at the applicable contract or noncontract hourly rate as the 
  original inspection, except that for vomitoxin tests, a charge of     
  $7.50 per qualitative test and a charge of $12.00 per quantitative    
  test will be assessed in addition to the applicable hourly rate. If   
  additional personnel are required to perform the reinspection or      
  appeal inspection service, the applicant will be assessed the         
  noncontract original inspection hourly fee.                           
\4\If at the request of FGIS a file sample is located and forwarded by  
  an agency for an official appeal, the agency may, upon request, be    
  reimbursed at the rate of $2.50 per sample by the FGIS.               
\5\Testing fees are applicable to any level of service (original        
  inspection, reinspection, appeal inspection, or Board appeal          
  inspection) and do not include a sampling service fee which, if       
  applicable, will be assessed separately in accordance with the fees in
  this schedule.                                                        

* * * * *
Patricia A. Jensen,
Acting Assistant Secretary, Marketing and Inspection Services.
[FR Doc. 94-25748 Filed 10-18-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-EN-P