[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 207 (Thursday, October 25, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53975-53978]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-26900]


 ========================================================================
 Notices
                                                 Federal Register
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
 or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings 
 and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings, 
 delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency 
 statements of organization and functions are examples of documents 
 appearing in this section.
 
 ========================================================================
 

  Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 207 / Thursday, October 25, 2001 / 
Notices  

[[Page 53975]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

[Docket No. LS-01-11]


Notice of Request for Extension of Currently Approved Information 
Collection and Recordkeeping Requirements

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 
U.S.C. Chapter 35), this notice announces the Agricultural Marketing 
Service's (AMS) intention to request an extension of approval of an 
information collection in support of the Livestock Mandatory Reporting 
Act of 1999 and regulations which was temporarily approved until 
January 31, 2002.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by December 24, 2001, 
to be assured of consideration.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Comments may be sent to John E. Van 
Dyke, Chief, Livestock and Grain Market News Branch, Livestock and Seed 
Program, Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA, 1400 Independence 
Avenue, SW., Room 2619-South Building, Stop 0252, Washington, DC 20250-
0242; telephone (202) 720-6231, facsimile (202) 690-3732, e-mail 
[email protected]. For further information, contact John E. Van 
Dyke at the above address. Comments received may be inspected at 1400 
Independence Avenue, SW, Room 2619-South Building, Washington, DC 
between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. The comments will also be posted on the 
Livestock and Grain Market News Branch Web site, located at 
www.ams.usda.gov/lsg/mncs/index.htm.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999.
    OMB Number: 0581-0186.
    Expiration Date of Approval: January 31, 2002.
    Type of Request: Extension of an emergency approved information 
collection and recordkeeping requirements.
    Abstract: In accordance with the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act 
of 1999 (Act)(7 U.S.C. 1635h-1636h), a mandatory program of reporting 
information related to the marketing of cattle, swine, lambs, and 
products of such livestock, was established and made effective on April 
02, 2001 (65 FR 75464; 66 FR 41194). This mandatory reporting program 
requires the submission of market information by packers who have 
annually slaughtered an average of 125,000 cattle or 100,000 swine over 
the most recent 5 calendar year period, or have annually slaughtered or 
processed an average of 75,000 lambs over the most recent 5 calendar 
year period. Importers who have annually imported an average of 5,000 
metric tons of lamb meat products over the most recent 5 calendar year 
period are also subject to mandatory reporting requirements. This 
program is intended to provide information on pricing, contracting for 
purchase, and supply and demand conditions for livestock, livestock 
production, and livestock products, that can be readily understood by 
producers, packers, and other market participants.
    Packers subject to mandatory reporting requirements are required to 
report the details of all transactions involving purchases and sales of 
livestock, domestic and export sales of boxed beef and lamb cuts 
(including applicable branded product) and sales of lamb carcasses. 
Qualifying importers are required to report sales of all imported boxed 
lamb cuts. To verify the accuracy of submitted information, each packer 
and importer required to report must maintain, and make available for 2 
years, such records as are necessary to document the purchase, sale, 
pricing, transportation, delivery, weighing, slaughter, or carcass 
characteristics associated with reported livestock, boxed beef and/or 
boxed lamb transactions.
    The information collection and recordkeeping requirements in the 
regulations under the Act (7 CFR part 59) are essential to establishing 
and implementing a mandatory program of livestock and livestock 
products reporting. Based on the information available, AMS estimates 
that there are 49 beef packer plants, 50 pork packer plants, and 17 
lamb packer plants and lamb importers that are required to report 
market information. These companies have similar recordkeeping systems 
and business operation practices and conduct their operations in a 
similar manner. AMS believes that all of the information required can 
be collected from existing materials and systems and that these 
materials and systems can be adapted to satisfy the forms. The 
Paperwork Reduction Act also requires AMS to measure the recordkeeping 
burden. Each packer and importer required to report must maintain and 
make available upon request for 2 years, such records as are necessary 
to verify the accuracy of the information required to be reported. 
These records include original contracts, agreements, receipts, and 
other records associated with any transaction relating to the purchase, 
sale, pricing, transportation, delivery, weighing, slaughter, or 
carcass characteristics of all livestock.
    The electronic data files which the packers are required to utilize 
when submitting information to AMS will have to be maintained as these 
files provide the best record of compliance. The recordkeeping burden 
includes the amount of time needed to store and maintain records. AMS 
estimates that, since records of original contracts, agreements, 
receipts, and other records associated with any transaction relating to 
the purchase, sale, pricing, transportation, delivery, weighing, 
slaughter, or carcass characteristics of all livestock are stored and 
maintained as a matter of normal business practice by these companies 
for a period in excess of 2 years, additional annual costs are nominal. 
AMS estimates the annual cost per respondent for the storage of the 
electronic data files which were submitted to AMS in compliance with 
the reporting provisions to be $1,830.00. This estimate includes the 
cost of electronic data storage media, backup electronic data storage 
media, and backup software required to maintain an estimated annual 
electronic recordkeeping and backup burden of 42

[[Page 53976]]

megabytes, on average, per respondent. In addition, this estimate 
includes the cost per employee to maintain such records which is 
estimated to average 70 hours per year at $20.00 per hour for a total 
salary component cost of $1,400.00 per year.
    Information collection requirements include the submission of the 
required information on a daily and weekly basis in the standard format 
provided in the following forms: (1) Live Cattle Daily Report (Current 
Established Prices), (2) Live Cattle Daily Report (Committed and 
Delivered Cattle), (3) Live Cattle Weekly Report (Forward Contract and 
Packer-Owned), (4) Live Cattle Weekly Report (Formula Purchases), (5) 
Cattle Premiums and Discounts Weekly Report, (6) Boxed Beef Daily 
Report, (7) Swine Prior Day Report, (8) Swine Daily Report, (9) Swine 
Noncarcass Merit Premium Weekly Report, (10) Live Lamb Daily Report 
(Current Established Prices), (11) Live Lamb Daily Report (Committed 
and Delivered Lambs), (12) Live Lamb Weekly Report (Forward Contract 
and Packer-Owned), (13) Live Lamb Weekly Report (Formula Purchases), 
(14) Lamb Premiums and Discounts Weekly Report, (15) Boxed Lamb Report, 
and (16) Lamb Carcass Report. Cattle packers utilize six of these forms 
when reporting information to AMS including two for daily cattle 
reporting, three for weekly cattle reporting, and one for daily boxed 
beef cuts reporting. Swine packers utilize three forms, two for daily 
reporting of swine purchases and one for weekly reporting of non-
carcass merit premium information. Lamb packers utilize seven of these 
forms when reporting information to AMS including two for daily lamb 
reporting, three for weekly lamb reporting, one for daily and weekly 
boxed lamb cuts reporting and one for daily and weekly lamb carcass 
reporting. Lamb importers utilize one of these forms when reporting 
information to AMS for reporting weekly imported boxed lamb cut sales.
    These information collection requirements have been designed to 
minimize disruption to the normal business practices of the affected 
entities. Each of these forms requires the minimal amount of 
information necessary to properly describe each reportable transaction. 
The number of forms reflect an attempt to reduce the complexity of each 
form.
    Because there was insufficient time for a normal clearance 
procedure, AMS requested emergency processing and received temporary 
approval from OMB for the use of the information collection and 
recordkeeping requirements that was used to implement the mandatory 
livestock reporting program on an expedited basis. OMB granted 
temporary approval on January 18, 2001, to expire on January 31, 2002.
    AMS provided two methods for respondents to use when submitting 
information electronically under LMR. The first method, electronic data 
transfer, allows respondents to submit livestock mandatory information 
in comma-delimited ASCII (text) data files directly to AMS. This method 
is used by a majority of those entities required to submit information 
to AMS. Respondents create these text files by extracting the required 
information from their existing electronic recordkeeping systems, 
thereby avoiding manual data entry. The second method, the industry web 
interface, allows respondents to input and submit livestock mandatory 
information to AMS through the Internet. Respondents access the AMS 
livestock mandatory reporting website through a personal computer (PC). 
The AMS website provides an interface that emulates the official OMB 
approved collection forms.
    Information submitted by respondents through either electronic data 
collection method is scanned for viruses before being decrypted and 
loaded into a input directory on the AMS database system (SQL Server). 
Once accepted, the reports are sent to the AMS Market News 
Communication System (MNCS) and released to the public.
    Both electronic data collection methods are taken into account in 
the following overall burden estimate and individual burden estimates 
for each of the 16 reporting forms.
    Estimate of Burden: Public reporting burden for this collection of 
information is estimated to average .18 hours per response.
    Respondents: Certain packers, livestock product processors and 
importers.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 116.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 1,171.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 24,426.08 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Responses: 135,824 responses.

(1) Live Cattle Daily Report (Current Established Prices): Form LS-
113

    Estimate of Burden: Public reporting burden for collection of 
information is estimated to be .17 hours per electronically submitted 
response.
    Respondents: Packer processing plants required to report 
information on live cattle purchases to the Department of Agriculture 
(USDA).
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 49 plants.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 520 (2 per day for 
260 days).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 4,332 hours.
    Total Cost: $86,640.

(2) Live Cattle Daily Report (Committed and Delivered Cattle): Form 
LS-114

    Estimate of Burden: Public reporting burden for collection of 
information is estimated to be .17 hours per electronically submitted 
response.
    Respondents: Packer processing plants required to report 
information on live cattle purchases to the USDA.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 49 plants.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 520 (2 per day for 
260 days).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 4,332 hours.
    Total Cost: $86,640.

(3) Live Cattle Weekly Report (Forward Contract and Packer-Owned): 
Form LS-115

    Estimate of Burden: Public reporting burden for collection of 
information is estimated to be .25 hours per electronically submitted 
response.
    Respondents: Packer processing plants required to report 
information on live cattle purchases to the USDA.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 49 plants.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 52 (1 per week for 52 
weeks).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 637 hours.
    Total Cost: $12,740.

(4) Live Cattle Weekly Report (Formula Purchases): Form LS-116

    Estimate of Burden: Public reporting burden for collection of 
information is estimated to be .25 hours per electronically submitted 
response.
    Respondents: Packer processing plants required to report 
information on live cattle purchases to the USDA.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 49 plants.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 52 (1 per week for 52 
weeks).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 637 hours.
    Total Cost: $12,740.

(5) Cattle Premiums and Discounts Weekly Report: Form LS-117

    Estimate of Burden: Public reporting burden for collection of 
information is estimated to be .08 hours per electronically submitted 
response.

[[Page 53977]]

    Respondents: Packer processing plants required to report 
information on live cattle purchases to the USDA.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 49 plants.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 52 (1 per week for 52 
weeks).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 204 hours.
    Total Cost: $4,080.

(6) Boxed Beef Daily Report: Form LS-126

    Estimate of Burden: Public reporting burden for collection of 
information is estimated to be .125 hours per electronically submitted 
response.
    Respondents: Packer processing plants required to report 
information on domestic and export boxed beef cut sales to the USDA.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 49 plants.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 520 (2 per day for 
260 days).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 3,185 hours.
    Total Cost: $63,700.

(7) Swine Prior Day Report: Form LS-118

    Estimate of Burden: Public reporting burden for collection of 
information is estimated to be .25 hours per electronically submitted 
response.
    Respondents: Packer processing plants required to report 
information on live swine purchases to the USDA.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 50 plants.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 260 (1 per day for 
260 days).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 3,250 hours.
    Total Cost: $65,000.

(8) Swine Daily Report: Form LS-119

    Estimate of Burden: Public reporting burden for collection of 
information is estimated to be .17 hours per electronically submitted 
response.
    Respondents: Packer processing plants required to report 
information on live swine purchases to the USDA.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 50 plants.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 520 (2 per day for 
260 days).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 4,420 hours.
    Total Cost: $88,400.

(9) Swine Noncarcass Merit Premium Weekly Report: Form LS-120

    Estimate of Burden: Public reporting burden for collection of 
information is estimated to be .25 hours per electronically submitted 
response.
    Respondents: Packer processing plants required to report 
information on live swine purchases to the USDA.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 50 plants.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 52 (1 per week for 52 
weeks).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 650 hours.
    Total Cost: $13,000.

(10) Live Lamb Daily Report (Current Established Prices): Form LS-
121

    Estimate of Burden: Public reporting burden for collection of 
information is estimated to be .34 hours per electronically submitted 
response.
    Respondents: Packer processing plants required to report 
information on live lamb purchases to the USDA.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 8 plants.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 260 (1 per day for 
260 days).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 707 hours.
    Total Cost: $14,140.

(11) Live Lamb Daily Report (Committed and Delivered Lambs): Form 
LS-122.

    Estimate of Burden: Public reporting burden for collection of 
information is estimated to be .34 hours per electronically submitted 
response.
    Respondents: Packer processing plants required to report 
information on live lamb purchases to the USDA.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 8 plants.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 260 (1 per day for 
260 days).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 707 hours.
    Total Cost: $14,140.

(12) Live Lamb Weekly Report (Forward Contract and Packer-Owned): 
Form LS-123

    Estimate of Burden: Public reporting burden for collection of 
information is estimated to be .25 hours per electronically submitted 
response.
    Respondents: Packer processing plants required to report 
information on live lamb purchases to the USDA.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 8 plants.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 52 (1 per week for 52 
weeks).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 104 hours.
    Total Cost: $2,080.

(13) Live Lamb Weekly Report (Formula Purchases): Form LS-124

    Estimate of Burden: Public reporting burden for collection of 
information is estimated to be .25 hours per electronically submitted 
response.
    Respondents: Packer processing plants required to report 
information on live lamb purchases to the USDA.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 8 plants.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 52 (1 per week for 52 
weeks).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 104 hours.
    Total Cost: $2,080.

(14) Lamb Premiums and Discounts Weekly Report: Form LS-125

    Estimate of Burden: Public reporting burden for collection of 
information is estimated to be .08 hours per electronically submitted 
response.
    Respondents: Packer processing plants required to report 
information on live lamb purchases to the USDA.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 8 plants.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 52 (1 per week for 52 
weeks).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 33 hours.
    Total Cost: $660.

(15) Boxed Lamb Report: Form LS-128

    Estimate of Burden: Public reporting burden for collection of 
information is estimated to be .167 hours per electronically submitted 
response for domestic packing plants and .084 hours per electronically 
submitted response for importers.
    Respondents: Packer processing plants and importers required to 
report information on boxed lamb cut sales to the USDA.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 14 entities (including 1 entity 
that both processes and imports).
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 260 (1 per day for 
260 days) for domestic packing plants; 52 (1 per week for 52 weeks) for 
importers.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 391 hours for 
domestic packing plants and 26 hours for importers.
    Total Cost: $7,810 for domestic packing plants and $520 for 
importers for a total of $8,330.00.

(16) Lamb Carcass Report: Form LS-129

    Estimate of Burden: Public reporting burden for collection of 
information is estimated to be .167 hours per electronically submitted 
response.

[[Page 53978]]

    Respondents: Packer processing plants required to report 
information on lamb carcass sales to the USDA.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 8 entities.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 260 (1 per day for 
260 days).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 347 hours.
    Total Cost: $6,940.
    Comments are invited on: (1) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways 
to minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who 
are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated, electronic, 
mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms 
of information technology. All comments received will be available for 
public inspection during regular business hours at the address above.
    All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the 
request for OMB approval. All comments will become a matter of public 
record.

    Dated: October 19, 2001.
A. J. Yates,
Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service.
[FR Doc. 01-26900 Filed 10-24-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P