[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 180 (Tuesday, September 19, 2023)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 64379]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-20012]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration

21 CFR Part 14

[Docket No. FDA-2023-N-3497]


Advisory Committee; Board of Tea Experts; Termination and 
Technical Amendment to the Citation for the Federal Advisory Committee 
Act

AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human 
Services (HHS).

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or the Agency) is 
announcing the termination of the Board of Tea Experts by the Federal 
Tea Tasters Repeal Act of 1996. This document removes the Board of Tea 
Experts from the Agency's list of standing advisory committees. FDA is 
also updating the statutory citation to the Federal Advisory Committee 
Act to reflect recodification. This technical change aligns with the 
desire of Congress to incorporate various provisions that were enacted 
separately over a period of years; reorganize them; conforming style 
and terminology; modernizing obsolete language; and correcting drafting 
errors to remove ambiguities, contradictions, and other imperfections 
without changing the meaning of or effect of existing law.

DATES: This rule is effective September 19, 2023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Ortwerth, Advisory Committee 
Oversight and Management Staff, Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New 
Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 32, Rm. 5103, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002, 301-
796-8220; or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Board of Tea Experts was established on 
March 2, 1897, by the Tea Importation Act of 1897 (Pub. L. 54-358, 
section 2, March 2, 1897, 29 Stat. 604). The Board was responsible for 
making recommendations to the Secretary of the Treasury to fix and 
establish uniform standards of purity, quality, and fitness for 
consumption of all kinds of teas imported into the United States. The 
Board was terminated by the Federal Tea Tasters Repeal Act of 1996 
(Pub. L. 104-128, section 3, April 9, 1996, 110 Stat. 1198). This 
document aligns FDA's list of standing advisory committees with 
existing law by removing the Board of Tea Experts.
    Additionally, with the passage of the Act of December 27, 2022 
(Pub. L. 117-286, 136 Stat. 4196), Congress made revisions in title 5 
of the U.S. Code, as necessary to keep the title current and to make 
technical amendments to improve the U.S. Code. In doing so, it 
recodified the Federal Advisory Committee Act to chapter 10 of the U.S. 
Code. Thus, the appropriate regulatory citation to the Federal Advisory 
Committee Act is now 5 U.S.C. 1001 et seq. With this final rule, the 
new citation is updated in the authority citation of part 14 (21 CFR 
part 14).
    Under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(4)(B) and (d)(3) and 21 CFR 10.40(d) and (e), 
the Agency finds good cause to dispense with notice and public comment 
procedures and to proceed to an immediate effective date on this rule. 
Notice and public comment and a delayed effective date are unnecessary 
and not in the public interest as the Board was terminated by statute 
in 1996, and this final rule merely removes the name of the Board of 
Tea Experts from the list of standing advisory committees in Sec.  
14.100 (21 CFR 14.100) and updates the authority citation of 21 CFR 
part 14 to appropriately cite the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 
U.S.C. 1001 et seq.). This is a technical amendment to conform the 
citation to the recodification enacted on December 27, 2022, and does 
not substantively alter the legal authority underlying part 14.
    Therefore, the Agency is amending the authority citation of part 14 
and Sec.  14.100(a) as set forth in the regulatory text of this 
document.

List of Subjects in 21 CFR Part 14

    Administrative practice and procedure, Advisory committees, Color 
additives, Drugs, Radiation protection.

    Therefore, under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and under 
authority delegated to the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, 21 CFR part 
14 is amended as follows:

PART 14--PUBLIC HEARING BEFORE A PUBLIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE

0
1. The authority citation for part 14 is revised to read as follows:

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.; 15 U.S.C. 1451-1461; 21 U.S.C. 
41-50, 141-149, 321-394, 467f, 679, 821, 1034; 28 U.S.C. 2112; 42 
U.S.C. 201, 262, 263b, 264, 284m, 284m-1; Pub. L. 107-109, 115 Stat. 
1419.


Sec.  14.100  [Amended]

0
2. Amend Sec.  14.100 by removing paragraph (a)(1) and redesignating 
paragraphs (a)(2) through (5) as paragraphs (a)(1) through (4).

    Dated: September 12, 2023.
Lauren K. Roth,
Associate Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2023-20012 Filed 9-18-23; 8:45 am]
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