[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 219 (Monday, November 17, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 51100-51102]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-20007]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
19 CFR Part 122
[CBP Dec. 25-15]
RIN 1651-AB67
Technical Amendment to List of User Fee Airports: Addition of
Five Airports, Removal of One Airport
AGENCY: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Department of
Homeland Security.
ACTION: Final rule; technical amendment.
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SUMMARY: This document amends CBP regulations by revising the list of
user fee airports. This technical amendment reflects the designation of
user fee status for five additional airports: City of Colorado Springs
Municipal Airport in Colorado Springs, Colorado; Santa Maria Public
Airport District in Santa Maria, California; Tallahassee International
Airport in Tallahassee, Florida; Vero Beach Regional Airport in Vero
Beach, Florida; and Hillsboro Airport in Hillsboro, Oregon. This
document also amends CBP regulations by removing Ontario International
Airport in Ontario, California from the list of user fee airports.
DATES: Effective date: November 17, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ryan Flanagan, Director, Alternative
Funding Program, Office of Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border
Protection, at [email protected] or 202-550-9566.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Title 19, part 122, of the Code of Federal Regulations (19 CFR part
122) sets forth regulations relating to the entry and clearance of
aircraft \1\ engaged in international commerce and the transportation
of persons and cargo by aircraft in international commerce.\2\
Generally, a civil aircraft arriving from outside the United States
must land at an airport designated as an international airport.
Alternatively, civil aircraft may request permission to land at a
specific airport and, if landing rights are granted, the civil aircraft
may land at that landing rights airport.\3\
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\1\ For purposes of this technical rule, an ``aircraft'' is
defined as any device now known, or hereafter invented, used or
designed for navigation or flight in the air and does not include
hovercraft. 19 CFR 122.1(a).
\2\ Part 122 of CFR title 19 is issued in relevant part pursuant
to the authority of the Secretary of Homeland Security under 19
U.S.C. 1644 and 1644a.
\3\ A landing rights airport is ``any airport, other than an
international airport or user fee airport, at which flights from a
foreign area are given permission by Customs to land.'' 19 CFR
122.1(f).
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Section 236 of the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984 (Pub. L. 98-573, 98
Stat. 2948, 2994 (1984)), codified at 19 U.S.C. 58b, created an
alternative option for civil aircraft seeking to land at an airport
that is neither an international airport nor a landing rights airport.
This alternative option allows the Commissioner of CBP to designate an
airport, upon request by the airport authority or other sponsoring
entity, as a user fee airport.\4\ Pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 58b, a
requesting airport may be designated as a user fee airport only if CBP
determines that the volume or value of business at the airport is
insufficient to justify the unreimbursed availability of customs
services at the airport and the governor of the state in which the
airport is located approves the designation. Because the volume or
value of business cleared through this type of airport is insufficient
to justify the availability of customs services at no cost, customs
services provided by CBP at the airport are not funded by
appropriations from the general treasury of the United States. Instead,
the user fee airport pays for the customs services provided by CBP. The
user fee airport must pay the fees charged, which must be in an amount
equal to the expenses incurred by CBP in providing customs and related
services at the user fee airport, including the salary and expenses of
CBP employees to provide such services. See 19 U.S.C. 58b; see also 19
CFR 24.17(a)-(b).
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\4\ Sections 403(1) and 411 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002
(Pub. L. 107-296, 116 Stat. 2135, 2178-79 (2002)), codified at 6
U.S.C. 203(1) and 211, transferred certain functions, including the
authority to designate user fee facilities (UFF), from the U.S.
Customs Service of the Department of the Treasury to the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security. The Secretary of Homeland Security
delegated the authority to designate user fee facilities to the
Commissioner of CBP. See DHS, Delegation No. 07010.3, Delegation of
Authority to the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection
II.A (Rev. No. 03.2, Incorporating Change 2, Dec. 11, 2024). The
Commissioner subsequently delegated the authority to designate new
UFFs to the Executive Assistant Commissioner (EAC) of the Office of
Field Operations on March 23, 2020. On December 23, 2020, the
broader authority to withdraw a facility's designation as a UFF, as
well as execute, amend, or terminate Memorandums of Agreement, was
also delegated to the EAC of the Office of Field Operations.
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CBP designates airports as user fee airports in accordance with 19
U.S.C. 58b and 19 CFR 122.15 on a case-by-case basis. If CBP decides
that the conditions for designation as a user fee airport are
satisfied, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) is executed between the
Commissioner of CBP (or the Commissioner's delegate, see footnote 4,
above) and the sponsor (the airport authority or other sponsoring
entity requesting the designation) of the user fee airport. Pursuant to
19 CFR 122.15(c), the designation of an airport as a user fee airport
must be withdrawn if either CBP or the airport authority gives 120 days
written notice of termination to the other party or if any amounts due
to CBP are not paid on a timely basis.
The list of designated user fee airports is set forth in 19 CFR
122.15(b). Periodically, CBP updates the list to include newly
designated airports that were not previously on the list, to reflect
any changes in the names of the designated user fee airports, and to
remove airports that are no longer designated as user fee airports.
Recent Changes Requiring Updates to the List of User Fee Airports
This document updates the list of user fee airports in 19 CFR
122.15(b) by adding the following five airports: City of Colorado
Springs Municipal Airport in Colorado Springs, Colorado; Santa Maria
Public Airport District in Santa Maria, California; Tallahassee
International Airport in Tallahassee, Florida; Vero Beach Regional
Airport in Vero Beach, Florida; and Hillsboro Airport in Hillsboro,
Oregon. CBP has signed MOAs with the respective airport authorities
designating each of these five airports as a user fee airport.\5\
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\5\ The Acting Executive Assistant Commissioner of the Office of
Field Operations signed MOAs designating the Santa Maria Public
Airport District on July 5, 2024; the City of Colorado Springs
Municipal Airport on November 1, 2024; the Tallahassee International
Airport on November 1, 2024; the Vero Beach Regional Airport on
December 5, 2024; and the Hillsboro Airport on July 24, 2025.
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Additionally, this document updates the list of user fee airports
in 19 CFR 122.15(b) by removing one airport: Ontario International
Airport in Ontario, California. The airport authority of Ontario
International Airport requested to terminate its user fee status on
[[Page 51101]]
November 17, 2023, and the airport authority and CBP mutually agreed to
terminate the user fee status of Ontario International Airport
effective October 1, 2024.
Inapplicability of Public Notice and Delayed Effective Date
Requirements
Under the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B)), an
agency is exempted from the prior public notice and comment procedures
if it finds, for good cause, that such procedures are impracticable,
unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest. This final rule makes
conforming changes by updating the list of user fee airports to add
five airports that have already been designated by CBP as user fee
airports and by removing one airport for which CBP has withdrawn the
user fee airport designation, in accordance with 19 U.S.C. 58b. Because
this conforming rule has no substantive impact, is technical in nature,
and does not impose additional burdens on or take away any existing
rights or privileges from the public, CBP finds for good cause that the
prior public notice and comment procedures are impracticable,
unnecessary, and contrary to the public interest. For the same reasons,
pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3), a delayed effective date is not
required.
Regulatory Flexibility Act and Executive Orders 12866 and 14192
Executive Orders 12866 (Regulatory Planning and Review) and 13563
(Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review) direct agencies to assess
the costs and benefits of available regulatory alternatives and, if
regulation is necessary, to select regulatory approaches that maximize
net benefits. Executive Order 13563 emphasizes the importance of
quantifying both costs and benefits, of reducing costs, of harmonizing
rules, and of promoting flexibility. Executive Order 14192 (Unleashing
Prosperity Through Deregulation) directs agencies to significantly
reduce the private expenditures required to comply with Federal
regulations and provides that ``any new incremental costs associated
with new regulations shall, to the extent permitted by law, be offset
by the elimination of existing costs associated with at least 10 prior
regulations.''
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has not designated this
rule a ``significant regulatory action,'' under section 3(f) of
Executive Order 12866. Accordingly, OMB has not reviewed it.
This rule is an Executive Order 14192 deregulatory action because
it provides clarification within the regulations, without increasing
costs to the public.
Because no notice of proposed rulemaking is required, the
provisions of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) do
not apply. 5 U.S.C. 603(a).
Paperwork Reduction Act
There is no new collection of information required in this
document; therefore, the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995 (44 U.S.C. 3507) are inapplicable.
Signing Authority
This document is limited to a technical correction of CBP
regulations. Accordingly, it is signed under the authority of 19 CFR
0.1(b). Rodney S. Scott, Commissioner, having reviewed and approved
this document, has delegated the authority to electronically sign this
document to the Director (or Acting Director, if applicable) of the
Regulations and Disclosure Law Division for CBP, for purposes of
publication in the Federal Register.
List of Subjects in 19 CFR Part 122
Air carriers, Aircraft, Airports, Customs duties and inspection,
Freight.
Amendments to Regulations
For the reasons stated in the preamble, CBP amends 19 CFR part 122
as set forth below:
PART 122--AIR COMMERCE REGULATIONS
0
1. The general authority citation for part 122 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301; 19 U.S.C. 58b, 66, 1415, 1431, 1433,
1436, 1448, 1459, 1590, 1594, 1623, 1624, 1644, 1644a, 2071 note.
* * * * *
0
2. In Sec. 122.15, amend the table in paragraph (b) as follows:
0
a. Add entries for ``Colorado Springs, Colorado'' and ``Hillsboro,
Oregon'' in alphabetical order;
0
b. Remove the entry for ``Ontario, California''; and
0
c. Add entries for ``Santa Maria, California'', ``Tallahassee,
Florida'', and ``Vero Beach, Florida'' in alphabetical order.
The additions read as follows:
Sec. 122.15 User fee airports.
* * * * *
(b) * * *
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Location Name
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* * * * * * *
Colorado Springs, Colorado............. City of Colorado Springs
Municipal Airport.
* * * * * * *
Hillsboro, Oregon...................... Hillsboro Airport.
* * * * * * *
Santa Maria, California................ Santa Maria Public Airport
District.
* * * * * * *
Tallahassee, Florida................... Tallahassee International
Airport.
* * * * * * *
Vero Beach, Florida.................... Vero Beach Regional Airport.
* * * * * * *
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[[Page 51102]]
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Dated: November 13, 2025.
Robert F. Altneu,
Director, Regulations & Disclosure Law Division, Regulations & Rulings,
Office of Trade, U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
[FR Doc. 2025-20007 Filed 11-14-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9111-14-P