The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is reopening the comment period on a proposal to change the regulations issued pursuant to the Export Apple Act and the Export Grape and Plum Act. The proposed changes would require apple and grape shippers to electronically enter the Export Form Certificate number of inspected and certified fruit into the U.S. Census Bureau’s Automated Export System, or in lieu of a certificate number, a special exemption code for apple shipments in bulk containers destined to Canada. Also, the changes would shift the inspection certificate’s file retention requirement from carriers to shippers and require shippers to provide copies of certificates to AMS upon request. The changes are intended to streamline the compliance process and fully automate the filing of export information by the trade.
During the initial 30-day comment period, USDA received a request to allow more time to comment on the proposed changes. After reviewing the request, USDA is reopening the comment period for 60 additional days. This will provide interested persons more time to review the proposed rule, perform a complete analysis, and submit written comments.
The initial proposed rule for this action was published in the Federal Register on Dec. 5, 2016, with a 30-day comment period ending Jan. 4, 2017. Written comments must now be received by Mar. 24, 2017.
Comments may be made online at www.regulations.gov, by fax at (202) 720-8938 or by mail at:
Docket Clerk
Marketing Order and Agreement Division
Specialty Crops Program
AMS, USDA
1400 Independence Avenue SW, STOP 0237
Washington, DC 20250-0237
All comments submitted within the comment period in response to the proposed rule will be made available for public review and will be considered before any changes to the regulations are finalized.
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