[Federal Register: September 7, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 173)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 51378-51381]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr07se07-20]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Agricultural Marketing Service
7 CFR Part 983
[Docket No. AMS-FV-07-0095; FV07-983-2 PR]
Pistachios Grown in California; Change in Reporting Requirements
and New Information Collection
AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: This rule invites comments on changes to the reporting
requirements established under the California pistachio marketing order
(order). The order regulates the handling of pistachios grown in
California and is administered locally by the Administrative Committee
for Pistachios (committee). These changes would modify one existing
committee form and add a new form to a currently-approved information
collection. The information collected would require handlers to report
production and producer data, enabling the committee to obtain better
information for preparing its annual marketing policy statement and
conducting committee nominations and periodic referenda under the
marketing order for California pistachios. This proposal announces the
Agricultural Marketing Service's (AMS) intention to request revisions
to a currently-approved information collection issued under the order.
These changes are intended to enhance the efficient operation of the
program.
DATES: Comments must be received by November 6, 2007. Pursuant to the
Paperwork Reduction Act, comments on the information collection burden
that would result from this proposal must be received by November 6,
2007.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments
concerning this proposal. Comments must be sent to the Docket Clerk,
Marketing Order Administration Branch, Fruit and Vegetable Programs,
AMS, USDA, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., STOP 0237, Washington, DC
20250-0237; Fax: (202) 720-8938; or Internet: http://www.regulations.gov.
All comments should reference the docket number
and the date and page number of this issue of the Federal Register and
will be made available for public inspection in the Office of the
Docket Clerk during regular business hours, or can be viewed at: http://www.regulations.gov
.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Terry Vawter, Senior Marketing
Specialist, or Kurt J. Kimmel, Regional Manager, California Marketing
Field Office, Marketing Order Administration Branch, Fruit and
Vegetable Programs, AMS, USDA; Telephone: (559) 487-5901, Fax: (559)
487-5906, or E-mail:
[[Page 51379]]
Terry.Vawter@usda.gov or Kurt.Kimmel@usda.gov.
Small businesses may request information on complying with this
regulation by contacting Jay Guerber, Marketing Order Administration
Branch, Fruit and Vegetable Programs, AMS, USDA, 1400 Independence
Avenue, SW., STOP 0237, Washington, DC 20250-0237; Telephone: (202)
720-2491, Fax: (202) 720-8938, or E-mail: Jay.Guerber@usda.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This proposal is issued under Marketing
Order No. 983 (7 CFR part 983), regulating the handling of pistachios
grown in California, hereinafter referred to as the ``order.'' The
order is effective under the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of
1937, as amended (7 U.S.C. 601-674), hereinafter referred to as the
``Act.''
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is issuing this rule in
conformance with Executive Order 12866.
This proposal has been reviewed under Executive Order 12988, Civil
Justice Reform. This rule is not intended to have retroactive effect.
This proposal will not preempt any State or local laws, regulations, or
policies, unless they present an irreconcilable conflict with this
rule.
The Act provides that administrative proceedings must be exhausted
before parties may file suit in court. Under section 608c(15)(A) of the
Act, any handler subject to an order may file with USDA a petition
stating that the order, any provision of the order, or any obligation
imposed in connection with the order is not in accordance with law and
request a modification of the order or to be exempted therefrom. A
handler is afforded the opportunity for a hearing on the petition.
After the hearing, USDA would rule on the petition. The Act provides
that the district court of the United States in any district in which
the handler is an inhabitant, or has his or her principal place of
business, has jurisdiction to review USDA's ruling on the petition,
provided an action is filed not later than 20 days after the date of
the entry of the ruling.
This rule invites comments on changes to the reporting requirements
authorized under the order. These changes would modify one committee
form and add a new reporting form to the currently-approved information
collection. The new form would require handlers to report production
and producer data. This new data would enable the committee to obtain
better information for preparing its annual marketing policy statement
and for conducting committee nominations and periodic referenda for
pistachio producers.
The information collected on the new form would provide the
committee with information that was previously available from the
California Pistachio Commission (CPC), a California State marketing
program.
As a result of a producer referendum, the CPC is to be terminated,
and data historically collected by it and shared with the committee
will no longer be available, beginning no later than August 31, 2007.
Thus, information necessary for the effective administration of the
order would need to be collected by the committee in the CPC's stead.
Requiring handlers to report such data would allow the committee to
collect information on the total available supply of pistachios grown
in California and on the producers who produced the pistachios.
Under Sec. 983.47 handlers are required to furnish such reports as
the committee, with the approval of the Secretary, needs to enable the
Secretary and the committee to perform their functions.
The committee met on April 2, 2007 to consider changes to their
current reporting requirements. With the demise of their State
counterpart, the CPC, the committee will need to collect information on
producers and voting entities, the acreage of pistachios, and on
receipts, inventory, and shipments of pistachios. This information is
necessary for the effective administration of the order.
Requiring handlers to report such data would enable the committee
to obtain better information on the total available supply of
pistachios grown in California and to contact pistachio producers. The
marketing order requires the committee to prepare the annual marketing
policy statement. Several elements are required for an acceptable
marketing policy statement: Production, harvesting, processing, and
storage conditions data. The committee is also required to hold annual
nominations for seats on the committee, and USDA is required to conduct
periodic continuance referenda. Thus, the committee needs producer and
production data to fulfill order requirements.
Section 983.37 of the order requires the committee to prepare a
marketing policy statement annually when quality regulations are in
effect under the order.
Section 983.47 of the order requires that handlers provide such
reports and information as are needed to enable the committee to
perform its functions and enforce the regulations under the order.
Under the authority of those sections, the committee unanimously
recommended a revision to the current ACP Form 7, ``Monthly Report of
Inventory/Shipments;'' and establishment of a new form, ACP Form 8,
``Producer Delivery Report,'' for the purpose of collecting production,
producer, inventory, and shipment data from handlers.
This action would also slightly modify the handler reporting
requirements in ACP Form 7. Currently, all handlers must report their
beginning inventory, grower deliveries, shipments of pistachios to
domestic and export markets, interhandler transfers, non-handler
purchases of California product, inventory adjustments on split and
shelled pistachios, and ending inventory on a monthly basis on the
form. This rule would remove the requirement to report inventory
adjustments to split and shelled pistachios, as the committee believes
that this information is no longer needed. This form is part of a
currently-approved information collection, OMB No. 0581-0215,
``Pistachios Grown in California.''
The new form, ACP Form 8, ``Producer Delivery Report,'' would
require handlers to annually provide the names of the producers who
deliver pistachios to them, the producers' mailing addresses and other
contact information (telephone and facsimile numbers and e-mail
addresses), the producers' employer identification numbers, total
receipts of pistachios from each producer, and the counties in which
the pistachios were grown. These reports would allow the committee to
identify all authorized voters for committee selections and referenda
in which each business entity is entitled to cast one vote. Individual
producers may produce and deliver pistachios under more than one
business entity. The information collected on this report would also
allow the committee to determine whether individual producers are
eligible to represent more than one business entity, based upon Federal
Tax Identification numbers.
The information on producer deliveries would also allow the
committee to track deliveries to handlers and verify that handlers pay
the appropriate assessments on pistachios they receive. This
information would also streamline handler audits for committee staff.
Handlers who handle less than 5,000 pounds annually would be exempt
from filing ACP Form 8. These small handlers tend to be producers who
handle their own production only and are known to the committee in
their producer, as well
[[Page 51380]]
as their handler, capacity. Therefore, the committee already has
business entity, production, and contact information on the producers
that are also exempt handlers.
Upon OMB approval, the revised ACP Form 7 and the new ACP Form 8
will be merged into OMB No. 0581-0215, ``Pistachios Grown in
California.'' Specific burden information is detailed later in this
document in the section entitled, ``Paperwork Reduction Act.''
Such information would provide the committee with production and
producer data to enhance the administration of the order. An electronic
version of the form would be available to those handlers who file
electronically.
Since the addition of ACP Form 8 would require changes to the
order's rules and regulations, Sec. 983.147 would be modified to add a
new paragraph (g), and to redesignate current paragraphs (g) and (h) as
paragraphs (h) and (i).
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
Pursuant to requirements set forth in the Regulatory Flexibility
Act (RFA), AMS has considered the economic impact of this action on
small entities. Accordingly, AMS has prepared this initial regulatory
flexibility analysis.
The purpose of the RFA is to fit regulatory actions to the scale of
business subject to such actions in order that small businesses would
not be unduly or disproportionately burdened. Marketing orders issued
pursuant to the Act, and the rules issued thereunder, are unique in
that they are brought about through group action of essentially small
entities acting on their own behalf.
There are approximately 50 handlers of California pistachios
subject to regulation under the order and approximately 740 producers
in the production area. The Small Business Administration (SBA) (13 CFR
121.201) defines small agricultural producers as those having annual
receipts less than $750,000, and defines small agricultural service
firms as those whose annual receipts are less than $6,500,000. Of the
740 producers, approximately 722 have annual receipts of less than
$750,000. Eight of the 50 handlers subject to regulation have annual
pistachio receipts of at least $6,500,000. Thus, the majority of
handlers and producers of California pistachios may be classified as
small entities.
This proposed rule invites comments on changes to the regulations
authorized under the California pistachio marketing order (order),
which would revise a currently-approved information collection.
The committee discussed data collection at its meeting on April 2,
2007. It determined that production data the CPC previously collected
and made available to the committee was still necessary for the
efficient operations of the program. Therefore, the committee agreed
that it should require handlers to report production data directly to
the committee. In order to receive this data, the committee unanimously
recommended that current ACP Form 7, ``Monthly Report of Inventory/
Shipments,'' be revised and that a new form, ACP Form 8, ``Producer
Delivery Report,'' be developed.
The committee deliberated the value of revising the current form
and requiring the new form, and discussed alternatives. In their
discussion, the committee determined that the only alternative would be
to not collect such industry data. However, the marketing order
requires the committee to prepare the annual marketing policy
statement. Several elements are required for an acceptable marketing
policy statement: Production, harvesting, processing, and storage
conditions data. The committee is also required to hold annual
nominations for seats on the committee, and USDA is required to conduct
periodic continuance referenda. Thus, the committee needs this data to
fulfill order requirements.
The revised ACP Form 7 and the new ACP Form 8 are being submitted
to the OMB as a revision to a currently-approved information collection
and upon approval these forms will be merged into OMB No. 0581-0215,
``Pistachios Grown in California.'' As with other marketing order
programs, reports and forms are periodically reviewed to reduce
information requirements and duplication by industry and public sector
agencies.
This proposal would impose additional reporting and recordkeeping
burdens on handlers. However, any additional burden is expected to be
offset by the efficient operation of the order. Handlers would continue
to file the ACP Form 7 monthly and would file the ACP Form 8 annually,
but the data collected would serve multiple purposes and streamline
committee operations. In addition, USDA has not identified any relevant
Federal rules that duplicate, overlap, or conflict with this rule. A
detailed discussion of the amended form follows.
AMS is committed to complying with the E-Government Act, to promote
the use of the Internet and other information technologies to provide
increased opportunities for citizen access to Government information
and services, and for other purposes.
Further, the committee's meetings were widely publicized throughout
the pistachio industry and all interested persons were encouraged to
attend the meetings and participate in the committee's deliberations.
Like all committee meetings, the April 2, 2007, meeting was a public
meeting, and entities of all sizes were encouraged to express their
views on these issues. Finally, interested persons are invited to
submit information on the regulatory and informational impacts of this
action on small businesses.
A small business guide on complying with fruit, vegetable, and
specialty crop marketing agreements and orders may be viewed at: http://www.ams.usda.gov/fv/moab/html.
Any questions about the compliance
guide should be sent to Jay Guerber at the previously mentioned address
in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
A 60-day comment period is provided for interested persons to
comment on this proposal. All written comments received will be
considered before a final determination is made on this matter.
Paperwork Reduction Act
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
Chapter 35), the AMS announces its intention to submit a revision to a
currently-approved information collection. This proposed rule creates a
new form and revises an existing form. Upon approval of this revision
by OMB, the forms will be merged with the forms approved under OMB No.
0581-0215, ``Pistachios Grown in California.''
Title: Pistachios Grown in California; Marketing Order No. 983.
OMB Number: 0581-0215.
Type of Request: Revision.
Abstract: The information collection requirement in this request is
essential to carry out the intent of the Act, to provide the
respondents the type of service they request, and to administer the
California pistachio marketing order program, which has been operating
since 2004.
On April, 2, 2007, the committee unanimously recommended revising
the current ACP Form 7 and developing a new ACP Form 8 on which
handlers report to the committee the receipts of pistachios grown in
California. This notice concerns those reports, in addition to the
accompanying regulation previously discussed regarding requiring the
reports to be submitted by handlers to the committee.
The committee delegated the task of developing the final versions
of the forms to their Technical Subcommittee, which met on May 7, 2007.
[[Page 51381]]
Due to the pending termination of the CPC, the committee will need
to begin collecting production, producer, and inventory data directly
from handlers. The committee would use this information in its
marketing policy deliberations each year when it reviews the
production, harvesting, processing, and storage of the California crop.
They would also use it conduct committee nominations, and USDA would
use it to conduct periodic producer referenda. The committee needs
accurate information to effectively administer the order.
The information collected would be used only by authorized
representatives of the USDA, including AMS, Fruit and Vegetable
Programs regional and headquarters staff, and authorized employees of
the committee. Authorized committee staff are the primary users of the
information, and AMS is the secondary user. Such information would be
kept confidential in accordance with the Act and the order.
Estimated Annual Burden for Each Form
The proposed request for revision of a currently-approved
information collection under the order is as follows:
ACP-7, Monthly Report of Inventory/Shipments Form
Handlers would use this form to report their monthly inventory,
receipts, domestic and export shipments of pistachios, interhandler
transfers, non-handler purchases of California product, inventory
adjustments, and the ending inventory. Because small handlers are
exempt from filing all forms other than the ACP-4, there are only an
estimated 20 huller/dryer handlers who would be required to file this
form.
Estimate of Burden: Public reporting burden for this collection of
information is estimated to average 12 minutes per response.
Respondents: Persons who handle California pistachios.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 20.
Estimated Number of Total Annual Responses: 240.
Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 12.
Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 48 hours.
ACP-8, Producer Delivery Report Form
Handlers would use this form annually to notify the committee of
the receipts of pistachios and to report information on producers who
own the acreage upon which the pistachios are grown. There are only an
estimated 14 producers/handlers who receive pistachios for processing
from other producers, thus, there would be fewer handlers filing this
form.
Estimate of Burden: Public reporting burden for this collection of
information is estimated to average 12 minutes per response.
Respondents: California pistachio handlers who receive pistachios
grown in California.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 14.
Estimated Number of Total Annual Reponses: 14.
Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 1.
Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 2.8 hours.
Comments: 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.
Comments should reference OMB No. 0581-0215 and the Marketing Order
for Pistachios Grown in California, and should be sent to the USDA in
care of the Docket Clerk at the previous-mentioned address or at http://www.regulations.gov
.
All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the
request for OMB approval. All comments received will become a matter of
public record and will be available for public inspection during
regular business hours at the same address or at http://www.regulations.gov
.
In summary, this proposal would modify one reporting form and
establish a new reporting requirement under the order.
Requiring handlers to file the new reports would allow the
committee to obtain accurate information for preparation of the
mandatory annual marketing policy statement, and for the conduct of
committee nominations and periodic referenda. Since the addition of ACP
Form 8 would require changes to the order's rules and regulations,
Sec. 983.147 would be modified to add a new paragraph (g), and to
redesignate current paragraphs (g) and (h) as paragraphs (h) and (i).
All written comments timely received will be considered before a
final determination is made on this matter.
List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 983
Pistachios, Marketing agreements and orders, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR part 983 is
proposed to be amended as follows:
PART 983--PISTACHIOS GROWN IN CALIFORNIA
1. The authority citation for 7 CFR part 983 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 601-674.
Subpart--Rules and Regulations
2. In Sec. 983.147, current paragraphs (g) and (h) are
redesignated as paragraphs (h) and (i), and a new paragraph (g) is
added to read as follows:
Sec. 983.147 Reports.
* * * * *
(g) ACP-8, Producer Delivery Report. Each handler of pistachios
shall file this report with the committee by the 15th day of December
of each production year to report his/her receipts of pistachios during
the current production year, the names of the handlers' producing
entities, business type, and the following information concerning each
producing entity: Federal Tax Identification number; mailing and e-mail
address; telephone and fax number; total bearing acres; county of
production; and for the current production year, the total receipts of
open inshell, closed shell, shelling stock of each producing entity;
and total pounds of processed pistachios produced by each producing
entity.
* * * * *
Dated: August 30, 2007.
Lloyd C. Day,
Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service.
[FR Doc. 07-4370 Filed 9-6-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-M