[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 2 (Tuesday, January 4, 1994)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 241-243]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-55]
Federal Register / Vol. 59, No. 2 / Tuesday, January 4, 1994 /
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: January 4, 1994]
VOL. 59, NO. 2
Tuesday, January 4, 1994
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Agricultural Marketing Service
7 CFR Parts 907 and 908
[FV93-907-1FIR]
Navel and Valencia Oranges Grown in Arizona and Designated Parts
of California; Change in Reporting Requirements
AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Agriculture (Department) is adopting as a
final rule, without change, the provisions of an interim final rule
changing reporting requirements prescribed under the California-Arizona
navel and Valencia orange marketing orders. The marketing orders
regulate the handling of navel and Valencia oranges grown in Arizona
and designated parts of California and are administered locally by the
Navel and Valencia Orange Administrative Committees (committees). This
rule modifies language in the orders' rules and regulations to
discontinue the use of Form 38 (Weekly Report of By-Product Oranges)
and specify that Form 3 (Daily Manifest Report of Oranges Subject to
Allotment) only be utilized for reporting rail car shipments. These
actions reduce the burden of information collection requirements under
the marketing orders.
EFFECTIVE DATE: February 3, 1994.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Caroline C. Thorpe, Marketing
Specialist, Marketing Order Administration Branch, F&V, AMS, USDA, room
2522-S, P.O. Box 96456, Washington, DC 20090-6456: telephone: (202)
720-5127; or Maureen Pello, California Marketing Field Office,
Marketing Order Administration Branch, F&V, AMS, USDA, 2202 Monterey
Street, suite 102B, Fresno, California, 93721; telephone: (209) 487-
5901.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This final rule is issued under Marketing
Order Nos. 907 and 908 (7 CFR parts 907 and 908), as amended,
regulating the handling of navel and Valencia oranges grown in Arizona
and designated parts of California, hereinafter referred to as the
``orders.'' These orders are 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 is issuing this rule in conformance with Executive
Order 12866.
This rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778, Civil
Justice Reform. This action is not intended to have retroactive effect.
This rule will not preempt any State or local laws, regulations, or
policies, unless they present an irreconcilable conflict with this
action.
The Act provides that administrative proceedings must be exhausted
before parties may file suit in court. Under section 8c(15)(A) of the
Act, any handler subject to an order may file with the Secretary 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 the Secretary 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 in equity to review the
Secretary's ruling on the petition, provided a bill in equity is filed
not later than 20 days after date of the entry of the ruling.
Pursuant to requirements set forth in the Regulatory Flexibility
Act (RFA), the Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service
(AMS) has considered the economic impact of this action on small
entities.
The purpose of the RFA is to fit regulatory actions to the scale of
business subject to such actions in order that small businesses will
not be unduly or disproportionately burdened. Marketing orders issued
pursuant to the Act, and rules issued thereunder, are unique in that
they are brought about through group action of essentially small
entities acting on their own behalf. Thus, both statutes have small
entity orientation and compatibility.
There are approximately 140 handlers of navel oranges and 125
handlers of Valencia oranges who are subject to regulation under the
respective marketing order and approximately 3,750 producers of navel
oranges and 3,700 producers of Valencia oranges in the regulated areas.
In addition, there are about 35 by-product manufacturers that will be
affected by this rule. Small agricultural service firms, which includes
handlers and by-product manufacturers, have been defined by the Small
Business Administration (13 CFR 121.601) as those having annual
receipts of less than $3,500,000, and small agricultural producers are
defined as those whose annual receipts are less than $500,000. The
majority of handlers, producers, and processors of California-Arizona
navel and Valencia oranges may be classified as small entities.
This action finalizes changes in the reporting requirements
prescribed under the California-Arizona orange marketing orders. This
rule modifies language in the orders' rules and regulations to
discontinue the use of Form 38 (Weekly Report of By-Product Oranges)
and specify that Form 3 (Daily Manifest Report of Oranges Subject to
Allotment) only be utilized for reporting rail car shipments. These
changes were unanimously recommended by the committees.
The interim final rule was issued on October 8, 1993, and published
in the Federal Register (58 FR 53112, October 14, 1993), with an
effective date of October 14, 1993. That rule amended Secs. 907.131,
907.141, 908.131, and 908.141 of the rules and regulations in effect
under the orders. That rule provided a 30-day comment period which
ended November 15, 1993. No comments were received.
Sections 907.67 and 908.67 of the navel and Valencia orange
marketing orders provide authority for the exemption from order
regulation the handling of oranges to commercial processors for
processing into products, including juice. Sections 907.131 and 908.131
of the orders' rules and regulations prescribe procedures governing the
exemption from order regulation of such by-product oranges. Included in
these procedures are certain reporting requirements imposed on handlers
and by-product manufacturers to help ensure that order requirements and
regulations governing the exemption for by-product oranges are being
followed.
For example, persons who wish to acquire oranges as an approved by-
products manufacturer for commercial processing into by-products exempt
from regulation must submit an application to the committee on Form 14
(Application to be Placed on Approved List of Orange By-Product
Manufacturers). These applications are referred to the committees'
compliance department for investigation and then, if appropriate,
referred to the committees for approval to be placed on an approved
list of by-product manufacturers. Commercial processors are also
required to submit to the committees copies of Form 15 (Orange
Diversion Report) which specify how the oranges were disposed. Finally,
approved by-product manufacturers were required to submit Form 38
(Weekly Report of By-Product Oranges) during the crop year when
processing is occurring.
The committees have recommended that submission of Form 38 no
longer be required under the marketing orders. Submission of Form 38
was added to the orders' rules and regulations in 1990 because the
committees believed that the additional information would help to
ensure that oranges exempted under the by-products exemption did not
enter the fresh fruit market. It was believed that comparisons of the
total amount of oranges received by processors with the total amount of
by-products manufactured would give the committees a method to verify
that all oranges received were manufactured into by-products.
However, the committees have found that the information collected
on Form 38 is not necessary to ensure compliance with order
requirements. In addition, much of the information on Form 38 is
collected on other reports required to be submitted under the orders.
The committees believe that submission of Form 38 creates an additional
burden on by-product manufacturers that is not necessary. Thus, the
committees recommended revising the orders' rules and regulations to
discontinue the use of Form 38. The Department has also made some minor
modifications to Sec. 907.131 and 908.131 for the purpose of clarity.
The second change that the committees recommended concerns Form 3
(Daily Manifest Report of Oranges Subject to Allotment). Sections
907.71 and 908.71 of the orange marketing orders provide that handlers
furnish to the committees information regarding cartons of oranges
handled, segregated by size, within 24 hours of shipment. Handlers must
also indicate whether the shipments were destined to points in the U.S.
and Alaska or Canada.
Sections 907.141 and 908.141 of the orders' rules and regulations
require handlers to submit, on Form 3, a manifest report of oranges
shipped within a 24 hour period. Prior to the effective date of the
interim final rule, handlers were required to include both truck and
rail car shipments on Form 3. However, identical information regarding
truck shipments is submitted by handlers on Form 8 (Certificate of
Assignment of Allotment). According to the committees, this duplication
of information created an added burden for handlers and was not
necessary. Thus, the committees recommended modifying the orders' rules
and regulations to require that handlers only report rail car shipments
on Form 3. Handlers are still required to submit rail manifests and
other appropriate documentation to the committees to substantiate rail
car shipments.
The information collection requirements contained in the referenced
sections have been previously approved by the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) under the provisions of 44 U.S.C. chapter 35 and have been
assigned OMB numbers 0581-0116 for navel oranges and 0581-0121 for
Valencia oranges.
This rule reduces the reporting burden on approximately 25
processors of navel and Valencia oranges who had been completing Form
38, taking about 0.33 hour to complete each report. This rule also
reduces the reporting burden on approximately 210 handlers who ship
primarily by truck, taking about 0.40 hour to complete each report.
About 80 handlers who ship by rail at some point during a season will
continue to use Form 3, taking approximately 0.20 hour to complete the
report.
Based on these considerations, the Administrator of the AMS has
determined that this action will not have a significant economic impact
on a substantial number of small entities.
After consideration of all relevant material presented, the
information and recommendations submitted by the committees, and other
information, it is found that finalizing the interim final rule,
without change, as published in the Federal Register (58 FR 53112,
October 14, 1993) will tend to effectuate the declared policy of the
Act.
List of Subjects in 7 CFR Parts 907 and 908
Marketing agreements, Oranges, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR parts 907 and 908
are amended as follows:
1. The authority citation for both 7 CFR parts 907 and 908
continues to read as follows:
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 601-674.
PART 907--NAVEL ORANGES GROWN IN ARIZONA AND DESIGNATED PART OF
CALIFORNIA
2. Accordingly, the interim final rule amending 7 CFR part 907,
which was published at 58 FR 53112 on October 14, 1993, is adopted as a
final rule without change.
PART 908--VALENCIA ORANGES GROWN IN ARIZONA AND DESIGNATED PART OF
CALIFORNIA
3. Accordingly, the interim final rule amending 7 CFR part 908,
which was published at 58 FR 53112 on October 14, 1993, is adopted as a
final rule without change.
Dated: December 27, 1993.
Robert C. Keeney,
Deputy Director, Fruit and Vegetable Division.
[FR Doc. 94-55 Filed 1-3-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P
