Department of Agriculture January 23, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Agricultural Research Service amends its regulations on the fee schedule for interlibrary loan from the collections of the National Agricultural Library (NAL). The revised fee schedule is based on the method of payment used (traditional invoicing through the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) or payment through the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) network's Interlibrary Fee Management program, a debit/credit program for interlibrary loan) and eliminates the current billing surcharge, which is instead incorporated into the revised flat fee.

The Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are sponsoring a public meeting on February 14, 2012. The objective of the public meeting is to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft United States (U.S.) positions that will be discussed at the 44th Session of the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), which will be held in Shanghai, P.R. China April 23-28, 2012. The Under Secretary for Food Safety and EPA recognize the importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain background information on the 44th Session of the CCPR and to address items on the agenda.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is proposing to amend the meat and poultry inspection regulations to provide for an electronic export application and certification system. The electronic export application and certification system will be a component of the Agency's Public Health Information System (PHIS). The export component of PHIS will be available as an alternative to the paper-based application and certification process. FSIS is proposing to charge users for the use of the proposed system. FSIS is proposing to establish a formula for calculating the fee. FSIS intends to publish notice of the fee, using the formula, in the Federal Register on an annual basis. FSIS is also proposing to provide flexibility in the requirements for official export inspection marks, devices, and certificates. In addition, FSIS is proposing to amend the egg product export regulations that parallel the meat and poultry product export regulations.