Establishment of New PortRockford, IL

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Customs Service

19 CFR Parts 101 and 122

Establishment of New Port--Rockford, IL

AGENCY: U.S. Customs Service, Treasury.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: This document proposes to amend the Customs Regulations

pertaining to Customs field organization by establishing a new port of

entry in the Customs District of Chicago, Illinois, North Central

Region. The new port of entry would be designated as Rockford, Illinois

and would include Greater Rockford Airport, which is currently operated

as a user-fee airport. This change will assist the Customs Service in

its continuing efforts to achieve more efficient use of its personnel,

facilities, and resources, and to provide better service to carriers,

importers, and the general public.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before December 5, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Written comments (preferably in triplicate) may be addressed

to the Regulations Branch, Office of Regulations and Rulings, U. S.

Customs Service, 1301 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, D. C. 20229.

Comments submitted may be inspected at the Regulations Branch, Office

of Regulations and Rulings, Franklin Court, 1099 14th Street, Suite

4000, Washington, DC.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Brad Lund, Office of Inspection

and Control, (202) 927-0540.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

To achieve more efficient use of its personnel, facilities, and

resources, and in order to provide better service to carriers,

importers and the public in the North Central Region, Customs proposes

to amend Sec. 122.15, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 122.15), by removing

Greater Rockford Airport from the list of user-fee airports and

Sec. 101.3, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 101.3) to add Rockford,

Illinois, as a port of entry. The new port would be designated as

Rockford, Illinois and would include Greater Rockford Airport.

The criteria used by Customs in determining whether to establish a

port of entry are found in T. D. 82-37 (47 FR 10137), as revised by T.

D. 86-14 (51 FR 4559) and T. D. 87-65 (52 FR 16328). Under these

criteria, a community requesting a port of entry designation must:

(1) Demonstrate that the benefits to be derived justify the Federal

Government expense involved;

(2) Be serviced by at least two major modes of transportation

(rail, air, water or highway);

(3) Have a minimum population of 300,000 within the immediate

service area (approximately a 70 mile radius); and

(4) Make a commitment to make optimal use of electronic data

transfer capabilities to permit integration with Customs Automated

Commercial System (ACS), which provides a means for electronic

processing of entries of imported merchandise. Further, the actual or

potential Customs workload (minimum number of transactions per year) at

the proposed port of entry must meet one of several alternative minimum

requirements, one of which is the condition that no more than half of

the required 2,500 consumption entries can be attributable to one

private party. Lastly, facilities at the proposed port of entry must

include cargo and passenger facilities, warehousing space for the

secure storage of imported cargo pending final Customs inspection and

release, and administrative office space, inspection areas, storage

areas and other space necessary for regulatory Customs operations.

The proposal set forth in this document originated as a request

from the Rockford Airport Authority that Rockford, Illinois be

designated as a port of entry. With regard to the above criteria, the

Rockford Airport Authority has stated that the Federal Government would

benefit from the port of entry designation because Rockford, Illinois

would thus be available to share the workload presently handled at the

port of entry at Chicago, Illinois.

According to a memorandum from the Regional Commissioner, North

Central Region, in addition to the airport, Rockford has two other

transportation modes, rail and highway.

According to the Rockford Chamber of Commerce, the 1990 census

figures indicate that the population of the city of Rockford is 139,426

and that of the Rockford metropolitan area is stated to be 283,719. A

70 mile radius would include several Illinois and Wisconsin cities and

several northwestern suburbs of Chicago. Counting the communities

within a 70 mile radius would bring the area population to well over

300,000.

The number of formal Customs entries in fiscal year 1992 was 3539,

with a representation that no more than 8.4% were attributable to one

private party. Regarding electronic data transfer capability, the

Greater Rockford Airport Authority is committed to making optimal use

of electronic data transfer capability to permit integration with ACS.

Lastly, according to the Regional Commissioner's office, since

Greater Rockford Airport is currently a Customs user-fee airport, it

already has a workload. It is likely that Rockford will continue to

grow.

The District Director at Chicago has verified that Rockford's

entries for the year 1992 exceeded 2,500 formal entries, and the

Regional Commissioner for the North Central Region has advised that

Rockford appears to meet the criteria for port of entry status.

Based on the above, Customs believes that there is sufficient

justification for the establishment of the requested port of entry.

Rockford, Illinois meets an appropriate combination of the workload

criteria specified.

Description of Port Entry Limits

The geographical limits of the proposed Port of Rockford, Illinois,

which would include the Greater Rockford Airport, would be as follows:

Bounded to the north by the Illinois/Wisconsin border; Bounded to

the west by Illinois State Route 26; Bounded to the south by Illinois

State Route 72; and Bounded to the east by Illinois State Route 23

north to the Wisconsin/Illinois border.

Proposed Amendments

If the proposed port of entry designation is adopted, the list of

Customs regions, districts, and ports of entry at Sec. 101.3 will be

amended to include Rockford, Illinois as a port of entry in the Customs

District of Chicago and the Greater Rockford Airport will be deleted

from the list of user-fee airports in Sec. 122.15.

Comments

Before adopting this proposal as a final rule, consideration will

be given to any written comments timely submitted to Customs. Comments

submitted will be available for public inspection in accordance with

the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552), Sec. 1.4 of the Treasury

Department Regulations (31 CFR 1.4), and Sec. 103.11 (b) of the Customs

Regulations (19 CFR 103.11 (b)) on regular business days between the

hours of 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., at the Regulations Branch, Office of

Regulations and Rulings, U. S. Customs Service, Franklin Court, 4th

floor, 1099 14th St., NW., Washington, D.C. 20005.

Authority

This change is proposed under the authority of 5 U.S.C. 301 and

19 U.S.C. 2, 66, and 1624.

The Regulatory Flexibility Act and Executive Order 12866

Customs routinely establishes, expands, and consolidates Customs

ports of entry throughout the United States to accommodate the volume

of Customs-related activity in various parts of the country. Thus,

although this document is being issued with notice for public comment,

because it relates to agency management and organization it is not

subject to the notice and public procedure requirements of 5 U.S.C.

553. Accordingly this document is not subject to the provisions of the

Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). In addition, this

proposal does not meet the criteria for a ``significant regulatory

action'' as specified in Executive Order 12866.

Drafting Information

The principal author of this document was Janet L. Johnson,

Regulations Branch. However, personnel from other offices participated

in its development.

Dated: September 19, 1994.

Samuel H. Banks,

Acting Commissioner of Customs.

John P. Simpson,

Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.

[FR Doc. 94-24611 Filed 10-4-94; 8:45 am]

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