Amendment of the Fee Exemption for Federal, State and Local Government Employees

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Drug Enforcement Administration

21 CFR Part 1301

Amendment of the Fee Exemption for Federal, State and Local

Government Employees

agency: Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Justice.

action: Final rule.

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summary: This final rule limits the exemption from payment of

application fees for registration or reregistration to Federal, state,

or local government operated hospitals or institutions. This will

eliminate the need for DEA to dedicate manpower or other resources to

controlling abuse of the fee exempt status.

effective date: March 28, 1994.

for further information contact: G. Thomas Gitchel, Chief, Liaison and

Policy Section, Office of Diversion Control, Drug Enforcement

Administration, Washington, DC 20537, Telephone (202) 307-7297.

supplementary information: On June 1, 1993, a notice of proposed

rulemaking was published in the Federal Register (58 FR 31180). DEA

proposed to limit the exemption from payment of registration or

reregistration application fees to Federal, state or local government

operated hospital/clinics.

A total of three comments were received, all opposed to the

proposed changes. Two of the comments concerned state certified

euthanasia technicians. The commentors objected to the changes on the

grounds that the change would impose a financial burden on the

euthanasia technicians and the animal shelters at which they work, due

to the extremely high turnover rate the industry experiences. This will

not be the case. The euthanasia technicians are employees of animal

control facilities or shelters. They may not engage in their activities

other than as employees of the facilities or shelters. Under such

circumstances, DEA has traditionally issued the registrations for such

activities under the facility or shelter name with the euthanasia

technician's name appearing thereafter. It is appropriate under such

circumstances for the Federal, state or local government facility or

shelter to request and receive the exemption from the fee. In light of

the fact that DEA registers these activities as other than a hospital

or clinic, the original language of the proposal with respect to

Federal, state or local hospitals or clinics has been changed to

Federal, state or local hospitals or other institutions.

The third commentor objected to the changes on the grounds that the

proposed changes, if implemented, would prevent public sector employees

from using their exempt status to obtain registrations for use in

private practice. That is the exact intent of the proposal. Any

individual who engages in private practice utilizing a DEA registration

must pay the required fee for that registration. Individuals who engage

in public practice as agents or employees of Federal, state or local

hospitals or institutions would not be required to obtain a

registration; they would conduct their controlled substances activities

under the registration of the hospital or institution. Although this

has been a longstanding policy, DEA will clarify the provisions for

such activities in light of the impact that the limiting of the fee

exemption will have. A proposal to amend Sec. 1301.24 has been drafted

to clarify the exemption from the registration requirement of

individual practitioners who act as agents or employees of other

individual practitioners and of hospitals or other institutions. That

proposal will be published in the Federal Register in the near future.

There are approximately 44,000 active DEA registrations which were

issued under the fee exempt status. Over 35,000 of the registrations

are for practitioners and the remainder are for Federal, state or local

hospitals or institutions. By restricting the fee exempt status to the

hospitals or institutions and allowing the practitioners to carry out

their official duties under the hospital or institution registrations,

DEA will eliminate the need to dedicate manpower or other resources to

controlling the misuse of the fee exempt status.

The limiting of the fee exemption will not affect those law

enforcement analytical laboratories which are described in

Sec. 1301.26.

The Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Diversion Control,

hereby certifies that this final rule will have no significant impact

upon entities whose interests must be considered under the Regulatory

Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq. Any financial or regulatory

burdens that practitioners may experience are existing burdens which

the practitioners have heretofore avoided by inappropriate use of the

fee exemption.

This final rule is not a significant regulatory action and

therefore has not been reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget

pursuant to Executive Order 12866.

This action has been analyzed in accordance with the principles and

criteria in Executive Order 12612, and it has been determined that the

final rule does not have sufficient federalism implications to warrant

the preparation of a Federalism Assessment.

List of Subjects in 21 CFR Part 1301

Administrative practice and procedure, Drug traffic control,

security measures.

For reasons set out above, 21 CFR part 1301 is amended as follows:

PART 1301--[AMENDED]

1. The authority citation for part 1301 continues to read as

follows:

Authority: 21 U.S.C. 821, 822, 823, 824, 871(b), 875, 877.

2. Section 1301.13 is amended by revising paragraphs (a) and (b) to

read as follows:

Sec. 1301.13 Persons exempt from fee.

(a) The Administrator shall exempt from payment of an application

fee for registration or reregistration any hospital or other

institution which is operated by an agency of the United States

(including the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast

Guard), of any State, or any political subdivision or agency thereof.

(b) In order to claim exemption from payment of a registration or

reregistration application fee, the registrant shall have completed the

certification on the appropriate application form, wherein the

registrant's officer certifies to the status and address of the

registrant.

* * * * *

Dated: February 14, 1994.

Gene R. Haislip,

Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Diversion Control.

[FR Doc. 94-3823 Filed 2-23-94; 8:45 am]

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