Navel and Valencia Oranges Grown in Arizona and Designated Parts of California; Suspension of Form 8 and Form 3

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

7 CFR Parts 907 and 908

[FV93-907-4FIR]

Navel and Valencia Oranges Grown in Arizona and Designated Parts

of California; Suspension of Form 8 and Form 3

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.

ACTION: Final rule; suspension.

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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 suspends language in the orders and in the orders' rules and

regulations to discontinue the use of Form 8 (Certificate of Assignment

of Allotment) and Form 3 (Daily Manifest Report of Oranges Subject to

Allotment). These changes reduce the burden of information collection

requirements currently provided for under the marketing orders.

EFFECTIVE DATE: April 4, 1994.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christian Nissen, 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 of Agriculture is issuing this rule in conformance

with Executive Order 12866.

This rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778, Civil

Justice Reform. This rule 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

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 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.

Small agricultural service firms 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 and producers of California-Arizona navel and

Valencia oranges may be classified as small entities.

This rule finalizes two changes in the reporting requirements

prescribed under the California-Arizona orange marketing orders. This

rule suspends language in the orders and in the orders' rules and

regulations to discontinue the use of Form 8 (Certificate of Assignment

of Allotment) and Form 3 (Daily Manifest Report of Oranges Subject to

Allotment). These changes were unanimously recommended by the

committees.

An interim final rule on this issue was published in the Federal

Register (59 FR 1268, January 10, 1994), with an effective date of

January 10, 1994. That rule suspended Secs. 907.58, 907.71, 908.58, and

908.71 of the orders, and Secs. 907.112, 907.141, 908.112, and 908.141

of the rules and regulations in effect under the orders. That rule

provided a 30-day comment period which ended February 9, 1994. No

comments were received.

Sections 907.58 and 908.58 of the navel and Valencia orange

marketing orders specify that, for the handling of oranges other than

by rail car (primarily truck shipments), handlers issue to the

consignee an assignment of allotment certificate covering each quantity

of oranges so handled. Sections 907.112 and 908.112 of the orders'

rules and regulations require handlers to submit such information on

Form 8. Handlers are also required to segregate the information on Form

8 by size of oranges shipped and destination (i.e., U.S. and Alaska or

Canada).

Since the inception of the orders, the committees have utilized

Form 8 primarily for tracking and verifying truck shipments of oranges

that were subject to volume regulation. However, with the volume

regulation features of the orders suspended (58 FR 53,114; October 14,

1993), the committees believe that continued submission of Form 8

creates an additional burden on handlers that is unnecessary.

According to the committees, many handlers have long questioned the

value of Form 8 (commonly referred to in the industry as ``the daily

truck ticket'') during periods of no volume regulation. Shipment

information from Form 8 is transferred to Form 4 (Weekly Report).

Handlers maintain their own manifest records of these shipments and,

without weekly volume regulation, Form 4 provides similar data with the

exception of number of cartons shipped by size. The committees plan on

requesting size information from handlers as needed on a voluntary

basis and anticipate revising the weekly Form 4 at a later time to

provide for the collection of size information.

Thus, the committees believe that continued submission of Form 8,

particularly during periods of no volume regulation, is not necessary.

Accordingly, the committees have recommended suspending Secs. 907.58

and 908.58 of the orders and Secs. 907.112 and 908.112 of the orders'

rules and regulations so that Form 8 will be discontinued.

The second change that the committees recommended concerns Form 3

(Daily Manifest Report of Oranges Subject to Allotment). Currently,

Secs. 907.71 and 908.71 of the orange 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 this information for rail

car shipments on Form 3.

The information collected on Form 3 is similar to the information

collected on Form 8 described earlier, but pertains to rail car

shipments rather than truck shipments. Again, this information has

historically been utilized primarily for tracking and verifying

shipments of oranges that were subject to volume regulation. However,

with the volume regulation features of the orders suspended, the

committees believe that continued submission of Form 3, like Form 8,

creates an additional burden on handlers that is unnecessary. Handlers

are also required to submit similar information on rail car shipments

on the weekly Form 4. As with size information pertaining to truck

shipments, the committees plan on requesting size information from

handlers for rail car shipments on a voluntary basis until the weekly

Form 4 is appropriately revised.

Like Form 8, the committees believe that continued submission of

Form 3, particularly during periods of no volume regulation, is not

necessary. Accordingly, the committees have recommended suspending

Secs. 907.71 and 908.71 of the orders and Secs. 907.141 and 908.141 of

the orders' rules and regulations so that Form 3 will be discontinued.

Based on these considerations, the Administrator of the AMS has

determined that this rule will not have a significant economic impact

on a substantial number of small entities.

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 265 handlers of navel and Valencia oranges who have been

completing Form 8, taking about .40 hour to complete each report. This

rule also reduces the reporting burden on about 80 orange handlers who

ship by rail at some point during a season and utilize Form 3, taking

about 0.20 hours to complete each report.

After consideration of all relevant material presented, the

information and recommendations submitted by the committees, and other

information, it is found that the provisions detailed in the interim

final rule, at this time, do not tend to effectuate the declared policy

of the Act. Therefore, this rule finalizes the interim final rule,

without change, as published in the Federal Register (59 FR 1268,

January 10, 1994).

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 PARTS OF

CALIFORNIA

2. Accordingly, the interim final rule amending 7 CFR part 907,

which was published at 59 FR 1268 on January 10, 1994, is adopted as a

final rule without change.

PART 908--VALENCIA ORANGES GROWN IN ARIZONA AND DESIGNATED PARTS OF

CALIFORNIA

3. Accordingly, the interim final rule amending 7 CFR part 908,

which was published at 59 FR 1268 on January 10, 1994, is adopted as a

final rule without change.

Dated: February 24, 1994.

Patricia Jensen,

Acting Assistant Secretary, Marketing and Inspection Services.

[FR Doc. 94-4821 Filed 3-2-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410-02-P