Official/Unofficial Weighing Service

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration

7 CFR Part 800

Official/Unofficial Weighing Service

AGENCY: Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration, USDA.

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements for periodic review of

existing regulations and the President's Regulatory Review Initiative,

the Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS), of the Grain Inspection,

Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) is amending portions of

Part 800, General Regulations under the United States Grain Standards

Act, as amended (USGSA) to allow official agencies to provide both

official and unofficial weighing within their assigned area of

responsibility but not at the same facility. This action will make

official Class X and Class Y weighing services more readily available

at a lower cost to the grain industry at nonexport locations.

DATES: This rule will be effective on October 2, 1995. Unless we

receive written adverse comments or written notice of intent to submit

adverse comments on or before September 1, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Please send any adverse comments or notice of intent to

submit adverse comments to George Wollman, GIPSA-FGIS, USDA, Room 0623-

S, P.O. Box 96454, Washington, D.C. 20090-6454; FAX (202) 720-4628. All

comments received will be made available for public inspection at the

above address during business hours (7 CFR 1.27(b)).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

George Wollman, address as above, telephone (202) 720-0292.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Executive Order 12866

This rule has been determined to be not-significant for the

purposes of Executive Order 12866 and therefore has not been reviewed

by OMB.

Executive Order 12778

This amended rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778,

Civil Justice Reform. This action is not intended to have a retroactive

effect. The United States Grain Standards Act provides in section 87g

that no State or subdivision may require or impose any requirements or

restrictions concerning the inspection, weighing, or description of

grain under the Act. Otherwise, this rule will not preempt any State or

local laws, regulations, or policies unless they present irreconcilable

conflict with this rule. There are no administrative procedures which

must be exhausted prior to any judicial challenge to the provisions of

this rule.

Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification

James R. Baker, Administrator, GIPSA, has determined that this rule

will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of

small entities. Most users of the official inspection and weighing

services and those persons that perform those services do not meet the

requirements for small entities as defined in the Regulatory

Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). Further, the standards are

applied equally to all entities.

Information Collection and Record Keeping Requirement

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 (44 U.S.C.

chapter 35), the information collection and Record keeping requirements

in Part 800 have been approved previously by OMB and assigned OMB No.

0580-0013.

Background

Enactment of the United States Grain Standards Act of 1976, as

amended, required FGIS to establish a national weighting program for

gain. Regulations under the USGSA prohibit designated agencies or

official personnel from providing official services if they provide

similar unofficial services. Designated agencies are agencies granted

authority under the USGSA to provide either official inspection

service, or Class X or Class Y weighing services or both, at locations

other than export port locations. A large portion (88%) of the

designated agencies are designated for inspection services only. The

reason is that before 1976 most grain inspection agencies were already

providing weighing as an accessory service to grain inspection. The

agencies were affiliated with and supervised by the then existing

weighting and inspection bureaus under the direction of the Association

of American railroads, local grain exchanges, boards of trade, and

various State programs. After the FGIS weighting programs started, the

weighing being performed by the grain inspection agencies became

unofficial weighing. Most agencies continued their unofficial weighing

and applied for inspection designations only.

Since 1976 many inspection and weighing bureaus, boards of trade,

and the Association of American Railroads have ceased providing

supervision of this unofficial service. Because of the decreasing

availability of supervision caused by the lack of supervising entities,

the need for more access to Class X or Class Y weighing exists. If

allowed to provide both types of service,

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many more agencies who are now designated for inspection only could

also provide official weighing service. Designated agencies can provide

Class X and Class Y weighing at a much lower cost than FGIS field

offices due to their proximity to the grain facilities.

FGIS initially did not allow agencies to provide both types of

service because confusion may have resulted on the part of the grain

industry and agency licensees on which type of service the agency was

providing.

FGIS has reevaluated this policy because of the distinct

differences in the services. Primary differences between official and

unofficial weighing are: (1) Official weighing requires an officially

tested scale; (2) FGIS has established procedures to maintain proper

operation and accurate weighing; (3) FGIS provides an official grain

weight certificate certifying the accuracy of weighing. This rule

continues to separate official and unofficial weighing service by not

allowing agencies to provide both types of service at the same

facility.

This rule does not change the requirements for inspection services.

FGIS proposes to change only the weighing provisions of the

regulations.

We are publishing this rule without a prior proposal because we

regularly update the regulations and view this action as

noncontroversial and anticipate no adverse public comment. This rule

will be effective, as published in this document, 60 days after the

date of publication in the Federal Register unless we receive written

adverse comments or written notice of intent to submit adverse comments

within 30 days of the date of publication of this rule in the Federal

Register.

Adverse comments are comments that suggest the rule should not be

adopted or suggest the rule should be changed. If we receive written

adverse comments or written notice of intent to submit adverse

comments, we will publish a notice in the Federal Register withdrawing

this rule before the effective date. We will then publish a proposed

rule for public comment. Following the close of that comment period,

the comments will be considered, and a final rule addressing the

comments will be published.

As discussed above, if we receive no written adverse comments nor

written notice of intent to submit adverse comments within 30 days of

publication of this direct final rule, this direct final rule will

become effective 60 days following its publication. We will publish a

notice to this effect in the Federal Register, before the effective

date of this direct final, confirming that it is effective on the date

indicated in this document.

Direct Final Action

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 800

For reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR Part 800 is amended as

follows:

PART 800--GENERAL REGULATIONS

1. The authority citation for Part 800 continues to read as

follows:

Authority: Pub. L. 94-582, 90 Stat. 2867, as amended (7 U.S.C.

71 et seq.)

2. Section 800.76(a) is revised as follows:

Sec. 800.76 Prohibited Services; restricted services.

(a) Prohibited services. No agency shall perform any inspection

function or provide any inspection service on the basis of unofficial

standards, procedures, factors, or criteria if the agency is designated

or authorized to perform the service or provide the service on an

official basis under the Act. No agency shall perform official and

unofficial weighing on the same mode of conveyance at the same

facility.

* * * * *

3. Section 800.186(c)(3) introductory text is revised to read as

follows:

Sec. 800.186 Standards of conduct.

(c) * * *

(3) Excluding the unofficial weighing described in Sec. 800.76(a)

engage in any outside (unofficial) work or activity that:

* * * * *

4. Section 800.195(f)(5)(ii) is revised to read as follows:

Sec. 800.195 Delegations.

(f) * * *

(5) * * *

(ii) Unofficial activities. Excluding the unofficial weighing

described in Sec. 800.76(a) delegated State or personnel employed by

the State shall not perform any unofficial service that is the same as

any of the official services covered by the delegation.

* * * * *

6. Section 800.196(g)(6)(ii) is revised to read as follows:

Sec. 800.196 Designations.

(g) * * *

(6) * * *

(ii) Unofficial activities. Excluding the unofficial weighing

described in Sec. 800.76(a) the agency or personnel employed by the

agency shall not perform any unofficial service that is the same as the

official services covered by the designation.

* * * * *

Dated: July 25, 1995.

James R. Baker,

Administrator, Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration.

[FR Doc. 95-18905 Filed 8-1-95; 8:45 am]

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