Customs Service Field Organization; Establishment of Sanford Port of Entry

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Customs Service

19 CFR Parts 101 and 122

Customs Service Field Organization; Establishment of Sanford Port

of Entry

AGENCY: 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 at Sanford, Florida. The new port of entry would include Orlando-

Sanford Airport, located in the city of Sanford, Seminole County,

Florida, which is currently operated as a user-fee airport known as

Sanford Regional 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 July 17, 1996.

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 St., NW, Suite

4000, Washington, DC.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Harry Denning, Office of Field

Operations, Resource Management Division (202) 927-0196.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

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

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

importers, and the public in Central Florida, Customs proposes to amend

Sec. 101.3(b)(1), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 101.3(b)(1)), by

establishing a new port of entry at Sanford, Florida. The new port of

entry, located in Seminole County, Florida, would include the Orlando-

Sanford Airport, which currently operates as Sanford Regional Airport,

and is listed in Sec. 122.15(b) of the Customs Regulations as a user-

fee airport.

Port of Entry Criteria

No formal application procedures have been adopted for purposes of

requesting new or expanded Customs services. The procedure most

commonly followed has been for a recognized civic or government

organization (such as a chamber of commerce, seaport or airport

authority, or city government) to submit a written request to the

director of the Customs port nearest where the facility is or would be

located, setting forth the reason for the new or expanded service.

However, there is no prohibition which prevents Customs from initiating

the establishment of a port of entry where Customs has reason to

believe or made a determination that the necessity for a new facility

is justified. Favorable consideration of requests normally hinges on

whether there is a sufficient volume of import business (actual or

potential) to justify the expense of maintaining a new office or

expanding service at an existing location.

The criteria considered 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, which are not absolute, 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); and

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

service area (approximately a 70-mile radius).

In addition, if the facility applies for designation as a port of

entry based solely upon the consumption entries criterion (see below),

it must 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 the 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:

(1) 15,000 international air passengers; or

(2) 2,500 formal (over Sec. 1,250 in Customs value) or informal

(not over Sec. 1,250 in Customs value) consumption entries; or

(3) In the case of land border ports, 150,000 vehicles; or

(4) 2,000 scheduled international aircraft arrivals (passenger and/

or cargo); or

(5) 350 cargo vessel arrivals; or

(6) Any appropriate combination of the above.

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 regular Customs operations.

The proposal set forth in this document is based on Customs

analysis of a report prepared for the Central Florida Regional Airport

Board which manages the airport at Sanford and shows projected workload

figures for the airport for the next decade. That report provides that

although Sanford Regional Airport only became a user fee airport in

1991, since 1980 it has become the fastest growing airport for

international passenger clearance services in Florida. In response to

this growth, the Airport Board has elected to make substantial and long

term investment in new international arrival facilities to serve this

growing Central Florida market. Current flight schedules for the

airport beginning in mid-April 1996 through October of this year

project some 413 charter airline flights carrying approximately 118,732

international passengers.

With regard to the above criteria, Customs believes that the

Federal Government would benefit from the port of entry designation

because Orlando-Sanford Airport (currently operating as Sanford

Regional Airport) would be available to share the workload presently

handled at ports of entry such as Miami International Airport. The

report further provides that State Roads 46 and 417 provide highway

access to the airport, and that the population of the Seminole county-

area was 287,529 in 1990 and forecast to reach 392,500 by the year

2000, which is well above the minimum 300,000 required. Further, the

report provides that the Central Florida Region--comprising the

surrounding counties of Lake, Volusia, Orange, Brevard, and Osceola--

offered a combined additional population of

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1,623,518 in 1990, forecasted to reach 2,209,957 by the year 2000.

Because Sanford could qualify for port of entry status on the strength

of the potential international passenger processing figures at the

airport alone, and is not expected to process many consumption entries,

Customs believes that the facility does not, at this time, have to 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 the electronic processing of

entries of imported merchandise. Lastly, since the airport is currently

a Customs user fee airport, Customs knows that office, storage, and

examination space are currently available for use by Customs.

Conditional Status

Based on the above, Customs believes that there is sufficient

justification for establishment of the proposed port of entry at

Sanford. If, after reviewing the public comments, Customs decides to

terminate Sanford's designation as a user-fee airport, then Customs

will notify the airport of that determination in accordance with the

provisions of 19 CFR 122.15(c). However, it is noted that this proposal

relies on potential, rather than actual, workload figures. Therefore,

even if the proposed port of entry designation is adopted as a final

rule, in 3 years Customs will review the actual workload generated

within the new port of entry. If that review indicates that the actual

workload is below the T.D. 82-37 standards, as amended, procedures may

be instituted to revoke the port of entry status. In such case, the

Airport may reapply to become a user fee airport under the provisions

of 19 U.S.C. 58b.

Description of Proposed Port of Entry Limits

The geographical limits of the proposed Sanford port of entry would

be as follows:

The Orlando-Sanford Airport, which consists of approximately 2,000

acres which are located in Seminole County, Florida, beginning in the

north/east at the intersection of State Road 46 and State Road 417 and

proceeding south to Lake Mary Boulevard, turning west to Sanford

Boulevard, and finally turning north to State Road 46 to the point of

beginning.

Proposed Amendments

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

Customs ports of entry at Sec. 101.3(b)(1) will be amended to include

Sanford as a port of entry in Florida, and Sanford Regional Airport

will be deleted from the list of user-fee airports at Sec. 122.15(b).

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, DC.

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

Pursuant to provisions of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C.

601 et seq.), it is certified that, if adopted, the proposed amendments

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

small entities, as the proposed amendments concern the status of only

one airport facility. Accordingly, the proposed amendments are not

subject to the regulatory analysis or other requirements of 5 U.S.C.

603 and 604. This amendment does not meet the criteria for a

``significant regulatory action'' as specified in Executive Order

12866.

George J. Weise,

Commissioner of Customs.

Approved: May 15, 1996.

Dennis M. O'Connell,

Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.

[FR Doc. 96-15316 Filed 6-14-96; 8:45 am]

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