Request for Public Comments Concerning Dissemination of Existing Information Product and Elimination of Microfiche

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Customs Service

[T.D. 96-19]

Request for Public Comments Concerning Dissemination of Existing

Information Product and Elimination of Microfiche

AGENCY: U.S. Customs Service, Department of the Treasury.

ACTION: General notice, request for public comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Customs Service provides rulings and publications on

a variety of subjects for the guidance of the importing public. The

rulings have been available in the past in a variety of formats,

including printed media, diskette and microfiche. The Customs Service

would like to provide these rulings, future publications and additional

information in two new formats (CD-ROM and the Internet) with built-in

search capabilities and ``hypertext'' links. In addition, the Customs

Service would like to receive public comments on the elimination of one

format used to supply rulings to the public by subscription

(microfiche). This document invites public comment on the various

proposals.

DATES: Comments must be submitted by March 25, 1996.

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

to the Regulations Branch, U.S. Customs, Franklin Court, 1301

Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20229. Comments submitted may

be inspected at the Regulations Branch, Office of Regulations &

Rulings, Franklin Court, 1099 14th Street NW., Suite 4000W, Washington,

DC.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

For contents and technical aspects of the CD-ROM: Howard Plofker, 202-

482-7077

For the Internet: Kathy Davis, 202-927-0255

For the microfiche: Thomas Budnik, 202-482-6909

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with OMB Circular A-130 and

Section 2 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub.L. 104-13, 44

U.S.C. 3506(d)), Customs is soliciting comments from the public on the

dissemination of Customs information by CD-ROM (Compact Disc-read only

memory) and the Internet and the elimination of microfiche rulings. In

the past, the U.S. Customs Service has, pursuant to section 103.4,

Customs Regulations (19 CFR 103.4), made its rulings available to the

importing community. These rulings have been available in microfiche

format, and in ASCII text format on 3.5 and

5.25 diskettes, on an annual subscription basis. They

have also been available through a variety of private subscription

services, which obtain the rulings from Customs.

CD-ROM

The New York and Headquarters rulings available in an electronic

format now number approximately 23,000 rulings and take up a

considerable amount of hard disk drive space when loaded on a PC or

network. Over the past two years, Customs Office of Regulations &

Rulings converted its internal electronic rulings (which had been

distributed to the public on diskette, by subscription) into the Folio

VIEWS Infobase format. This format compresses the file size

and indexes the records in a file. It has extensive search and query

capabilities and is frequently used to disseminate legal and government

publications. Customs has also converted the Harmonized Tariff

Schedules, Title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 19 of the

U.S. Code, the Valuation Encyclopedia and other documents into this

format for internal use.

Last July, the Office of Finance, in partnership with the Offices

of Regulations & Rulings and Strategic Trade, began producing an in-

house CD-ROM for Customs officers which contained those infobases

together with other material. Since that time, material from other

Customs offices has been added. This CD-ROM is prepared monthly for

dissemination to Customs field offices. The internal CD-ROM utilizes

the Windows version of Folio VIEWS 3.1. Each CD-ROM disk can

hold approximately 650 MB of material. The infobases contain

``hypertext'' jump links so that a researcher who sees a reference to

another ruling, a regulation or statute cited within a ruling may

``double-click'' on the reference and bring up the referenced document,

if it is on the CD-ROM. Documents or portions of documents may be cut,

copied and pasted to other Windows applications, such as word

processors, or printed. Many members of the public who have seen the

system in use have recommended that it be made available to the public.

Because some of the material on the Customs internal CD-ROM is

copyrighted, proprietary or for internal use, that material cannot be

distributed to the public.

The Customs Service agrees that in accordance with the ``informed

compliance'' mandate contained in the legislative history of the

Customs Modernization Act (Title VI, Public Law 103-182) the broadest

dissemination possible should be made of this material. Customs seeks

public comment on dissemination of the rulings and related material in

a CD-ROM format. Customs would like to offer the CD-ROM in the Folio

Views format, since that format is being used for internal

dissemination and minimal additional costs would be incurred in

preparing a public version. Customs would include the licensing fee for

the program in the price of the CD-ROM. It is expected that CD-ROMs

would be offered on an annual subscription basis with an estimated cost

of approximately $240-300 per year for 10-12 CD-ROMs.

It is anticipated that the initial CD-ROMs would contain all the

rulings available in electronic format (including all Headquarters

Rulings and New York Rulings previously available on diskette). The

rulings on CD-ROMs will be cumulative, unlike the current diskette

services. In addition the initial CD-ROM will contain 19 CFR, 19

U.S.C., the Harmonized Tariff Schedules of the U.S., and the Valuation

Encyclopedia. It is hoped that future CD-ROMs will contain various

[[Page 6893]]

Informed Compliance publications and other material of interest to the

importing and exporting community. The CD-ROMs would contain a small

``Infobase Manager'' program which would be installed on the PC's hard

drive. The infobases themselves would remain on the CD-ROM, thereby

conserving hard drive space. When a new CD-ROM is issued, the old one

could be removed, since the CD-ROMs are cumulative. If this proposal is

adopted, the first CD-ROMs would be available for the public in the

Spring. An alternative to the above would be to provide the infobases

on the CD-ROM without a program to run them. This would require the

subscriber to purchase Folio Views 3.1 from the Folio

Corporation or an authorized reseller. A second alternative would be to

put the ASCII (plain, un-indexed text) files containing the rulings and

some other material or WordPerfect files on a CD-ROM without any

indexing or hypertext program. Customs does not believe that this

alternative will be as useful to the vast majority of users since the

files will be uncompressed and unindexed and a search program will have

to be purchased from another supplier.

Customs would encourage the broadest possible dissemination of the

material contained on the CD-ROM infobases and would invite electronic

publishers to add material on any commercial redistribution of the

infobases. Customs also invites the public to identify the type of

materials it would like to see on the CD-ROM.

Internet

Customs also proposes placing publications and other information of

interest to the public on the Internet. Customs is considering

including the CD-ROM infobases described above on the Internet where

users could access, and search the material without charge. The public

is invited to comment on these proposals and identify other documents

and material which the public believes should be made available on the

Internet. Public accessibility to the Customs material on the Internet

is anticipated for late Spring, 1996.

Microfiche

For many years, Customs made microfiche copies of rulings available

to the public by annual subscription. The production of microfiche is

an expensive and time consuming process compared to the preparation and

production of electronic rulings, which is a by-product of writing the

ruling itself. The number of microfiche subscribers has been declining

since the diskette subscription services were introduced. Customs

expects to eliminate the microfiche service effective October, 1996,

the beginning of the fiscal year. However, if sufficient public

interest exists in continuing the microfiche rulings, Customs may

reconsider this decision. However, it is anticipated that subscription

prices will have to be increased dramatically to continue the

microfiche.

Comments

Customs requests comments on implementation of the CD-ROM project

and the Internet project and elimination of the microfiche rulings.

Persons wishing to comment on any of these projects should send their

comments to the Regulations Branch, Office of Regulations & Rulings,

U.S. Customs Service, 1301 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC

20229. Comments may be reviewed at the Regulations Branch, Office of

Regulations and Rulings, Suite 4000W, 1099 14th Street, Washington, DC

20005 during the hours of 9:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

Dated: February 14, 1996.

Stuart P. Seidel,

Assistant Commissioner, Office of Regulations and Rulings.

[FR Doc. 96-3903 Filed 2-21-96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4820-02-P