The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced the publication of the final rule reducing the fees for the sampling, inspection, weighing and certification of rice performed under authority of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (AMA), as amended.
The rule decreases the fees by 20 percent for fiscal year (FY) 2020, retroactively with a start date of January 1, 2020, and by another 20 percent for FY 2021, which begins October 1, 2020. The changes are necessary to lower the balance in the program’s operating reserve to a level adequate to cover three to six months’ expenses. AMS will adopt standardized user-fee calculations used in other AMS programs for rice inspection services beginning in FY 2022. The proposed rule was published on August 29, 2019 and did not receive any comments.
The final rule was published in the Federal Register on January 30, 2019.
If you have any questions, contact Kendra Kline, Chief of Staff at (202) 690-2410 or Kendra.C.Kline@usda.gov.
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