Fruit, Vegetable, and Specialty Crops-Import Regulations; Changes to Reporting Requirements To Add Electronic Form Filing Option

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is adopting, as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that changed the reporting requirements for commodities exempt from import regulations under section 608(e) (hereinafter referred to as "8e") of the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 by adding an option to electronically file an "Importer's Exempt Commodity Form" (FV-6 form). These changes were needed to bring the import regulations into conformance with the current practice of filing FV-6 forms electronically using the Marketing Order Online System (MOLS), an internet-based application that was implemented in 2008. The interim rule also changed the import regulations for dates and raisins by moving the FV-6 form-filing procedures for these two commodities to the safeguard procedure regulations for specialty crops and by making other administrative updates. These changes to the import regulations were also required to support the International Trade Data System (ITDS), a key White House economic initiative that will automate the filing of import and export information by the trade. All government agencies that are participating in the ITDS initiative, including AMS, are required by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (hereinafter referred to as "CBP") to make updates to import and export regulations to provide for the electronic entry of shipment data.