Removal of U.S. Grade Standards and Other Selected Regulations

This rule will remove most of the voluntary U.S. grade standards and other selected regulations covering a number of agricultural commodities (dairy products, tobacco, wool, mohair, fresh and processed fruits and vegetables, livestock, meats and meat products, eggs, and poultry and rabbit products) from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). These are an accumulation of regulations which have been developed for more than 75 years to facilitate the marketing of agricultural commodities by providing a uniform language which may be used to describe the quality of various agricultural commodities as valued in the marketplace. The voluntary standards and all subsequent revisions or new standards will be made available in a separate publication, except for wool and mohair standards. These standards and related regulations will be removed from the CFR and will no longer be available since there is no demand for services pertaining to wool or mohair. This regulatory action is being taken as part of the National Performance Review program to eliminate unnecessary regulations and improve those that remain in force. In carrying out this responsibility, the Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), will ensure that proposed, new or revised voluntary standards will appear in the ``Notices'' section of the Federal Register and that the public will have an opportunity to comment. AMS will maintain the existing numbering system in the voluntary standards. The standards for the various commodities will continue to be administered by each commodity division within AMS.