Potato Research and Promotion Plan; Suspension of Portions of the Plan; Amendments of the Regulations Regarding Importers' Votes; and Clarification of Reporting Requirements

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA or the Department) is adopting without modification as a final rule an interim final rule which suspended portions of the Potato Research and Promotion Plan (Plan) that required National Potato Promotion Board (Board) members to be nominated at meetings, suspended obsolete provisions in the Plan, amended the rules and regulations issued under the Plan to provide for mail balloting as an alternative means of selecting nominees for appointment, permitted importer members of the Board to vote on the basis of the volume of imported potatoes, and provided in the rules and regulations that designated handlers must report to the Board those potatoes of their own production for which the assessment has been paid by another designated handler.