Amendments to the Regulations for Cotton WarehousesElectronic Warehouse Receipts, and Other Provisions

This final rule adopts, with minor changes, a proposed rule that was published in the November 2, 1996, Federal Register (61 FR 60637) regarding cotton warehouses that are operating under the United States Warehouse Act (USWA). This rule makes a number of clarifying and technical changes to existing warehouse regulations, but also removes the requirement that all electronic warehouse receipts for cotton must be issued as single bale receipts. The rule will thereby allow warehouse operators to issue single and multiple bale warehouse receipts as either paper or electronic warehouse receipts. Portions of the proposed rule were already adopted in a final rule that was published in the June 20, 1997, Federal Register (62 FR 33539).