User Fees for Agricultural Quarantine and Inspection Services

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the user fee regulations by adjusting the fees charged for certain agricultural quarantine and inspection (AQI) services that are provided in connection with certain commercial vessels, commercial trucks, commercial railroad cars, commercial aircraft, and international airline passengers arriving at ports in the customs territory of the United States. Prior to the interim rule, user fees had not been adjusted since October 1, 2001. Due to the events of September 11, 2001, and the resulting increased security concerns, a greater volume and variety of cargo entering the United States is being inspected. We determined that the fee adjustments were needed to recover the costs of this increased inspection activity and to account for routine inflationary increases in the cost of doing business. The adjusted AQI user fees cover fiscal years 2005 through 2010.