In the December 11, 2015, Federal Register, AMS proposed to amend the Cotton Board Rules and Regulations to remove the cotton import de minimis provision. Importers are exempt from paying the cotton import assessment ("cotton fee") if a line item on U.S. Customs and Border Protection ("CBP") documentation is $2 or less. The exemption was initially established to lessen the administrative burden of collecting an import assessment, which was originally estimated to be $2 per line item, in instances in which the transaction costs of the collection would exceed the actual value of the assessment. However, technological advances in the CBP documentation process significantly reduced the transaction costs associated with collecting import assessments, and CBP has since stopped charging USDA for the processing and collection of assessments. Given that transaction costs no longer exceed assessment rates of $2 or less, AMS proposes to remove this de minimis provision from the regulations. In addition, the definition of "cotton" with respect to procedures for conducting the sign-up period would also be modified. Comments are due January 11, 2016.
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