Import Inspection Fees
The Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service is accepting comments through Aug. 19 on a proposal to make the following changes to the Section 8e import inspection fee structure, which affects imports of avocados, onions, grapes, oranges, kiwifruit, tomatoes, grapefruit, filberts, and potatoes.
- changing fees for lots qualifying as a full car lot (or a whole lot) or less than a full car lot from a per-car lot basis to a per-pound basis
- reducing the fee for each additional sublot by 50 percent to $55
- establishing a new fee calculation for lots less than a car lot
Tomato and Pepper Imports
The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has announced that, effective June 17, it has amended the restrictions for the importation of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and pepper (Capsicum spp.) hosts of tomato brown rugose fruit virus by rescinding the import requirements for fresh tomatoes and peppers for consumption from all countries. APHIS concluded that these commodities are an unlikely pathway for the introduction of the virus into tomato and pepper production areas. However, APHIS is maintaining restrictions on the importation of tomato and pepper plant propagative material, including seed.
Exports to Hong Kong
The USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service reports that a U.S. shipment was almost rejected recently at Hong Kong’s port of entry due to an erroneously formatted health certificate. FAS is therefore urging U.S. exporters shipping food and beverage products to Hong Kong to work with importers there to ensure that a properly formatted health certification is included when requesting an import license application. To aid in this process, exporters should reference USDA’s two annual public reports providing information on Hong Kong’s import requirements: the “Food and Agricultural Import Regulations and Standards Export Certificate Report” and the “FAIRS Annual Country Report Annual.”
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