FDA, CPSC Again Ask for New Import User Fees in FY 2017 Budget Requests
Federal agencies asked for the authority to impose over $200 million in user fees on importers and their suppliers in their fiscal year 2017 budget requests. A Food and Drug Administration user fee on imports would go toward more staff at the borders and "port of entry streamlining," with the agency also requesting direct funding from Congress for implementation of the Foreign Supplier Verification Program. A CPSC user fee on imports, estimated at 0.007% of entered value, would support the commission's import surveillance office, including by funding full implementation of the Risk Assessment Methodology targeting system. The two agencies have been asking for import user fees since FY 2015 (see 14030519).
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FDA’s budget request (here) includes a $211.6 million increase for food safety above the $1.3 billion the agency allocated in FY 2016, as well as $193.2 million in new user fees on food and cosmetics imports and foreign facility registrations. Much of the funding would go toward implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act, including by helping farmers comply with new produce safety regulations. FDA would also allocate funds to hire and train staff to perform inspections under the Foreign Supplier Verification Program and provide outreach to importers and foreign exporters. The $105.3 million FDA would receive from food import user fees, if approved by Congress, would “facilitate the entry of safe food through enhanced border staffing, improved information systems and other importer support and port of entry streamlining,” it said.
CPSC is again requesting authority from Congress to collect user fees on any imports regulated by the product safety agency (here). In total, the commission is asking Congress for $130.5 million, an increase of $5.5 million over levels enacted for FY 2016, including $3 million for increasing CPSC’s presence at ports of entry. The increase in staff would “enable the CPSC to have staff coverage at 7 percent of U.S. ports,” comprising about 65 percent of all consumer product import entry lines, it said. The user fee, which would begin collection in FY 2018 at an estimated 0.007% of entered value, adding $36 million per year to CPSC’s coffers, would initially fund full implementation of CPSC’s Risk Assessment Methodology targeting system.
The Agriculture Department is requesting additional funding to “enhance the enforcement” of the Lacey Act, it said (here). An additional $4.5 million would be used to support electronic filing of Lacey Act declarations, providing law enforcement agencies improved access to declarations and helping “prevent the importation of products derived from illegally harvested timber.” USDA is also requesting funding to create an in-country presence in Cuba.