FWS Eliminates Fees for Many Small Wildlife Imports, Exports
The Fish and Wildlife Service is changing the inspection fees required for imports and exports of wildlife by licensed businesses, it said in a Federal Register notice scheduled for Oct. 26. It said it has been made aware that the fees may place an undue economic burden on businesses that exclusively trade in small volumes of low-value, non-Federally protected wildlife parts and products. As a result, it said it's implementing a program that exempts certain businesses from the designated port base inspection fees as an interim measure while the Service reassesses its current user fee system.
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Since the user fees were set in 2009, FWS said it found that almost half of the more than 10,000 licensed businesses were exclusively importing or exporting wildlife that was not living, was not injurious, and did not require a permit or certificate under Federal wildlife laws. But the businesses were required to pay the designated port base inspection fee, currently assessed at $93, for each import or export. Because of the nature of the wildlife, they do not pay the higher premium inspection fees for live or protected species.
The review of nonliving, non-Federally protected wildlife shipments revealed that about 1,000 businesses exclusively imported or exported shipments the Service would consider to be small and of low value. FWS decided to use a quantity of 25 as the upper limit on quantity of wildlife parts and products when a shipment was valued at $5,000 or less.
The change is effective Oct. 26, but FWS said it will accept comments on this interim rule by Dec. 26 via http://www.regulations.gov, Docket No. FWSHQLE20120091