The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is requesting comments on the agency’s authority to build and maintain a funding reserve in its Agricultural Quarantine Inspection (AQI) User Fee Program.

According to the agency, APHIS’s AQI program supports the critical work of safeguarding U.S. agriculture and the environment from invasive plant and animal pests and diseases through inspections of commercial vessels, commercial trucks, commercial railcars, commercial aircraft and international passengers.

APHIS said this safeguarding work is important to protect domestic agriculture from the potential pest and disease risks of international trade and travel.

In 2016, the AQI program’s revised fee structure for providing safeguarding inspection services, set by rule-making in 2015, was challenged in court. In a 2018 ruling, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found that APHIS, in its rule-making, did not properly cite its statutory authority to maintain a funding reserve.

APHIS asserts that it has the statutory authority and the responsibility to keep a reasonable fund balance to cover program costs and administer the program when changing economic circumstances and unforeseeable events occur. This interpretation is consistent with precedent, as set forth in prior rule-making activities.

APHIS emphasized that it is not re-examining, seeking comments on or otherwise reopening any other aspect of the AQI program at this time, including the AQI User Fee structure and calculations determined in 2015.

APHIS will consider all comments received on or before May 28, 2019, on the agency’s authority to collect and hold funds in reserve. For more information, visit the following website when the rule is published April 26: http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2013-0021.