USDA Proposes Rule to Implement Assessment on Dairy Imports

(World Trade Interactive)

The Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service is seeking comments by June 18 on proposed amendments to the Dairy Promotion and Research Order that would implement an assessment on imported dairy products. The 2002 Farm Bill requires the imposition of such an assessment to fund promotion and research, while the 2008 Farm Bill specifies a mandatory import assessment rate of 7.5 cents per hundredweight of milk or equivalent thereof.

According to AMS, the assessments on imported dairy products would be collected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection from importers at the time the entry summary documents are filed. If the importer has adequate documentation concerning the milk solids content of the imported dairy product, the assessment would be based on that; otherwise, a default assessment rate for each HTSUS number would be applied. The assessments collected would be transferred to the Dairy Board to fund the national dairy promotion and research program. The Dairy Board would establish a compliance program and procedures to verify, as necessary, that correct assessments have been paid by importers.