Non-Substantive Change Request Memo - Panama

United States
Department of
Agriculture
Farm and
Foreign
Agricultural
Services
Foreign
Agricultural
Service
1400
Independence
Avenue, SW
AgStop 1021
Washington,
DC
20250-1021

September 20, 2012

TO:

Andrew Perraut,
Office of Management and Budget, USDA

THROUGH: Ruth Brown,
Office of the Chief Information Officer, USDA

FROM:

Ron Lord
Director, Import Policies and Export Reporting Division, FAS

SUBJECT: Non-substantive Change Request to increase burden hours for information
collection authorized under OMB No. 0551-0014 due to Panama Trade Promotion Act.

FAS requests OMB’s approval for a non-substantive change to adjust the burden for the
approved information collection (IC) for the Certificate for Quota Eligibility (CQE) program.
The burden will increase after the United States implements the U.S.-Panama Trade Promotion
Agreement because additional certificates will be required to accommodate Panama’s increased
sugar access.
The United States will likely soon announce implementation of the U.S.-Panama Trade
Promotion Agreement (TPA). Under the TPA, the United States committed to administer
Panama’s sugar tariff-rate quota utilizing certificates of quota eligibility (CQEs).
It is estimated that Panama will utilize 24 copies of the CQE per year, and it is estimated that the
form takes 10 minutes to fill out. Thus the burden under the Paperwork Reduction Act, OMB
No. 0551-0014, is estimated to increase by 4 hours, or $157.