Original notification issuance date: March 4, 2024 (original message included below)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) charges user fees in accordance with Title 9, Code of Federal Regulations (9 CFR 130) to ensure the agency recovers the full cost for services rendered to stakeholders, and routinely reviews user fee processes for consistency and regulatory compliance. APHIS recently identified gaps in user fee charging methods for export facility inspection packages and revised its operational guidance to ensure consistency and continuity in how user fees are charged.

Effective today, May 6, 2024, APHIS Veterinary Services will charge user fees for the full time required to complete export facility inspection packages – including inspection, Veterinary Export Trade Services review, and/or Live Animal Export Unit (Headquarters Office) review – which APHIS’ Veterinary Services had previously been only partially charging. This change enhances APHIS operational consistency.

APHIS encourages stakeholders to begin the renewal or listing approval process, including scheduling inspections and associated paperwork, at least 90 days prior to their last valid inspection date expiration to allow adequate time for completion of all steps.

For further information regarding authorized user fees, inspections and the review process, or service center operating hours, please contact the Service Center for your area, which can be found here.

For questions about the User Fees that will be charged by the Live Animal Export Unit (Headquarters Office) to review and approve export facility packages, please contact Dr. Amber Headen for terrestrial animal facility inquiries (amber.l.headen@usda.gov) and Dr. Alicia Marston for aquatic animal facility inquiries (alicia.r.marston@usda.gov).