The new fee structure for seafood importers in SU will be effective from October 1. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is currently accepting public comment on an 1 August Federal Register notice announcing fiscal 2012 fee rates as part of the Food Safety Modernization Act, which was signed into law by President Obama on 4 January. Under this new fee system the FDA will begin charging food importers a fee, based on an hourly rate, for any “re-examination” of product, which is required when the FDA discovers a food-safety violation during an inspection.
The release states that the fee is USD 225 per hour, USD 335 per hour if foreign travel is required. It also states that FDA has defined “first examination” so broadly that virtually every imported food detained for an apparent food-safety violation will be subject to the new fee because it’s classified as a “re-examination.”
The FDA lists four examples of when an importer can expect to pay the fee: when a food is reconditioned or relabeled to address a food-safety concern; when an importer is seeking release of an imported food that the FDA has detained, including automatic detentions; when an importer or foreign food manufacturer petitions the FDA requesting removal from an FDA import alert; and when the FDA supervises destruction of goods it refused.
According to the information this new fee rule will set FDA to capture capture additional operational funds through a user-fee system rejected by Congress in other food-safety bills. This will ease the process of reviewing documents for an imported shipment. Around 85 percent of the U.S. seafood supply is imported.
