Global Trade Alert

In a final rule that was effective December 28, 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) raised the user fees for the Agricultural Quarantine Inspection (AQI) program. The AQI program is jointly administered by APHIS and the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection to keep foreign agricultural pests that could affect U.S. agriculture, trade and commerce out of the United States.
 
According to APHIS, the AQI user fees have not been updated to reflect the real cost of services in over a decade and the program has been operating at a deficit.APHIS made the following changes:

• Adjust the fees charged for the following conveyances or persons to whom AQI services are provided: Commercial vessels, commercial trucks, commercial railroad cars, commercial aircraft, and international air passengers.
• Add a new fee to be charged for international commercial sea (cruise vessel) passengers, who were previously funded through fees collected for commercial vessels.
• Add a new fee for conducting and monitoring treatments.
• Remove the caps for vessels and railcars.
• Adjust the caps on fees for trucks with transponders.

 
The Canadian Minister of International Trade Ed Fast opposed the increased fees, stating that they "would impose disproportionate costs on Canadian exporters and commercial transporters, with detrimental effects on our cross-border trade and ultimately on the prosperity of both countries."