Date="06/01/93" Citation="58 FR 31180" Group="legal" Type="PROPOSED RULE" Department="DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE" Agency="DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION (DEA), JUSTICE" Subject="Amendment of the Fee Exemption for Federal, State and Local Government Employees"

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Drug Enforcement Administration 21 CFR Part 1301 Amendment of the Fee Exemption for Federal, State and Local Government Employees AGENCY: Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Justice. ACTION: Proposed rule.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Drug Enforcement Administration 21 CFR Part 1301 Amendment of the Fee Exemption for Federal, State and Local Government Employees AGENCY: Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Justice. ACTION: Proposed rule. + ------------------------------------------------------------ SUMMARY: DEA proposes to amend its regulations to limit the exemption from payment of application fees for registration or reregistration under sec 1301.13 to Federal, state, or local government operated hospital/clinics. The bulk of the registrants who claim fee exemptions are practitioners, many of whom use their exempt status to obtain reregistrations which they use in private practice outside of their official duties. By limiting the fee exemption DEA will eliminate the need to dedicate significant resources to verify the exemption status of these individuals. DATES: Written comments and objections must be received on or before August 2, 1993. ADDRESSES: Comments and objections should be submitted in quintuplicate to the Director, Office of Diversion Control, Drug Enforcement Administration, Washington, DC 20537, Attention: DEA Federal Register Representative/CCR. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: G. Thomas Gitchel, Chief, Liaison and Policy Section, Office of Diversion Control, Drug Enforcement Administration, Washington, DC 20537, Telephone (202) 307-7297. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Since 1971, DEA and its predecessor agency have exempted from the payment of registration fees certain State, Federal or local agencies and certain employees thereof. The bulk of the registrants who claim fee exemptions are practitioners, many of whom use their exempt status to obtain registrations which they use in private practice outside of their official duties. DEA has been dedicating an ever-increasing amount of manpower and investigative resources to the verification of exemption status and investigation of exemption abuses. Over the last three years, the Diversion Control Program of DEA has seen a significant increase in its regulatory responsibilities, including an increase in the regulated population from 786,000 to 870,000 registrants and the addition of major new programs. These expanded responsibilities have placed a great strain on the program's investigative resources, which have seen little change during the last three years. With these increase demands, it is not longer feasible to dedicate badly needed manpower and resources to the fee exemption activities. By limiting the application of Section 1301.13 to hospital/clinics operated by Federal, state or local government entities, DEA will eliminate the need to dedicate significant manpower and resources to fee exemption activities. Because most practitioners who currently qualify for the fee exemption should be affiliated with a hospital/clinic operated by a Federal, state or local government agency and may administer and dispense directly controlled substances under the registration of the hospital/clinic without being required to obtain an individual registration, the effect of this rule should be minimal. The limiting of the fee exemptions will not affect any person or agency which is exempt from registration itself, nor will it affect those law enforcement analytical laboratories which are described in Section 1301.26. The Director, Office of Diversion Control, hereby certifies that this proposed rulemaking will have no significant impact upon entities whose interests must be considered under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq. The rule will have an impact of less than $100.00 per year for most of the affected registrants. This proposed rule is not a major rule for the purposes of Executive Order (E.O.) 12291 of February 17, 1981. Pursuant to Sections 3(c)(3) and 3(e)(2)(c) of E.O. 12291, this proposed rule has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for review, and approval of that office has been requested pursuant to the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, 44 U.S.C. et seq. This action has been analyzed in accordance with the principles and criteria in E.O. 12612, and it has been determined that the proposed rule does not have sufficient federalism implications to warrant the preparation of a Federalism Assessment. List of Subjects 21 CFR Part 1301 Administrative practice and procedure, Drug Enforcement Administration, Drug Traffic Control, Security Measures. For reasons set out above, it is proposed that 21 CFR part 1301 be amended as follows: PART 1301-[AMENDED] 1. The authority citation for part 1301 continues to read as follows: Authority: 21 U.S.C. 821, 822, 823, 824, 871(b), 875, 877. 2. Section 1301.13 is amended by revising paragraphs (a) and (b) to read as follows: sec 1301.13 Persons exempt from fee. (a) The Administrator shall exempt from payment of an application fee for registration or reregistration any hospital or clinic which is operated by an agency of the United States (including the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard), of any State, or any political subdivision or agency thereof. (b) In order to claim exemption from payment of a registration or reregistration application fee, the registrant shall have completed the certification on the appropriate application form, wherein the registrant's officer certifies to the status and address of the registrant. * * * * * Dated: March 24, 1993. Gene R. Haislip, Director, Office of Diversion Control. [FR Doc. 93-12726 Filed 5-28-93; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4410-09-M