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USDA/FSA

RIN: 0560-AH79

Publication ID: Fall 2008

Title: ●Tobacco Transition Payment Program; Release of Records
Abstract: The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) is revising the Tobacco Transition Payment Program (TTPP) regulations to expand the information provided in quarterly notices to tobacco manufacturers and importers about the assessments due to CCC. Under Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act (FETRA), CCC sends out quarterly notices to tobacco manufacturers and importers, informing those entities of the assessments due to CCC. Each notice also provides the entity with certain information described at 7 CFR 1463.8. CCC has withheld from its assessment notices data concerning the market share of each other manufacturer or importer for each applicable class of tobacco product. CCC has withheld this information due to concerns over the confidentiality of such data under the provisions of 26 U.S.C. 6103, which prevents the dissemination of tax information, provided by the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) to Federal agencies, to third parties, with limited exceptions. With regard to FETRA, Treasury provides tax information of tobacco manufacturers and importers to CCC for CCCs use in determining, among other things, the quarterly assessments due by individual tobacco manufacturers and importers. After recently discussing the issue with Treasury, CCC has concluded that it is permissible under the law to release in assessment notices the market share data of those manufacturers and importers that have submitted their returns and forms directly to CCC in accordance with 7 CFR 1463.6. The basis for this conclusion is that 26 U.S.C. 6103 applies to records and information provided by Treasury to CCC, whereas records and information provided by entities directly to CCC are not covered by that law. FETRA repealed the tobacco marketing quota and related price support programs authorized by both title III of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 and by the Agricultural Act of 1949 and provided for payments to (the now former) tobacco quota holders, and tobacco producers, to assist them in making the transition to a free tobacco market from the previously federally regulated programs. FETRA is funded by assessments on tobacco manufacturers and importers. FETRA requires the release of these records. USDA is requesting emergency clearance in response to a request from the Department of Justice due to pending litigation. The regulatory change is expected to cost less than $10K per year.
Agency: Department of Agriculture(USDA)	Priority: Substantive, Nonsignificant
RIN Status: First time published in the Unified Agenda	Agenda Stage of Rulemaking: Completed Actions
Major: No	Unfunded Mandates: No
CFR Citation: 7 CFR 1463
Legal Authority: PL 108-357

Legal Deadline: None

Timetable:

Action	Date	FR Cite
Final Rule	04/29/2008	73 FR 23065

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required: No	Government Levels Affected: None
Federalism: No
Included in the Regulatory Plan: No
RIN Data Printed in the FR: No
Agency Contact: Deirdre Holder Branch Chief, Regulatory Analysis and PRA Requirements Branch Department of Agriculture Farm Production and Conservation Business Center, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20250-0572 Phone:202 205-5851 Email: deirdre.holder@usda.gov