Date="02/24/94" Citation="59 FR 8859" Group="legal" Type="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: Final 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: Final rule. + ------------------------------------------------------------ SUMMARY: This final rule limits the exemption from payment of application fees for registration or reregistration to Federal, state, or local government operated hospitals or institutions. This will eliminate the need for DEA to dedicate manpower or other resources to controlling abuse of the fee exempt status. EFFECTIVE DATE: March 28, 1994. 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: On June 1, 1993, a notice of proposed rulemaking was published in the Federal Register (58 FR 31180). DEA proposed to limit the exemption from payment of registration or reregistration application fees to Federal, state or local government operated hospital/clinics. A total of three comments were received, all opposed to the proposed changes. Two of the comments concerned state certified euthanasia technicians. The commentors objected to the changes on the grounds that the change would impose a financial burden on the euthanasia technicians and the animal shelters at which they work, due to the extremely high turnover rate the industry experiences. This will not be the case. The euthanasia technicians are employees of animal control facilities or shelters. They may not engage in their activities other than as employees of the facilities or shelters. Under such circumstances, DEA has traditionally issued the registrations for such activities under the facility or shelter name with the euthanasia technician's name appearing thereafter. It is appropriate under such circumstances for the Federal, state or local government facility or shelter to request and receive the exemption from the fee. In light of the fact that DEA registers these activities as other than a hospital or clinic, the original language of the proposal with respect to Federal, state or local hospitals or clinics has been changed to Federal, state or local hospitals or other institutions. The third commentor objected to the changes on the grounds that the proposed changes, if implemented, would prevent public sector employees from using their exempt status to obtain registrations for use in private practice. That is the exact intent of the proposal. Any individual who engages in private practice utilizing a DEA registration must pay the required fee for that registration. Individuals who engage in public practice as agents or employees of Federal, state or local hospitals or institutions would not be required to obtain a registration; they would conduct their controlled substances activities under the registration of the hospital or institution. Although this has been a longstanding policy, DEA will clarify the provisions for such activities in light of the impact that the limiting of the fee exemption will have. A proposal to amend sec 1301.24 has been drafted to clarify the exemption from the registration requirement of individual practitioners who act as agents or employees of other individual practitioners and of hospitals or other institutions. That proposal will be published in the Federal Register in the near future. There are approximately 44,000 active DEA registrations which were issued under the fee exempt status. Over 35,000 of the registrations are for practitioners and the remainder are for Federal, state or local hospitals or institutions. By restricting the fee exempt status to the hospitals or institutions and allowing the practitioners to carry out their official duties under the hospital or institution registrations, DEA will eliminate the need to dedicate manpower or other resources to controlling the misuse of the fee exempt status. The limiting of the fee exemption will not affect those law enforcement analytical laboratories which are described in sec 1301.26. The Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Diversion Control, hereby certifies that this final rule will have no significant impact upon entities whose interests must be considered under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq. Any financial or regulatory burdens that practitioners may experience are existing burdens which the practitioners have heretofore avoided by inappropriate use of the fee exemption. This final rule is not a significant regulatory action and therefore has not been reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget pursuant to Executive Order 12866. This action has been analyzed in accordance with the principles and criteria in Executive Order 12612, and it has been determined that the final rule does not have sufficient federalism implications to warrant the preparation of a Federalism Assessment. List of Subjects in 21 CFR Part 1301 Administrative practice and procedure, Drug traffic control, security measures. For reasons set out above, 21 CFR part 1301 is 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 other institution 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: February 14, 1994. Gene R. Haislip, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Diversion Control. [FR Doc. 94-3823 Filed 2-23-94; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4410-09-M ------------------------------------------------------ The Contents entry for this article reads as follows: Manufacturers, distributors, and dispensers of controlled substances; registration: Federal, State, or local government operated hospitals or institutions; application fees; employee exemption, 8859