The Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has announced a proposal to increase user fees for veterinary diagnostic services.

The APHIS National Veterinary Services Laboratories and other authorized sites perform identification, serology, and other laboratory tests and provide diagnostic reagents and other diagnostic materials and services. During fiscal years 2008 to 2012, APHIS proposes to increase user fees incrementally to reflect the costs of providing these diagnostic services.

The APHIS proposal is to base the fees on direct labor, administrative support, premium costs, agency overhead, and departmental charges. About 76 percent of the fees would change in total by $10 or less. In addition, APHIS does not charge fees for tests in the context of disease control or eradication programs.

The full proposal with a list of fees appears in the July 23 Federal Register, available at www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/.

Parties may submit comments until Sept. 21 by visiting www.regulations.gov, selecting APHIS from the agency drop-down menu, clicking Submit, and then selecting APHIS-2006-0161; or by mailing an original and three copies to Docket No. APHIS-2006-0161, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238.