1405-0095 Supporting Statement

Supporting Statement for Paperwork Reduction Act Submission

Shrimp Exporter's/Importer's Declaration, OMB# 1405-0095, DS-2031

A. Justification

1. The DS-2031 is necessary for the certification that shipments of shrimp exported to the United States have been harvested in a manner that does not harm sea turtles, pursuant to Section 609 of P.L. 101-162 (hereinafter referred to as Section 609). The Department of State has established guidelines that require, , each shipment of shrimp shipped to the U.S. to have a copy of this form, signed by the exporter and, under certain circumstances, a government official of the harvesting country (Without this form, shrimp shipments may not enter the U.S.

2. The information collected on this form is used by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service (USCBP) to determine if shrimp and shrimp products shipped to the United States after meet the requirements for entry into the United States pursuant to Section 609, which calls for import prohibitions to be placed on shrimp and shrimp products from countries not certified as having a sea turtle protection program comparable to the U.S. program.

The USCBP is responsible for verifying that a form has been duly completed and signed. The USCBP has denied entry into the U.S. for shipments of shrimp exported to the U.S. without the accompanying DS-2031. For shipments sent to the U.S. with a properly completed DS-2031, upon release from USCBP the form is retained by the U.S. importer for a period of three years, to be produced upon the request of the USCBP or other U.S. Government official in the course of enforcing Section 609.

3. The Department is working with Customs and Border Protection to incorporate an electronic filing option for form DS-2031. However, in order to avoid instances of fraudulent documents, DS-2031 documents from uncertified countries would not be allowed the electronic option. Original DS-2031 documents from uncertified countries would still be required to accompany shrimp shipments.

4. No other current source of the specific information requested by the DS-2031 exists.

5. The collection of this information may involve small businesses in foreign countries, however the burden on any respondent to provide the relevant information will not be significant. Moreover, without the collection of this information, these small businesses would suffer considerable loss of income due to the inability to export shrimp to the United States.

6. The collection of information through the use of the DS-2031 represents the only viable approach to effective implementation of Section 609. The import prohibition called for by Section 609 requires that the U.S. Government make a determination on whether shipments of shrimp and shrimp products will be allowed entry into this country. Without the DS-2031, no documentary evidence will be available for the U.S. Government to make that determination with any degree of confidence.

7. There are no special circumstances for this collection .

8. The Department of State published a 60-day notice in the Federal Register to solicit public comments for this collection on March 8, 2007. No public comments were received.

9. No payment or gift is provided to respondents.

10. The DS-2031 requests no potentially proprietary information, and thus no assurance of confidentiality is necessary, nor has any been provided.

11. The DS-2031 requests no information of a sensitive nature.

12. The number of responses is estimated at 10,000 from an estimated 3,000 respondents, based on USCBP records. This may fluctuate as markets adjust to any import prohibitions. Each entry will require a DS-2031. The annual burden is estimated at 1,666 hours, based on a burden of 10 minutes.

13. The cost burden to respondents is de minimus. Each respondent submits an average of 3 responses per year.

14. The Department estimates that the annual cost of this information collection to the Federal Government is $150. This based upon estimated Personnel costs: 10 hrs. @$15.00/hr = $150.00

15. No program changes or adjustments are being reported in items 13 or 14 of the OMB Form 83-I.

16. No publication of the information to be collected by the DS-2031 is planned.

17. Not applicable. The Department will display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection.

18. The Department is not requesting any exception to the certification statement identified in item 19 of OMB Form 83-I.

B. STATISTICAL METHODS

This collection does not employ statistical methods.

Justification of DS-2031

"U.S. Department of State

Shrimp Exporter's/Importer's Declaration"

The DS-2031 is necessary for the certification that shipments of shrimp exported to the U.S. have been harvested in a manner which does not harm sea turtles, pursuant to Section 609 of P.L. 101-162. The Department of State has established guidelines that require, as of May 1, 1996, each shipment of shrimp shipped to the U.S. to have a copy of this form, signed by the exporter and, under certain circumstances, a government official of the harvesting country. Without this form, shrimp shipments may not enter the U.S. Shrimp imports are valued at an estimated $2.5 billion annually.