[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 163 (Thursday, August 22, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52209-52211]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-20440]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management,
Fish and Wildlife Service
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-VRP-09328; PXXVPADO515]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Proposed Fee Schedule for Commercial Filming and Still
Photography Permits
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Interior; Forest Service,
Agriculture.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for public comment.
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SUMMARY: The Department of the Interior and the Department of
Agriculture propose to adopt a fee schedule for commercial filming and
still photography conducted on public lands under their jurisdiction.
The proposed fee schedule would establish land-use fees for commercial
filming and still photography that are consistent for the National Park
Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land
Management and U.S. Forest Service. The fees would be based on sound
business management principles and would provide a fair return to the
United States, as required in the law.
DATES: Written comments will be accepted until September 23, 2013.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
Email: location_fee_notice_2013@nps.gov; put
``Commercial Filming Fee Schedule'' in the subject line.
[[Page 52210]]
Mail: Lee Dickinson, Special Park Uses Program Manager,
National Park Service, 1849 C Street NW., ORG CODE 2460, Washington, DC
20240.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lee Dickinson, National Park Service
at 202-513-7092 or by email at lee_dickinson@nps.gov. Individuals who
use telecommunication devices for the deaf may call the Federal
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to contact the above
named individual during normal business hours. The FIRS is available 24
hours a day, 7 days a week. You will receive a reply during normal
business hours.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Public Law 106-206 (16 U.S.C. 460l-6d)
directs the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture to establish a
reasonable land-use fee for commercial filming and still photography
conducted on lands under their jurisdiction. The law also directs the
agencies to recover all costs incurred in connection with commercial
filming activity. The Department of the Interior (DOI) is publishing in
today's Federal Register regulations that implement these requirements
of the law. The fee schedule that we are proposing in this notice would
establish the amounts of the fees charged by DOI agencies under 43 CFR
5.8(a) and would provide a fair return to the United States for the use
of federal lands. The fee does not recover administrative costs, which
are collected separately.
Public Law 106-206 states that fees must be based on several
criteria, including:
1. The number of days the commercial filming or still photography
takes place on federal land.
2. The size of the film crew present on federal land.
3. The amount and type of equipment present on federal land.
As used in this notice, the term commercial filming means the film,
electronic, magnetic, digital or other recording of a moving image by a
person, business, or other entity for a market audience with the intent
of generating income. Examples include, but are not limited to feature
film, video, television broadcast, documentary, or similar projects.
Commercial filming may include the advertisement of a product or
service and/or the use of actors, models, sets, or props.
Still photography conducted on lands managed by the Department of
the Interior (DOI) or the Forest Service (USFS) requires a permit when
it involves models or props that are not a part of the site's natural
or cultural resources or administrative facilities, or when it takes
place at a location where members of the public generally are not
allowed, or where additional administrative costs are likely. The land-
use fee for still photography would apply only to still photography
that requires a permit.
Background
On December 14, 2000, the National Park Service (NPS) published a
notice in the Federal Register (65 FR 78186) requesting public comments
on a proposed land-use fee schedule for commercial filming and still
photography for all units of the National Park System. The NPS received
34 comments from the public on the proposed fee schedule.
In general, respondents stated that charging a fee for each person
was confusing and that the proposed fees were too high. There were
additional comments on the proposed implementation of the schedule.
Respondents proposed charging less for still photography than for
commercial filming and proposed charging only one fee per day,
regardless of how many different sites were used, rather than a fee per
day per location, as proposed by the NPS.
Shortly after the public comment period closed, DOI decided to
develop a regulation establishing a single land-use fee schedule for
commercial filming and still photography for all DOI agencies. DOI
created a task force to develop the fee schedule that included
personnel from the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, and the NPS. Representatives from DOI's Office of the
Solicitor and the Forest Service also served on the task force. To
enhance consistency in management of federal lands, DOI and the Forest
Service both anticipated that the Forest Service would adopt the same
land-use fee schedule for commercial filming and still photography.
The task force used the proposed NPS land-use fee schedule as a
starting point for the Departmental fee schedule for commercial filming
and still photography and considered the comments received on the NPS
proposed fee schedule. Task force members requested information from
state, local, and tribal land management agencies and privately owned
cultural institutions about land-use fees they charge for commercial
filming and still photography. A task force member attended the
Association of Film Commissioners International Location ``Expo'' to
discuss with state and location film commissioners the land use fees
they charge for commercial filming and still photography. A task force
member also spoke with representatives of the film and photography
industry about their experience with land use fees.
The task force developed separate land-use fee schedules for
commercial filming and still photography permits. The task force
modified the NPS proposed land-use fee schedule to establish different
fee categories for each schedule based on the number of people engaging
in commercial filming or still photography at a specific site and, in
the case of the category for 1 to 2 people, the amount and type of
equipment used.
A DOI economist conducted cost-benefit and Unfunded Mandates Act
analyses and a Regulatory Flexibility Act analysis of the NPS proposed
fee schedule that the task force used in creating the proposed fee
schedules. These analyses are available on-lineat http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/NPS_Filming_Fees_BCA_FINAL.pdf or by contacting
Lee Dickinson, NPS Special Park Uses Program Manager, at lee_dickinson@nps.gov or 202-513-7092.
Proposed Fee Schedules
Commercial filming land-use fee schedule
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Number of people Fee
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1-3, camera and tripod only............... $10/day or $250/month
1-5, more than a camera and tripod........ 75/day
6-10...................................... 150/day
11-30..................................... 350/day
31-50..................................... 650/day
51-70..................................... 1,000/day
over 70................................... 1,500/day
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Still photography land-use fee schedule
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Number of people Fee
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1-3, camera and tripod only............... $10/day or $250/month
1-5, more than a camera and tripod........ 50/day
6-10...................................... 100/day
11-20..................................... 200/day
21-30..................................... 300/day
over 30................................... 450/day
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The land-use fee schedule would be adjusted annually using the July
12-month, unadjusted Consumer Price Index-Urban (CPI-U), which measures
the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for
the 12-month period ending July 31 each year. Changes to the fee
schedule would be rounded to the nearest dollar.
[[Page 52211]]
No annual adjustment to the fee schedule would exceed five percent.
When the annual change to the CPI-U results in an annual adjustment of
more than five percent, we would add the portion of the adjustment
exceeding five percent to the following year's schedule.
Each year we would publish the revised land-use fee schedule in the
Federal Register by October 1, and the adjustments would become
effective the following January 1.
Jonathan B. Jarvis,
Director, National Park Service.
David Cottingham,
Acting Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Mike Pool,
Acting Director, Bureau of Land Management.
Thomas L. Tidwell,
Chief, U.S. Forest Service.
[FR Doc. 2013-20440 Filed 8-21-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-EJ-P