NCC submitted a request to the secretary of agriculture for a 180-day extension to the implementation of the “Transparency in Poultry Grower Contracting and Tournaments” final rule. In late December, a growing chorus of bipartisan members of both the House and Senate made a similar request.

In the letter, NCC President Mike Brown listed several reasons NCC believes such an extension is necessary, including that:

• The rule establishes numerous additional disclosure requirements;
• Changes what provisions must be included in contracts;
• Introduces various open-ended and novel definitions and terms;
• Requires companies establish entire oversight systems from scratch;
• Injects significant ambiguity regarding compliance.

“By providing just 75 days to implement the rule, AMS has dramatically underestimated the number of people involved, hourly rates, and time required of compliance officers, regulatory consultants, attorneys, executives, and other services required to implement the rule,” Brown said.

Included in the request is a detailed list of many unanswered questions seeking clarification regarding the implementation of the rule. “Without AMS’s feedback on these questions, it will be extremely difficult for industry to prepare for the effective date of the Final Rule,” Brown said.

Source: National Chicken Council