§150A-5.3 Inspection, quarantine, and eradication service fee and charge. (a) There is imposed a fee for the inspection, quarantine, and eradication of invasive species contained in any freight, including marine commercial container shipment, air freight, or any other means of transporting freight, foreign or domestic, but not including aggregate bulk freight, cement bulk freight, coal bulk freight, or liquid bulk freight, that is brought into the State. The transportation company shall bill the fee to the person responsible for paying the freight charges to the transportation company within fifteen days of the delivery of the freight. The fee shall be paid by the person responsible for paying the freight charges to the transportation company within forty-five days of receipt of the bill. The transportation company shall collect the fee from the person responsible and forward the payment to the department at the port of disembarkation within forty-five days of receipt of the fee; provided that the transportation company shall not be liable for any fee that is not paid by the person responsible for paying the freight charges to the transportation company.

The department shall deposit the fee into the pest inspection, quarantine, and eradication fund under section 150A-4.5.

(b) The fee shall be assessed and collected on the net weight of the imported freight computed on the basis of 75 cents for every one thousand pounds of freight, or part thereof, brought into the State. [L Sp 2007, c 9, pt of §1; am L 2008, c 16, §4; am L Sp 2008, c 3, §3; am L 2010, c 173, §5; am L 2011, c 36, §1]