(a) General. Original services shall be performed by the agency or field office assigned the area in which the service will be provided, except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section.

(b) Exceptions for official agencies to provide service—(1) Timely service. If the assigned official agency cannot provide service within 6 hours of a request, the service may be provided by another official agency upon approval from the Service.

(2) Barge probe service. Any official agency may provide probe sampling and inspection service for barge-lots of grain with no restrictions due to geographical locations.

(3) Written agreement. If the assigned official agency agrees in writing with the adjacent official agency to waive the current geographic area restriction at the request of the applicant for service, the adjacent official agency may provide service at a particular location upon providing written notice to the Service, and the Service determines that the written agreement conforms to the provisions in the Act.

(c) Interim service at other than export port locations. If the assigned official agency is not available on a regular basis to provide original services, and no official agency within a reasonable proximity is willing to provide such services on an interim basis, the services shall be provided by authorized employees of the Secretary, or other persons licensed by the Secretary, until the services can be provided on a regular basis by an official agency, as provided in §800.196.

[68 FR 19139, Apr. 18, 2003, as amended at 81 FR 49862, July 29, 2016]