The Nebraska Brand Committee is implementing a research fee for every new brand application that is submitted starting January 1, 2022. This fee will be a non-refundable $50 research fee in addition to the current $100 application fee that will then be returned if the requested brand(s) are not available.
Each application allows for up to 10 brand options and depending on the number of requested brands staff can spend up to a couple of hours to complete the analysis. NBC awards over 800 new brands annually which represents roughly half of the total applications received. With the staff time involved in researching applications, it was decided and included in LB572 to implement a non-refundable research fee that will help offset the cost of staff time used on rejected applications.
The new process will require two separate payments of a $50 research fee and a $100 brand application fee. The $50 will be required to research the brand conflicts and if approved the $100 application fee is to record and create the brand certificate. If it is not approved, the $100 fee will be returned with the rejection letter from NBC.
New this year will be an option on the form to have the Brand Recorder select an available brand for a producer. Should the 10 options conflict, the final option of being allocated an approved brand will be available using the same $50 research credit. A single symbol can be requested to be included which will be at the Brand Recorders discretion. The producer will be notified of the selected brand prior to final approval.
Also available in 2022 is a credit card authorization form that can be downloaded from the NBC website and used for payment and must accompany the application. Both application and authorization forms can be found at https://nbc.nebraska.gov/forms. Applications and authorization forms can be emailed to br[email protected], faxed in to (308) 763-2934 or mailed into NBC, 411 Niobrara Ave, Alliance NE 69301.
