Notice of Proposed Revision To Import Requirements for the Importation of Fresh Fragrant Pears From China Into the United States, 15994-15995 [2019-07665]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
• Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 74 (Wednesday, April 17, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15994-15995]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-07665]


========================================================================
Notices
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings 
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings, 
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency 
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents 
appearing in this section.

========================================================================


Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 74 / Wednesday, April 17, 2019 / 
Notices

[[Page 15994]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. APHIS-2017-0103]


Notice of Proposed Revision To Import Requirements for the 
Importation of Fresh Fragrant Pears From China Into the United States

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: We are advising the public that we have prepared a pest risk 
analysis relative to the importation into the United States of fragrant 
pears from an additional area of production in China. Based on the 
findings of the analysis, we are proposing to authorize the importation 
of fragrant pears from this additional area of production in China and 
revise the conditions under which fragrant pears from authorized areas 
of production in China may be imported into the United States. We are 
making the pest risk analysis available to the public for review and 
comment.

DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before June 
17, 2019.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to https://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2017-0103.
     Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to 
Docket No. APHIS-2017-0103, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, 
APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-
1238.
    Supporting documents and any comments we receive on this docket may 
be viewed at https://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2017-
0103 or in our reading room, which is located in Room 1141 of the USDA 
South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC. 
Normal reading room hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, except holidays. To be sure someone is there to help you, 
please call (202) 799-7039 before coming.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Marc Phillips, Senior Regulatory 
Policy Specialist, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 133, Riverdale, MD 
20737-1231; (301) 851-2114.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the regulations in ``Subpart L-Fruits 
and Vegetables'' (7 CFR 319.56-1 through 319.56-12, referred to below 
as the regulations), the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 
(APHIS) prohibits or restricts the importation of fruits and vegetables 
into the United States from certain parts of the world to prevent plant 
pests from being introduced into or disseminated within the United 
States.
    Section 319.56-4 of the regulations provides the requirements for 
authorizing the importation of fruits and vegetables into the United 
States, as well as revising existing requirements for the importation 
of fruits and vegetables. Paragraph (c) of that section provides that 
the name and origin of all fruits and vegetables authorized importation 
into the United States, as well as the requirements for their 
importation, are listed on the internet in APHIS' Fruits and Vegetables 
Import Requirements database, or FAVIR (https://epermits.aphis.usda.gov/manual). It also provides that, if the 
Administrator of APHIS determines that any of the phytosanitary 
measures required for the importation of a particular fruit or 
vegetable are no longer necessary to reasonably mitigate the plant pest 
risk posed by the fruit or vegetable, APHIS will publish a notice in 
the Federal Register making its pest risk analysis and determination 
available for public comment.
    Currently, fragrant pear from China is listed in FAVIR as a fruit 
authorized importation into the United States, subject to phytosanitary 
measures. In summary, these measures require that:
     Fragrant pears may only be imported from China if they are 
grown in the Korla region of Xinjiang Province at a production site 
that is registered with the national plant protection organization 
(NPPO) of China.
     The fragrant pears must be produced from propagative 
material that has been certified as free of quarantine pests.
     Registered places of production are subject to pre- and 
post-harvest inspections.
     Fragrant pears must be packed in labeled cartons.
     Fragrant pears must be held in a cold storage facility 
while awaiting export.
     If the cold storage facility also stores fruit from 
unregistered production sites, the pears must be isolated from such 
fruit.
     Fragrant pears must be shipped in insect-proof containers.
     Each consignment must be accompanied by a phytosanitary 
certificate stating that the requirements listed above have been met 
and that the consignment has been inspected and found free of 
quarantine pests.
     Fragrant pears are subject to inspection at the port of 
entry into the United States.
     Fragrant pears must be imported under permit.
    APHIS received a request from the NPPO of China to allow imports of 
fragrant pears from an expanded production area that would include the 
Akesu region as well as the currently approved Korla region of Xinjiang 
Province. The request was for market access to the entire United 
States, comprising all 50 States and U.S. territories. In response to 
the request, APHIS prepared a pest list to evaluate the pests of 
quarantine significance that could follow the pathway of importation of 
fragrant pears from the Akesu and Korla regions of Xinjiang Province in 
China into the United States.
    In preparing the pest list, we discovered that our existing 
requirements for fragrant pear from China were based on a 1997 pest 
risk assessment (PRA) for all pear species from all of China, rather 
than limiting the assessment to fragrant pears from Xinjiang Province. 
In that same 1997 PRA, we also misidentified the fragrant pears as 
belonging to the species Pyrus sp. nr. communis, rather than the 
species Pyrus x sinkiangensis Yu. Our new pest list corrects these 
errors. The pest list identifies two pests of quarantine significance 
that could follow the pathway of importation of fragrant pears from the 
Akesu and Korla

[[Page 15995]]

regions of Xinjiang Province in China into the United States: 
Eulecanium circumfluum Borchsenius, a soft scale, and Euzophera 
pyriella Yang, the pyralid moth.
    Based on the pest list, a risk management document (RMD) was 
prepared to identify the phytosanitary measures that could be applied 
to the importation of fragrant pears from the Akesu and Korla regions 
of Xinjiang Province to mitigate the pest risk.
    We have determined that fragrant pears can safely be imported from 
the Akesu and Korla regions of Xinjiang Province subject to the 
following phytosanitary measures:
     The fragrant pears must be grown in the Akesu or Korla 
region at a production site that is registered with the NPPO of China.
     Registered production sites must have in place a 
production site control program approved by APHIS and the NPPO of 
China.
     The NPPO of China is responsible for ensuring that 
registered production sites are subject to field sanitation and that 
growers are aware of quarantine pests and control measures to be taken 
for their control. Such measures must be described in detail in an 
operational workplan approved by the NPPO of China and APHIS.
     Only intact fruits may be harvested for export and the 
harvested fruit must be safeguarded against quarantine pests from the 
production site until the consignment is shipped.
     Fragrant pears must be packed in a packinghouse registered 
with the NPPO of China.
     The packinghouses must have a tracking system in place 
that will allow for traceback of the fruit to individual production 
sites.
     Registered packinghouses are prohibited from packing 
fragrant pears destined for other countries while packing fruit 
destined for the United States.
     Packinghouse procedures must be in accordance with the 
operational workplan.
     Each shipping box must be marked with the identity of the 
packinghouse and grower.
     Each consignment of fragrant pears must be accompanied by 
a phytosanitary certificate issued by the NPPO of China attesting to 
place of origin (production site and region) and stating that all APHIS 
phytosanitary requirements have been met and that the consignment was 
inspected and found free of quarantine pests.
     Fragrant pears may be imported as commercial consignments 
only.
     Fragrant pears are subject to inspection at the port of 
entry into the United States.
     Fragrant pears must be imported under permit.
    Therefore, in accordance with Sec.  319.56-4(c)(3), we are 
announcing the availability of our pest list and RMD for public review 
and comment. Those documents, as well as a description of the economic 
considerations associated with the importation of fresh fragrant pears 
from the Akesu and Korla regions of Xinjiang Province in China, may be 
viewed on the Regulations.gov website or in our reading room (see 
ADDRESSES above for a link to Regulations.gov and information on the 
location and hours of the reading room). You may request paper copies 
of these documents by calling or writing to the person listed under FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. Please refer to the subject of the 
analysis you wish to review when requesting copies.
    After reviewing any comments we receive, we will announce our 
decision regarding whether to revise the requirements for the 
importation of fragrant pears from China in a subsequent notice. If the 
overall conclusions of our analysis and the Administrator's 
determination of risk remain unchanged following our consideration of 
the comments, then we will revise the requirements for the importation 
of fragrant pears from China in accordance with this notice.

    Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1633, 7701-7772, and 7781-7786; 21 U.S.C. 
136 and 136a; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.3.

    Done in Washington, DC, this 10th day of April 2019.
Kevin Shea,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2019-07665 Filed 4-16-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-34-P