Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We are amending the fruit and vegetable regulations to allow the importation of tree tomatoes from Ecuador into the continental United States. As a condition of entry, the tree tomatoes must be produced in accordance with a systems approach that includes requirements for importation in commercial consignments, registration and monitoring of places of production, field monitoring and pest control practices, trapping, and inspection for quarantine pests by the national plant protection organization of Ecuador. This action will allow the importation of tree tomatoes from Ecuador while continuing to protect against the introduction of plant pests into the United States.

We are amending the regulations that set out our National Environmental Policy Act implementing procedures. The amendments include clarifying the categories of actions for which we would normally complete an environmental impact statement or an environmental assessment for an action, as well as updating examples of categorically excluded actions and setting out an environmental documentation process that could be used in emergencies. The changes will serve to update the regulations and improve their clarity and effectiveness.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has prepared a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) and preliminary pest risk assessment (PRA) that evaluate the potential environmental impacts and plant pest risk associated with the proposed environmental release of genetically engineered Citrus tristeza virus. We are making the draft EIS and preliminary PRA available for public review and comment.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request a revision to and extension of approval of an information collection associated with the regulations for the protection of endangered species of terrestrial plants and for procedures related to the forfeiture of plants or other property.

We are advising the public of our preliminary concurrence with the World Organization for Animal Health's (OIE) bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) risk designations for four regions. The OIE recognizes these regions as being of negligible risk for BSE. We are taking this action based on our review of information supporting the OIE's risk designations for these regions.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request a revision to and extension of approval of an information collection associated with the regulations for the importation of clementines from Spain.

We are proposing to amend the fruits and vegetables regulations to allow the importation of fresh cape gooseberry fruit from Ecuador into the continental United States. As a condition of entry, fresh cape gooseberry fruit from Ecuador would be subject to a systems approach that would include requirements for establishment of pest-free places of production and the labeling of boxes prior to shipping. Fresh cape gooseberry fruit from non pest-free places of production would have to undergo approved cold treatment or irradiation. The fresh cape gooseberry fruit would also have to be imported in commercial consignments and accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the national plant protection organization of Ecuador certifying that the fruit has been produced in accordance with the systems approach. Fresh cape gooseberry fruit that does not meet the conditions of the systems approach would be allowed to be imported into the continental United States subject to treatment. This action would allow for the importation of fresh cape gooseberry fruit from Ecuador into the continental United States while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of plant pests.

We are proposing to amend the regulations regarding the branding of bovines imported into the United States from Mexico. We are taking this action at the request of the Government of Mexico to address issues that have arisen with the branding requirement for these bovines. The changes we are proposing would help prevent inconsistencies in branding that can result in bovines being rejected for import into the United States.

We are proposing to amend the regulations governing the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) by updating and clarifying several provisions, including those concerning NPIP participation, voting requirements, testing procedures, and standards. These proposed changes were voted on and approved by the voting delegates at the NPIP's 2016 National Plan Conference.

We are amending the fruits and vegetables regulations to list lemon (Citrus limon (L.) Burm. f.) from Chile as eligible for importation into the continental United States subject to a systems approach. Under this systems approach, the fruit will have to be grown in a place of production that is registered with the Government of Chile and certified as having a low prevalence of Brevipalpus chilensis. The fruit will have to undergo pre-harvest sampling at the registered production site under the direction of Chile's national plant protection organization. Following post-harvest processing, the fruit will have to be inspected in Chile at an APHIS-approved inspection site. Each consignment of fruit will have to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration stating that the fruit had been found free of B. chilensis based on field and packinghouse inspections. This final rule will allow for the safe importation of lemons from Chile using mitigation measures other than fumigation with methyl bromide.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request a revision to and extension of approval of an information collection associated with the regulations to prevent the introduction of gypsy moth from Canada into noninfested areas of the United States.

We are advising the public that we are making available for review and comment a revised version of the Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Herd Certification Program Standards. The CWD Program Standards provide guidance on how to meet CWD Herd Certification Program and interstate movement requirements. We are taking this action to address concerns of State and industry participants about the existing standards.

We are proposing to amend the regulations to allow the importation of fresh pummelo fruit from Thailand into the continental United States. As a condition of entry, fresh pummelo fruit from Thailand would be subject to a systems approach that would include irradiation treatment, packinghouse processing requirements, and port of entry inspection. The fruit would also be required to be imported in commercial consignments and be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the national plant protection organization of Thailand. This action would allow for the importation of fresh pummelo fruit from Thailand while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of plant pests into the continental United States.

We are restructuring the regulations governing the importation of plants for planting. In the new structure, restrictions on the importation of specific types of plants for planting will no longer be found in the regulations, but instead will be found in the Plants for Planting Manual. We will make changes to the restrictions in the manual after taking public comment through notices published in the Federal Register. As part of this restructuring, we are grouping together restrictions in the plants for planting regulations that apply to the importation of most or all plants for planting, and we are adding general requirements for the development of integrated pest risk management measures that we may use to mitigate the risk associated with the importation of a specific type of plants for planting. We are also amending our foreign quarantine regulations to remove various provisions regarding the importation of specific types of plants for planting that are not currently subject to the general plants for planting regulations; these provisions will also be found in the Plants for Planting Manual. This action does not make any major changes to the restrictions that currently apply to the importation of plants for planting. These changes will make restrictions on the importation of specific types of plants for planting easier for readers to find and less cumbersome for us to change.

We are amending the regulations governing the importation of plants for planting by authorizing the importation of Campanula spp. plants for planting from Denmark in approved growing media into the United States, subject to a systems approach. The systems approach will include measures that are currently specified in the regulations as generally applicable to all plants for planting authorized importation into the United States in approved growing media. This action will allow for the importation of Campanula spp. plants for planting from Denmark in approved growing media, while providing protection against the introduction of plant pests.

We are amending the regulations to clarify that the expiration date of a serial or subserial of a veterinary biologic should be computed from the date of the initiation of the first potency test. We are also requiring the expiration dating period (stability) of a product to be confirmed by conducting a real-time stability study with a stability-indicating assay, stability monitoring of products after licensing, and specifying a single standard for determining the expiration date for veterinary biologics

We are advising the public that an environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact have been prepared by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service relative to the release of the gall mite, Aceria drabae, for classical biological control of hoary cress in the contiguous United States. Based on its finding of no significant impact, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has determined that an environmental impact statement need not be prepared.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request a revision to and extension of approval of an information collection associated with the regulations for the importation of eggplant from Israel into the continental United States.

We are notifying the public of our decision to supplement our requirements governing the importation of fresh sweet orange, grapefruit, mandarin, clementine, and tangerine fruit from Colombia into the United States and are requesting public comment on these changes. We have determined that, in order to mitigate the current pest risks posed by the importation of these commodities from Colombia into the United States, it is necessary to supplement the phytosanitary requirements now in place with additional requirements. This action will help to protect the United States against plant pests while allowing the resumption of imports of fresh sweet orange, grapefruit, mandarin, clementine, and tangerine fruit from Colombia, which were suspended in 2016 due to the discovery of new plant pests in South America.

We are amending the regulations governing the importation of plants for planting to add orchid plants of the genus Dendrobium from Taiwan to the list of plants that may be imported into the United States in an approved growing medium, subject to specified growing, inspection, and certification requirements. We are taking this action in response to a request from the Taiwanese Government and after determining that the plants could be imported, under certain conditions, without resulting in the introduction into, or the dissemination within, the United States of a quarantine plant pest or noxious weed.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request a reinstatement of approval of an information collection associated with the regulations to prevent the introduction or spread of foreign plants pests and diseases into or within the United States.

We are advising the public that we are adding the Philippines to the list of regions that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service considers to be affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). This action follows our imposition of HPAI-related restrictions on avian commodities originating from or transiting the Philippines as a result of the confirmation of HPAI in the Philippines.

We are advising the public of our determination that Mexico is free of classical swine fever (CSF). Based on our evaluation of the animal health status of Mexico, which we made available to the public for review and comment through a previous notice, the Administrator has determined that CSF is not present in Mexico and that live swine, pork, and pork products may safely be imported into the United States from Mexico subject to conditions in the regulations.