Department of Agriculture April 16, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We are amending the regulations governing the importation of clementines from Spain by removing from the regulations the number of clementines per consignment intended for export to the United States that are required to be sampled by inspectors of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). In place of this number, we will state in the regulations that inspectors will cut and inspect a sample of clementines determined by APHIS. By removing from the regulations the number of clementines per consignment from Spain to be sampled, we will have the flexibility to respond to changing risk levels while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests.

We are proposing to amend the regulations concerning the importation of fruits and vegetables to allow the importation of fresh bananas from the Philippines into the continental United States. As a condition of entry, the bananas would have to be produced in accordance with a systems approach that would include requirements for importation of commercial consignments, monitoring of fruit flies to establish low- prevalence places of production, harvesting only of hard green bananas, and inspection for quarantine pests by the national plant protection organization of the Philippines. The bananas would also have to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration stating that they were grown, packed, and inspected and found to be free of quarantine pests in accordance with the proposed requirements. This action would allow the importation of bananas from the Philippines while continuing to protect against the introduction of plant pests into the United States.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) finalizes the Common Crop Insurance Regulations, Fresh Market Tomato (Dollar Plan) Crop Provisions. The intended effect of this action is to provide policy changes and clarify existing policy provisions to better meet the needs of insured producers, and to reduce vulnerability to program fraud, waste, and abuse. The changes will apply for the 2013 and succeeding crop years.