Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service February 18, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We are amending our regulations regarding the importation of wheat from regions affected with Karnal bunt. Our amendments, among other things, list such regions, as well as articles regulated for Karnal bunt; increase the flexibility of the regulations so that they provide more readily for the recognition of areas where Karnal bunt is not known to occur within regions where Karnal bunt is known to be present; describe conditions, including requirements for phytosanitary certificates, under which wheat and related articles from regions affected with Karnal bunt are imported into the United States; and specify cleaning and/or disinfection requirements for imported farm machinery and other equipment used to handle or store Karnal bunt- positive seed or host crops. The changes make our regulations regarding the importation of wheat and related articles from regions affected with Karnal bunt substantively equivalent to our domestic Karnal bunt regulations and make the former consistent with international agreements to which the United States is a party.