Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service May 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This is a notice to inform the public of six upcoming meetings to discuss stakeholder concerns related to the implementation of the National Animal Identification System. The meetings are being organized by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

We are giving notice of a meeting of the National Wildlife Services Advisory Committee.

We are amending the regulations to allow the importation of commercial shipments of fresh longan with stems from Taiwan into the United States. As a condition of entry, the longan will be subject to cold treatment and special port-of-arrival inspection procedures for certain quarantine pests. In addition, the fruit will have to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate stating that the fruit was inspected and found to be free of certain quarantine pests, and the individual cartons or boxes in which the longan are shipped will be stamped or printed with a statement prohibiting their importation into or distribution in the State of Florida. This action will allow for the importation of commercial shipments of fresh longan with stems from Taiwan into the United States while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests into the United States.

We are proposing to revise the phytosanitary treatment regulations in 7 CFR part 305 by removing the lists of approved treatments and treatment schedules from the regulations, while retaining the general requirements for performing treatments and certifying or approving treatment facilities. We would remove treatment schedules from other places where they are currently found in 7 CFR chapter III as well. Approved treatment schedules would instead be found in the Plant Protection and Quarantine Treatment Manual, which is available on the Internet. We are also proposing to establish a new process to provide the public with notice and the opportunity to comment on changes to treatment schedules. Finally, we would harmonize and combine the requirements for performing irradiation treatment for imported articles, articles moved interstate from Hawaii and U.S. territories, and articles moved interstate from an area quarantined for fruit flies. These changes would simplify and expedite our processes for adding, changing, and removing treatment schedules while continuing to provide for public participation in the process. These changes would also simplify our presentation of treatments to the public by consolidating all treatments into one document and eliminating redundant text from the regulations.

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 a wasp, Tetramesa romana, into the continental United States for use as a biological control agent to reduce the severity of Arundo donax infestations. 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.

We are advising the public that we have made changes to the area in the State of Idaho that is quarantined to prevent the spread of pale cyst nematode. The description of the quarantined area was updated on February 10, 2009, when approximately 2,721 acres were removed from the quarantined area and approximately 4,976 acres were added to the quarantined area.