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

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.