Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service July 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has received a petition from Westhoff Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH (Westhoff) seeking a determination of nonregulated status of petunias containing the A1 gene of maize (A1-DFR Petunias), which have been genetically engineered to add a new color (orange) and brilliance. The petition has been submitted in accordance with our regulations concerning the introduction of certain genetically engineered organisms and products. We are making the Westhoff petition available for review and comment to help us identify potential environmental and interrelated economic issues and impacts that APHIS may determine should be considered in our evaluation of the petition.

We are advising the public of our decision to authorize the importation into the continental United States of fresh raspberry fruit from Morocco. Based on the findings of a pest risk analysis, which we made available to the public for review and comment, we have determined that the application of one or more designated phytosanitary measures will be sufficient to mitigate the risks of introducing or disseminating plant pests or noxious weeds via the importation of raspberries from Morocco.

We are notifying the public that we propose to update the U.S. Department of Agriculture Plants for Planting Manual by recognizing 22 European Union Member States as being free from citrus longhorned beetle (CLB) and Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) and removing them from the list of countries where CLB and ALB are present. We would also change the entry conditions in the manual for imports of certain host plant taxa of CLB and ALB from four of these countries (Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) because they have previously approved genera exempted from the category of plants Not Authorized Pending Pest Risk Analysis. These changes would relieve certain restrictions on host plants of CLB and ALB from Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom while continuing to mitigate the risk of introducing quarantine pests into the United States.

We are advising the public that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and its sub-agency, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), are making available a draft environmental assessment for a conservation program pursuant to the Endangered Species Act to benefit the southwestern willow flycatcher, a small, neotropical migrant bird found in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah. The draft environmental assessment examines the environmental effects associated with the selection of the program alternatives and conservation measures that USDA and APHIS propose to implement. We are making the draft environmental assessment available to the public for review and comment.

We are advising the public that we added Bulgaria 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 Bulgaria as a result of the confirmation of HPAI in Bulgaria.