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

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is seeking comments on the draft audit standard developed for its Biotechnology Quality Management System pilot project. The Biotechnology Quality Management System is a voluntary compliance assistance program designed to help regulated entities develop sound management practices, thus enhancing compliance with the regulatory requirements for environmental releases and movements of regulated articles in accordance with 7 CFR part 340.

We are amending the fruits and vegetables regulations to allow the importation into the continental United States of commercial consignments of fresh eggplant from Israel. As a condition of entry, the eggplant must be grown under a systems approach that includes requirements for pest exclusion at the production site, fruit fly trapping inside and outside the production site, and pest-excluding packinghouse procedures. The eggplant must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the Israeli national plant protection organization with an additional declaration confirming that the eggplants have been produced in accordance with those requirements. This action will allow for the importation of commercial consignments of fresh eggplant from Israel into the United States while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests.

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.

We are adopting as a final rule, with two changes, an interim rule that amended the regulations by quarantining parts of Bingham and Bonneville Counties, ID, due to the discovery of the potato cyst nematode there and establishing restrictions on the interstate movement of regulated articles from the quarantined area. As amended by this document, the rule refers to the nematode of concern, Globodera pallida, by the common name ``pale cyst nematode'' rather than by the name ``potato cyst nematode;'' allows the movement of Phaseolus spp. (beans) and Pisum spp. (peas) under the same conditions that apply to the movement of other crops to which soil is often attached; and requires that a protocol approved by the Administrator as sufficient to support removal of infested fields from quarantine, rather than a 3- year biosurvey protocol, be completed in order to remove an infested field from quarantine. We are also making minor, nonsubstantive changes. These actions will prevent the spread of the pale cyst nematode via potatoes, soil, and other host material to noninfested areas of the United States.

We are correcting an error in the rule portion of a final rule that amended the regulations concerning user fees for import- and export-related services that we provide for animals, animal products, birds, germ plasm, organisms, and vectors. The final rule was published in the Federal Register on March 30, 2009, and is effective on April 29, 2009.

In a final rule that was published in the Federal Register on April 1, 2009 (74 FR 14710-14719, Docket No. APHIS-2007-0042), and effective on May 1, 2009, we amended the National Poultry Improvement Plan (the Plan) and its auxiliary provisions by providing new or modified sampling and testing procedures for Plan participants and participating flocks. In that final rule, we amended a section in the Plan to include additional tests for avian influenza, but we neglected to amend the heading of that section to indicate that it now contains some tests that are not blood tests. This document corrects that error.

We are advising the public that an environmental assessment has been prepared by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service relative to a proposed rule that would add the Republic of Korea to the list of regions considered free of rinderpest and foot-and-mouth disease. The environmental assessment documents our review and analysis of environmental impacts associated with adding the Republic of Korea to the list of regions considered free of rinderpest and foot-and-mouth disease. We are making this environmental assessment available to the public for review and comment.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is holding an issue-focused public meeting on April 29 and 30, 2009, on its proposed rule, ``Importation, Interstate Movement, and Release Into the Environment of Certain Genetically Engineered Organisms.'' The April 2009 issue meeting will provide an opportunity for interested persons to discuss in a collaborative forum the key concerns that were raised during the comment period on the proposed rule with U.S. Department of Agriculture officials and with one another.

We are adopting as a final rule, with one change, an interim rule that amended the citrus canker regulations to explicitly prohibit, with limited exceptions, the interstate movement of regulated nursery stock from a quarantined area. The interim rule provided two exceptions to this prohibition, one that allowed nursery stock to be moved interstate for immediate export under certain conditions and another that allowed calamondin and kumquat plants to be moved interstate in accordance with a protocol designed to ensure their freedom from citrus canker. Our decision to provide for the interstate movement of calamondin and kumquat plants was based on their apparent resistance to citrus canker infection. However, since the publication of the interim rule, we have confirmed that 47 calamondin plants growing in an area quarantined for citrus canker were infected with the disease. Therefore, this final rule amends the protocol to exclude calamondin plants. The interim rule was necessary to clarify our regulations and

In a final rule that was published in the Federal Register on January 16, 2009 (74 FR 2770-2786, Docket No. APHIS-2007-0052), and effective on February 17, 2009, we revised the regulations governing the interstate movement of fruits and vegetables from Hawaii and the territories. Those regulations do not apply to articles whose interstate movement is regulated under the subpart governing the interstate movement of soil, sand, earth, and plants in growing media from Hawaii and the territories; we neglected to indicate that in the final rule. In this amendment, we are amending the regulations to clearly indicate that the interstate movement of soil, sand, earth, and plants in growing media is governed by the regulations specific to those articles.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection associated with livestock disease surveillance programs.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection associated with the Horse Protection Program.

We are amending the swine health protection regulations to clarify the applicability of the regulations regarding the treatment of garbage that consists of industrially processed materials. This interim rule makes clear that such materials are subject to the same treatment requirements as other regulated garbage, except for materials that meet the definition of processed product that we are adding to the regulations. This action is necessary to ensure that garbage fed to swine has been treated to inactivate disease organisms that pose a risk to the U.S. swine industry.

We are amending the regulations regarding the interstate movement of animals to add sheep and goats to the approved livestock facility agreement. Livestock facilities that handle sheep and goats in interstate commerce must meet the requirements for approval including complying with this agreement to utilize certain provisions in our scrapie regulations that reduce the movement requirements for sheep and goats moving to or from these establishments. Such facilities may include stockyards, livestock markets, buying stations, concentration points, or any other premises where sheep and goats in interstate commerce are assembled. Our approval will be contingent on the facility operator meeting certain minimum standards and other conditions related to the receipt, handling, and release of sheep and goats at the facility, as well as complying with certain animal identification and recordkeeping requirements. These standards and other conditions will serve, in part, to support our regulations relating to the interstate movement of sheep and goats in order to control the spread of scrapie, a serious disease of sheep and goats.

We are amending the regulations concerning user fees for import- and export-related services that we provide for animals, animal products, birds, germ plasm, organisms, and vectors. We are increasing those fees for fiscal years 2009 through 2013 in order to ensure that the fees accurately reflect the anticipated costs of providing these services each year. By publishing the annual user fee changes in advance, users can incorporate the fees into their budget planning.

We are amending the bovine tuberculosis regulations to establish two separate zones with different tuberculosis risk classifications for the State of New Mexico. The entire State of New Mexico has been classified as modified accredited advanced; however, all its affected herds are located in a small area along the State's eastern border. We have determined that New Mexico meets our requirements for zone classification. Therefore, we are removing New Mexico from the list of modified accredited advanced States, adding an area consisting of Curry and Roosevelt Counties, NM, to the list of modified accredited advanced zones, and adding the remainder of the State to the list of accredited-free zones. This action relieves restrictions on the interstate movement of cattle and bison from these areas of New Mexico outside of the modified accredited advanced zone in two counties.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection associated with regulations for the importation of tomatoes from certain Central American countries.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is holding a public scoping session for issue-focused public meeting(s) to be held in April 2009 on the APHIS proposed rule, ``Importation, Interstate Movement, and Release Into the Environment of Certain Genetically Engineered Organisms.'' The purpose of the scoping session is to discuss with all interested parties the agenda and format for the April 2009 issue meeting(s).

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has prepared an environmental assessment relative to the control of Russian thistle, Salsola tragus. The environmental assessment considers the effects of, and alternatives to, the release of a nonindigenous blister mite, Aceria salsolae, for the biological control of Russian thistle in the continental United States. We are making the environmental assessment available to the public for review and comment.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request approval of an information collection associated with the Ag-Discovery Program.