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

We are establishing regulations to restrict the importation into the United States of live fish, fertilized eggs, and gametes of fish species that are susceptible to spring viremia of carp, a serious contagious viral disease of carp. Cases of spring viremia of carp confirmed in the United States in 2002 and 2004, and since eradicated, have been linked to the unregulated importation of fish infected with the virus. This action is necessary to prevent further introductions of spring viremia of carp into the United States.

We are amending the regulations governing the importation of fruits and vegetables in order to allow pink and red tomatoes grown in approved registered production sites in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama to be imported into the United States. The conditions to which the importation of tomatoes will be subject, including trapping, pre-harvest inspection, and shipping procedures, are designed to prevent the introduction of quarantine pests into the United States. This action will allow for the importation of pink and red tomatoes from those countries in Central America while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests into the United States.

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the user fee regulations by adjusting the fees charged for certain agricultural quarantine and inspection (AQI) services that are provided in connection with certain commercial vessels, commercial trucks, commercial railroad cars, commercial aircraft, and international airline passengers arriving at ports in the customs territory of the United States. Prior to the interim rule, user fees had not been adjusted since October 1, 2001. Due to the events of September 11, 2001, and the resulting increased security concerns, a greater volume and variety of cargo entering the United States is being inspected. We determined that the fee adjustments were needed to recover the costs of this increased inspection activity and to account for routine inflationary increases in the cost of doing business. The adjusted AQI user fees cover fiscal years 2005 through 2010.

We are amending the regulations to allow untreated oranges, tangerines, and grapefruit from Mexico to be moved overland by truck or rail to Corpus Christi and Houston, TX, for export to another country by water. We are taking this action in response to requests by the port authorities of Corpus Christi and Houston, TX. We are also requiring that untreated oranges, tangerines, and grapefruit from Mexico transiting the United States for export to another country be shipped in sealed, refrigerated containers and insect-proof packaging and via routes that avoid citrus production areas. We are taking this action to provide additional protection against the possible introduction of fruit flies via untreated oranges, tangerines, and grapefruit from Mexico that transit the United States.

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 mangoes from the Republic of the Philippines.

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 importation of Unshu oranges from Kyushu Island, Honshu Island, and Shikoku Island, Japan.

We are notifying the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has received a petition from In Defense of Animals requesting that we issue an interpretive rule or policy to clarify the space and living conditions required for captive elephants, and that we enforce the Animal Welfare Act and its implementing regulations by requiring that exhibitors fully comply with the regulations. We are soliciting comments from the public regarding the petition, and whether we should continue to regulate the handling, care, treatment, and transport of elephants covered by the Animal Welfare Act under the general standards in the regulations or promulgate specific standards for elephants. We are also requesting comments regarding what should be included in any such standards.

We are proposing to amend the regulations governing the importation of animal byproducts to require that untanned swine hides and skins from regions with African swine fever and bird trophies from regions with exotic Newcastle disease go directly to an approved establishment upon importation into the United States. We would also set out certain requirements for the importation of untanned bovine, deer, and other ruminant hides and skins into the United States from Mexico to prevent the spread of bovine babesiosis. These proposed requirements would provide for the importation of these articles under conditions intended to prevent the introduction of African swine fever, bovine babesiosis, and exotic Newcastle disease.

We are amending the citrus canker regulations to list the entire State of Florida as a quarantined area for citrus canker and to amend the requirements for the movement of regulated articles from Florida now that the eradication of citrus canker in Florida is no longer being carried out as an objective. We are also amending the regulations to allow regulated articles that would not otherwise be eligible for interstate movement to be moved to a port for immediate export. These changes are necessary in light of the Department's determination that the established eradication program was no longer a scientifically feasible option to address citrus canker.

We are proposing to amend the fruits and vegetables regulations to allow the importation into the United States of litchi, longan, mango, mangosteen, pineapple, and rambutan from Thailand. As a condition of entry, these fruits would have to be grown in production areas that are registered with and monitored by the national plant protection organization of Thailand, treated with irradiation in Thailand at a dose of 400 gray for plant pests of the class Insecta, except pupae and adults of the order Leipdoptera, and subject to inspection. The fruits would also have to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration stating that the fruit had been treated with irradiation in Thailand. In the case of litchi, the additional declaration would also state that the fruit had been inspected and found to be free of Peronophythora litchii, a fungal pest of litchi. This action would allow for the importation of litchi, longan, mango, mangosteen, pineapple, and rambutan from Thailand into the United States while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests into the United States.

We are amending the imported fire ant regulations by designating as quarantined areas all of 2 counties in Arkansas and all or portions of 21 counties in Tennessee. As a result of this action, the interstate movement of regulated articles from those areas will be restricted. This action is necessary to prevent the artificial spread of imported fire ant to noninfested areas of the United States.

We are establishing a herd certification program to eliminate chronic wasting disease (CWD) from farmed or captive cervids in the United States. Participating deer, elk, and moose herds will have to follow program requirements for animal identification, testing, herd management, and movement of animals into and from herds. After 5 years of enrollment with no evidence of chronic wasting disease, a herd may be granted ``Certified'' status. Owners of herds may enroll in a State program that we have determined has requirements equivalent to the Federal program, or may enroll directly in the Federal program if no State program exists. We are also establishing interstate movement requirements to prevent the interstate movement of deer, elk, and moose that pose a risk of spreading CWD. These actions will help to eliminate CWD from the farmed or captive deer, elk, and moose herds in the United States.

We are amending the Asian longhorned beetle regulations by removing the Oz Park area in Cook County, IL, from the list of quarantined areas and removing restrictions on the interstate movement of regulated articles from those areas. We have determined that the Asian longhorned beetle no longer presents a risk of spread from that area and that the quarantine and restrictions are no longer necessary. With this change, there are no longer any areas in Illinois that are quarantined because of the Asian longhorned beetle.

We are amending the regulations to add Denmark to the list of regions considered free of exotic Newcastle disease. This final rule follows an interim rule that removed Denmark from that list due to an outbreak of exotic Newcastle disease in that region. A recent risk analysis indicated that Denmark now meets our requirements for recognition as a region free of exotic Newcastle disease. This rule relieves certain restrictions on the importation of carcasses, parts or products of carcasses, and eggs (other than hatching eggs) of poultry, game birds, and other birds from Denmark into the United States.

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the brucellosis regulations concerning interstate movement of cattle by changing the classification of Idaho from Class Free to Class A. That action was necessary to prevent the interstate spread of brucellosis.

We are giving notice of meetings of the General Conference Committee of the National Poultry Improvement Plan and of the Biennial Conference.

We are amending the Japanese beetle quarantine and regulations to add the State of Iowa to the list of quarantined States. This action is necessary to prevent the artificial spread of Japanese beetle into noninfested areas of the United States.

We are advising the public that we have supplemented with an addendum the environmental assessment for a proposed field trial of pink bollworm genetically engineered to express green fluorescence as a marker. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) proposes to use this marked strain to assess the effectiveness of lower doses of radiation to create sterile insects for its pink bollworm sterile insect program. This program, using sterile insect technique, has been conducted by APHIS, with State and grower cooperation, since 1968. Data gained from this field experiment will be used to improve the current program. APHIS has supplemented its environmental assessment in order to evaluate a new location and new conditions for the field test. The addendum is available to the public for review and comment.

We are proposing to amend 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. The proposed changes were voted on and approved by the voting delegates at the Plan's 2004 National Plan Conference. These changes would keep the provisions of the Plan current with changes in the poultry industry and provide for the use of new sampling and testing procedures.

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 a certification program for imported articles of Pelargonium spp. and Solanum spp. to prevent the introduction of potato brown rot.

We are proposing to amend the regulations to add Namibia, except the portion of the country north of the Veterinary Cordon Fence (VCF), to the list of regions that are considered free of foot-and- mouth disease (FMD), and to add the entire country to the list of regions that are considered free of rinderpest. We are taking this action because we have determined that the region in Namibia south of the VCF is now free of FMD and the entire country is free of rinderpest. We are also proposing to add Namibia, except the region north of the VCF, to the list of FMD- and rinderpest-free regions that are subject to certain import restrictions on meat and other animal products because of their proximity to or trading relationships with rinderpest- or FMD-affected regions. This proposed action would relieve certain restrictions due to FMD and rinderpest on the importation into the United States of certain live animals and animal products from all regions of Namibia except the region north of the VCF. However, because we consider Namibia to be affected with African swine fever, classical swine fever, and swine vesicular disease, the importation of live swine and pork and pork products would continue to be restricted. In addition, because we consider Namibia to be affected with other animal diseases that are exotic to the United States, the importation of live ruminants and germplasm would also continue to be restricted. These actions would update the disease status of Namibia with regard to FMD and rinderpest while continuing to protect the United States from an introduction of those diseases by providing additional requirements for any meat and meat products imported into the United States from Namibia.

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 use of irradiation as a phytosanitary treatment of imported fruits and vegetables.

We are proposing to amend the regulations regarding the National Veterinary Accreditation Program to establish two accreditation categories in place of the current single category, to add requirements for supplemental training and renewal of accreditation, and to offer accreditation specializations. We are proposing these changes in order to support the Agency's animal health safeguarding initiatives, to involve accredited veterinarians in integrated surveillance activities, and to make the provisions governing our National Veterinary Accreditation Program more uniform and consistent. These proposed changes would increase the level of training and skill of accredited veterinarians in the areas of disease prevention and preparedness for animal health emergencies in the United States.

We are reopening the comment period for our proposed rule that would amend the regulations pertaining to certain garbage to provide for the interstate movement of garbage from Hawaii subject to measures designed to protect against the dissemination of plant pests into noninfested areas of the continental United States. This action will allow interested persons additional time to prepare and submit comments.