[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 194 (Wednesday, October 7, 1998)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 53783]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-26826]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

9 CFR Part 93

[Docket No. 95-054-3]


Importation of Horses

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Technical amendment.

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SUMMARY: We are making a technical amendment to the regulations 
regarding the importation of horses to restore a reference to vesicular 
stomatitis that was inadvertently removed from those regulations.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 7, 1998.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mrs. Kathy Holmes, Regulatory 
Coordination Specialist, Regulatory Analysis and Development, Policy 
and Program Development, APHIS, USDA, 4700 River Road Unit 118, 
Riverdale, MD 20737-1238; (301) 734-8682.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The regulations in 9 CFR part 93 (referred to below as the 
regulations) prohibit or restrict the importation of certain animals 
into the United States to prevent the introduction of communicable 
diseases of livestock and poultry. Subpart C--Horses, Secs. 93.300 
through 93.326 of the regulations, pertains to the importation of 
horses into the United States.

    (Note: At the time the final rules referred to in this document 
were published, the regulations described in the previous paragraph 
were located in 9 CFR part 92. However, on October 28, 1997, we 
published in the Federal Register (62 FR 56000-56026, Docket No. 94-
106-9) a final rule that redesignated part 92 as part 93. In 
describing the actions taken in the final rules, we will cross-
reference the former part 92 citations with their current locations 
in part 93.)

    In a final rule published in the Federal Register on August 23, 
1996 (61 FR 43417-43418, Docket No. 95-079-2), and effective September 
23, 1996, we amended Sec. 92.314 (current Sec. 93.314) by adding 
vesicular stomatitis to the list of diseases from which a horse's 
premises of origin and adjoining premises must be free before the horse 
may be imported into the United States.
    That same section of the regulations was amended again in a 
subsequent final rule published in the Federal Register on October 7, 
1996 (61 FR 52236-52246, Docket No. 95-054-2), and effective November 
6, 1996. In the October 1996 final rule, we amended the regulations by, 
among other things, organizing the undesignated regulatory text of 
Sec. 92.314 (current Sec. 93.314) into paragraphs (a) through (c). 
However, the text of the newly reorganized Sec. 92.314 (current 
Sec. 93.314) that we set out in the October 1996 final rule was the 
same text that had been included in our June 4, 1996, proposed rule (61 
FR 28073-28085, Docket No. 95-054-1), so it failed to reflect the 
August 1996 addition of vesicular stomatitis to that section. It was 
never our intention to remove that reference to vesicular stomatitis; 
indeed, no such change was discussed in the final rule or in the 
proposed rule that preceded it. Therefore, to rectify that error, we 
are amending Sec. 93.314(a)(4) (former Sec. 92.314) to restore the 
reference to vesicular stomatitis. List of Subjects in 9 CFR Part 93
    Animal diseases, Imports, Livestock, Poultry and poultry products, 
Quarantine, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
    Accordingly, we are amending 9 CFR part 93 as follows:

PART 93--IMPORTATION OF CERTAIN ANIMALS, BIRDS, AND POULTRY, AND 
CERTAIN ANIMAL, BIRD, AND POULTRY PRODUCTS; REQUIREMENTS FOR MEANS 
OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS

    1. The authority citation for part 93 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1622; 19 U.S.C. 1306; 21 U.S.C. 102-105, 
111, 114a, 134a, 134b, 134c, 134d, 134f, 135, 136, and 136a; 31 
U.S.C. 9701; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.2(d).


Sec. 93.314  [Amended]

    2. In Sec. 93.314, paragraph (a)(4) is amended by adding the words 
``vesicular stomatitis,'' immediately following the word 
``encephalomyelitis,''.

    Done in Washington, DC, this 30th day of September 1998.
Joan M. Arnoldi,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 98-26826 Filed 10-6-98; 8:45 am]
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