[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 107 (Tuesday, June 4, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38465-38466]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-13921]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. 01-127-1]


Availability of a Study on Systems Approaches to Mitigating Plant 
Pest Risk

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that the National Plant Board, at 
the request of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, has 
prepared a study on the role for and application of systems approaches 
designed to guard against the introduction of plant pathogens into the 
United States on imported plants and associated

[[Page 38466]]

products. We are making this study available to the public for review 
and comment.

DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before 
August 5, 2002.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by postal mail/commercial delivery 
or by e-mail. If you use postal mail/commercial delivery, please send 
four copies of your comment (an original and three copies) to: Docket 
No. 01-127-1, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 
3C71, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. Please state 
that your comment refers to Docket No. 01-127-1. If you use e-mail, 
address your comment to [email protected]. Your comment must 
be contained in the body of your message; do not send attached files. 
Please include your name and address in your message and ``Docket No. 
01-127-1'' on the subject line.
    A copy of the study and any comments that we receive on it may be 
reviewed in our reading room. The reading room is located in room 1141 
of the USDA South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue SW., 
Washington, DC. Normal reading room hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except holidays. To be sure someone is there to 
help you, please call (202) 690-2817 before coming.
    APHIS documents published in the Federal Register, and related 
information, including the names of organizations and individuals who 
have commented on APHIS dockets, are available on the Internet at 
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/webrepor.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Alan K. Dowdy, Associate Director, 
Center for Plant Health Science and Technology, PPQ, APHIS, 1017 Main 
Campus Drive, Suite 2500, Raleigh, NC 27606; (919) 513-2400.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title IV of the Agricultural Risk Protection 
Act of 2000 (Pub. L. 106-224), known as the Plant Protection Act (7 
U.S.C. 7701 through 7772, referred to below as the Act), incorporated 
preexisting plant quarantine and related statutes into a comprehensive 
law aimed at, among other things, clarifying and augmenting the 
Secretary's authority to detect, control, and eradicate plant pests and 
noxious weeds.
    Section 412(e) of the Act directs the Secretary of Agriculture to 
conduct a study of the role for and application of systems approaches 
designed to guard against the introduction of plant pathogens into the 
United States on imported plants and associated products. A systems 
approach is defined in the Act as a defined set of phytosanitary 
procedures, at least two of which have an independent effect in 
mitigating pest risk associated with the movement of commodities.
    To conduct the study required by Sec. 412(e) of the Act, the Animal 
and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture (USDA) entered into a cooperative agreement with the 
National Plant Board (NPB), an organization of the plant pest 
regulatory agencies of each of the States and the Commonwealth of 
Puerto Rico, to carry out the study. The agreement directed the NPB to 
coordinate the project, to conduct the actual research, to prepare a 
report of the findings, and to provide overall leadership to 
participating scientists from State departments of agriculture, 
colleges and universities, the private sector, and the Agricultural 
Research Service of the USDA.
    The NPB has now given its final draft to APHIS. Before the 
Department presents its report on the results of this study to the 
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate and the 
Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives, as required 
by the Act, APHIS is making the study available to the public for 
review and comment.
    The study makes the finding that ``systems approaches are both 
scientifically and theoretically sound.'' In addition, the study notes 
that in every case in which a systems approach has been applied to 
date, it has ``facilitated trade and concurrently thwarted the 
introduction and establishment of unwanted plant pathogens.''
    The study recommends that APHIS use the process of systems 
engineering when developing systems approaches for importations of 
plants or plant products. Systems engineering has seven steps: 
Requirements development, concept development, full-scale engineering, 
system development, system test, system operation, and retirement and 
replacement.
    The first step, requirements development, involves defining the 
problem as the customer sees it; this is the critical step for 
stakeholder input. The study also recommends that APHIS strengthen its 
monitoring and verification of systems approaches.
    We invite your comments on the study. Please consider the following 
questions in your comments:
     What are the implications you see for import markets if we 
accept the NPB's recommendations?
     What are the implications you see for export markets if we 
accept the NPB's recommendations?
     Do you believe that there would be value in having APHIS 
use the systems engineering process recommended in the study to develop 
and evaluate a systems approach for a plant or plant product you wanted 
to import into the United States?
     Are there particular disadvantages to the use of a systems 
engineering process which would militate against its adoption?
     What are options for improved verification and monitoring 
of systems approaches?
     Are there other relevant issues that need to be addressed 
that are not discussed in the study?
    The study is available in our reading room (information on the 
location and hours of the reading room is listed under the heading 
ADDRESSES at the beginning of this notice) or on the Internet at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/. You may also request that a copy be mailed to 
you by registering at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/ or by contacting 
the person listed under

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you request that a copy be mailed 
to you, please specify whether you desire a printed copy or a copy on 
compact disk.

    Authority: 7 U.S.C. 7701-7772.

    Done in Washington, DC, this 29th day of May, 2002.
Bobby R. Acord,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 02-13921 Filed 6-3-02; 8:45 am]
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