[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 245 (Friday, December 20, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77959-77960]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-32059]


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 Notices
                                                 Federal Register
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
 or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings 
 and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings, 
 delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency 
 statements of organization and functions are examples of documents 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 67, No. 245 / Friday, December 20, 2002 / 
Notices  

[[Page 77959]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. 98-090-4]


Recognition of Animal Disease Status of Regions in the European 
Union; Availability of Environmental Assessments and Request for 
Comments

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: We are informing the public that the Animal and Plant Health 
Inspection Service has prepared two environmental assessments for a 
proposal to do the following: (1) Recognize a region in the European 
Union as a region in which hog cholera (classical swine fever) is not 
known to exist, and from which breeding swine, swine semen, and pork 
and pork products may be imported into the United States under certain 
conditions; and (2) recognize Greece and certain Regions in Italy as 
free of swine vesicular disease. The environmental assessments document 
our review and analysis of environmental impacts associated with the 
proposal. We are making these environmental assessments available to 
the public for review and comment.

DATES: We invite you to comment on the environmental assessments. We 
will consider all comments that we receive on or before January 21, 
2003.

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. 98-090-4, 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. 98-090-4. 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. 
98-090-4'' on the subject line.
    You may read any comments that we receive on this docket 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. Gary Colgrove, Assistant Director, 
Sanitary Trade Issues Team, VS, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 38, 
Riverdale, MD 20737-1231; (301) 734-8364.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the 
United States Department of Agriculture regulates the importation of 
animals and animal products into the United States to guard against the 
introduction of animal diseases not currently present or prevalent in 
this country. The regulations pertaining to the importation of animals 
and animal products are set forth in the Code of Federal Regulations 
(CFR), title 9, chapter I, subchapter D (9 CFR parts 91 through 99).
    On June 25, 1999, we published in the Federal Register (64 FR 
34155-34168, Docket No. 98-090-1) a proposal to amend the regulations 
by recognizing--with the exception of specified areas in Germany and 
Italy--the countries of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, 
Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain as a region in 
which hog cholera (classical swine fever (CSF)) is not known to exist, 
and from which breeding swine, swine semen, and pork and pork products 
may be imported into the United States under certain conditions.
    We also proposed to add Greece and eight Regions in northern Italy 
to the list of regions recognized as free of swine vesicular disease 
(SVD). Additionally, we proposed to add Greece and the eight Regions in 
Italy to the list of SVD-free regions whose exports of pork and pork 
products to the United States are subject to certain restrictions 
because those regions either supplement their national pork supply with 
fresh (chilled or frozen) meat of animals from a region where SVD is 
considered to exist, have a common border with such regions, or conduct 
certain trade practices that are less restrictive than are acceptable 
to the United States.
    In our proposed rule, we stated that we were preparing an 
environmental assessment in accordance with: (1) The National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 
seq.), (2) regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality for 
implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-
1508), (3) USDA regulations implementing NEPA (7 CFR part 1b), and (4) 
APHIS' NEPA Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part 372). We also stated 
that when the environmental assessment was completed, we would inform 
the public through a notice in the Federal Register that it was 
available.
    This notice announces the availability of two environmental 
assessments for public review and comment. They are titled ``Proposed 
Rule for Importation of Live Swine, Swine Semen, and Pork and Pork 
Products from Certain Regions Within the European Union, Environmental 
Assessment,'' dated October 2002; and ``Proposed Rule for Importation 
of Pork and Pork Products from Greece and Certain Regions of Italy, 
Environmental Assessment,'' also dated October 2002. The environmental 
assessments do not take into consideration any regions that had an 
outbreak of either CSF or SVD following publication of the June 1999 
proposed rule and for which, consequently, import restrictions due to 
CSF or SVD would not be removed.
    The environmental assessments may be viewed on the Internet at 
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/es/vsdocs.html. You may request paper 
copies of the environmental assessments

[[Page 77960]]

from the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. Please 
refer to the title of the environmental assessments when requesting 
copies. The environmental assessments are also available for review in 
our reading room (the location and hours of the reading room are listed 
under the heading ADDRESSES at the beginning of this notice).

    Done in Washington, DC, this 16th day of December 2002.
Peter Fernandez,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 02-32059 Filed 12-19-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P