[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 26 (Friday, February 7, 2003)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 6362-6363]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-3057]


 ========================================================================
 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
 the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
 notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
 the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
 
 ========================================================================
 

  Federal Register / Vol. 68, No. 26 / Friday, February 7, 2003 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 6362]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

7 CFR Part 319

[Docket No. 02-058-1]
RIN 0579-AB49


Flag Smut Import Prohibitions on Wheat and Related Products

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: We are soliciting public comment on whether and how we should 
amend the regulations regarding the importation of wheat and related 
items. Under these regulations, importation of wheat and related items 
from a number of countries and localities is currently prohibited to 
prevent the introduction of foreign strains of flag smut into the 
United States. We are considering easing restrictions on the 
importation of wheat and related articles from these countries and 
localities based on a recent risk assessment. After evaluating public 
comment on the issues presented in this document, we will determine 
whether to propose changes to our regulations.

DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before April 
8, 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. 02-058-1, 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. 02-058-1. 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. 
02-058-1'' 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Wayne Burnett, Senior Import 
Specialist, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 140, Riverdale, MD 20737-
1236; (301) 734-6799.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The regulations in ``Subpart--Wheat Diseases'' (7 CFR 319.59 
through 319.59-2, referred to below as the regulations) prohibit the 
importation of wheat and related items into the United States from 
certain parts of the world to prevent the introduction of foreign 
strains of flag smut and Karnal bunt. This advance notice of proposed 
rulemaking concerns only the prohibitions on flag smut. Flag smut is a 
plant disease caused by a highly infective fungus, Urocystis agropyri, 
which attacks wheat and substantially reduces its yield.
    Flag smut was first described in 1868 in Australian wheat fields. 
Affected plants within the growing crop are often severely stunted and 
produce excessive numbers of tillers. Unlike other bunts and smuts of 
wheat, flag smut does not affect the quality of harvested grain for 
feed or flour. Flag smut of wheat was first discovered in the United 
States in 1919, and a quarantine on wheat from countries having flag 
smut was put in effect. Until the 1930's, flag smut was a significant 
disease of wheat in the United States, but has recently been found only 
on wheat in the Pacific Northwest when seed is sown in late August and 
early September at depths of more than 2 inches.
    To address the risk presented by foreign strains of flag smut, the 
regulations prohibit the importation, except by the United States 
Department of Agriculture under a departmental permit, of certain 
articles from specified countries and localities. Specifically, the 
regulations prohibit the importation of the following articles of 
Triticum spp. (wheat) or Aegilops spp. (barb goatgrass, goatgrass):
    [sbull] Seeds;
    [sbull] Plants;
    [sbull] Straw (other than straw, with or without heads, that has 
been processed or manufactured for use indoors, such as for decorative 
purposes or for use as toys);
    [sbull] Chaff; and
    [sbull] Products of the milling process (i.e., bran, shorts, 
thistle sharps, and pollards) other than flour.
    The regulations also prohibit the importation of seeds of Melilotus 
indica (annual yellow sweetclover) and seeds of any other field crops 
that have been separated from wheat during the screening process.
    The countries and localities from which the importation of those 
articles is prohibited are listed in Sec.  319.59-2(a)(2) of the 
regulations. The listed countries and localities are: Afghanistan, 
Algeria, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bulgaria, 
Chile, China, Cyprus, Egypt, Estonia, Falkland Islands, Georgia, 
Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, 
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Moldova, Morocco, 
Nepal, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, 
Tajikistan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, South Africa, 
South Korea, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela.
    We recently evaluated the need for continuing the prohibitions to 
protect against foreign strains of flag smut. We are considering 
removing these prohibitions because a risk assessment we have prepared 
regarding flag smut indicates: (1) Flag smut exists in the United 
States in only two counties in the Pacific Northwest; (2) there is no 
evidence that foreign strains of flag smut differ genetically from 
strains present in the United States or that they pose more risk than 
domestic strains to wheat production in the United States; (3) we do 
not currently regulate the interstate

[[Page 6363]]

movement of domestic commodities from areas in the United States where 
flag smut exists; (4) because of temperature and moisture needs of the 
pathogen, flag smut occurs in the United States only in the Pacific 
Northwest and only when seed is sown under certain conditions; and (5) 
effective production strategies exist that minimize the effects of this 
disease on wheat. The pest risk assessment is available on the Internet 
at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/pra, or a copy may be requested by 
contacting the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    Under these circumstances, it does not appear that U.S. wheat would 
be at risk from foreign strains of flag smut if we remove the current 
prohibitions. Also, we believe that we are obligated to remove the 
prohibitions under the World Trade Organization Agreement on Sanitary 
and Phytosanitary Measures and the International Plant Protection 
Convention. These agreements require our import regulations concerning 
a specified plant or plant pest to be no more stringent than our 
domestic regulations concerning the same plant or plant pest. These 
agreements also require us to impose the least restrictive requirements 
consistent with our appropriate level of protection.
    However, simply removing the prohibitions related to flag smut 
could present a plant pest risk. The flag smut regulations have for 
many years prohibited the importation of wheat and related products 
from the countries and localities listed in Sec.  319.59-2(a)(2). As 
the prohibitions were put into place prior to our adoption of the pest 
risk analysis process, no risk assessment has been prepared to 
determine whether other plant pests associated with wheat and other 
products covered by the flag smut regulations are present in those 
countries and localities.
    We are weighing whether to continue prohibitions on wheat and 
related products from these countries, even if we remove the 
prohibitions related to flag smut, until a risk assessment can be 
completed that would evaluate the risk of those products introducing 
other plant pests. Also, we are weighing whether a similar risk 
assessment should be done relative to imports of wheat and related 
products from countries that are not currently covered by the flag smut 
regulations and that already ship wheat and related products to the 
United States. Although pest interception data has not indicated a 
problem with those imports, no risk assessment has been done to 
evaluate the risk of those products introducing other plant pests. 
Major exporters of wheat to the United States include Canada and 
Mexico.
    We invite comments on these issues. In particular, we are 
soliciting comments that address the following questions:
    1. Should we remove the current prohibitions related to foreign 
strains of flag smut?
    2. If we remove the prohibitions related to flag smut, are any 
lesser restrictions or safeguards necessary? If so, why, and what 
restrictions or safeguards would be appropriate?
    3. If we remove the prohibitions related to flag smut, should we 
continue to prohibit the importation of wheat and related products from 
countries and localities currently covered by the flag smut regulations 
until a risk assessment can be completed that would evaluate the risk 
of those products introducing other plant pests?
    4. If we require a risk assessment before allowing wheat and 
related products to be imported from countries now covered by the flag 
smut regulations, should we also require a risk assessment for wheat 
and related products from countries that are not currently covered by 
the flag smut regulations and that already ship wheat and related 
products to the United States?
    5. What would be the effects of any of these options on:
    a. U.S. wheat producers;
    b. U.S. consumers of wheat products; and
    c. Other interested parties in the United States, such as grain 
storage facilities, grain haulers, feed and flour millers, and seed 
companies?
    We welcome comments on these questions and encourage the submission 
of new options or suggestions.
    This action has been determined to be significant for the purposes 
of Executive Order 12866 and, therefore, has been reviewed by the 
Office of Management and Budget.

    Authority: 7 U.S.C. 166, 450, 7711-7714, 7718, 7731, 7732, and 
7751-7754; 21 U.S.C. 136 and 136a; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.3.

    Done in Washington, DC, this 3rd day of February 2003.
Bill Hawks,
Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs.
[FR Doc. 03-3057 Filed 2-6-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P