[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 142 (Monday, July 26, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Page 44487]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-16926]



[[Page 44487]]

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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. 04-007-1]


Process for Foreign Animal Disease Status Evaluations; 
Availability of Informational Document

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health 
Inspection Service (APHIS) has prepared an informational document that 
describes the process APHIS follows when conducting foreign animal 
disease status evaluation, regionalization, risk analysis, and related 
rulemaking. We are making this informational document available to the 
public.

ADDRESSES: You may request a copy of the informational document by 
calling or writing to the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT. The informational document is being posted on the Internet as 
a public resource. Instructions for accessing the informational 
document on the Internet are provided below under SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION.
    Reading Room: You may also read the informational document 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.
    Other Information: 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. Anne Goodman, Supervisory Staff 
Officer, Regionalization Evaluation Services, Sanitary Trade Issues 
Team, National Center for Import and Export, VS, APHIS, 4700 River Road 
Unit 38, Riverdale, MD 20737-1231; (301) 734-8667.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture (the Department) regulates the importation of 
animals and animal products to guard against the introduction of animal 
diseases into this country. The regulations pertaining to the 
importation and exportation 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 October 28, 1997, APHIS published a notice in the Federal 
Register (62 FR 56027-56033, Docket No. 94-106-8) in which we informed 
the public we were adopting a policy of recognizing regions, and levels 
of risk among those regions, with regard to the importation of animals 
and animal products. That same day, we published in the Federal 
Register a final rule (62 FR 56000-56026, Docket No 94-106-9) in which 
we established procedures (1) for recognizing regions, and (2) by which 
regions may request permission to export animals and animal products 
into the United States under specified conditions, based on the 
regions' disease status.
    The procedures set forth in our October 1997 final rule are the 
procedures that we use today in accepting and evaluating requests for 
regionalization. When a chief veterinary officer (CVO) of a foreign 
region requests consideration for regionalization and permission to 
import animals and animal products into the United States, we ask that 
the request include information about the region's animal disease 
status, veterinary infrastructure, livestock demographics, and degree 
of physical or other separation from regions of higher disease risk. (A 
list of the topics for which we require information is included in the 
regulations in 9 CFR 92.2.) Using the information provided by the CVO 
of the region, along with information available to us from other 
sources, we use a science-based approach to evaluate whether such 
importations can be safely allowed, either with or without risk 
mitigation measures.
    As part of our process of considering a request for regionalization 
or other disease status recognition, we make available to the public 
the information upon which we conducted our evaluation. This 
information is posted to the APHIS Veterinary Services Web site and is 
discussed in any rulemaking documents we publish in the Federal 
Register regarding our evaluation of the request.
    However, until now we have not made available to the public a 
document that describes the way in which APHIS applies risk analysis to 
the decisionmaking process for regionalization. We believe that, in 
order for our evaluation process to be transparent to both domestic 
entities and individuals, as well as to our trading partners, a 
description of that process should be made available to the public. The 
purpose of this notice is to inform the public that such a document is 
available and may be accessed by several means (discussed below).
    The document, titled ``Process for Foreign Animal Disease Status 
Evaluations, Regionalization, Risk Analysis, and Rulemaking,'' 
describes the following:
     The process for initiation of an evaluation;
     The composition of the review teams that participate in 
various components of the evaluation;
     The role of site visits in evaluations;
     The types of risk analyses that are conducted and the 
situations in which different types of analyses are used;
     The assignment of responsibility for conduct of risk 
analysis;
     The basis for recommendations to APHIS management 
regarding requests;
     The regulatory process APHIS follows to seek public 
comment on recommendations to recognize regions and allow the requested 
importations; and
     Time considerations from initial request to final 
rulemaking.

Accessing the Informational Document on the Internet

    The informational document is available on the Internet at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/ncie/reg-request.html. At the bottom of that Web 
site page, click on http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/ncie/reg-request.html.

    Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1622 and 8301-8317; 21 U.S.C. 136 and 136a; 
31 U.S.C. 9701; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.4.

    Done in Washington, DC, this 20th day of July, 2004.
W. Ron DeHaven,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 04-16926 Filed 7-23-04; 8:45 am]
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