[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 184 (Thursday, September 23, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56990-56991]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E4-2344]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. 04-048-1]


Notice of Request for Emergency Approval of an Information 
Collection

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: New information collection; comment request.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
notice announces that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services 
has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget a request for 
emergency review and approval of an information collection associated 
with a national animal identification system.

DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before 
October 3, 2004.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
    Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Please send four copies of your 
comment (an original and three copies) to Docket No. 04-048-1 
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. 04-048-1.
    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. 04-048-1'' on the subject line.
    Agency Web Site: Go to http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/cominst.html for a form you can use to submit an e-mail comment through 
the APHIS Web site.
    Reading Room: 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.
    Other Information: You may view APHIS documents published in the 
Federal Register and related information, including the names of groups 
and individuals who have commented on APHIS dockets, on the Internet at 
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/webrepor.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the national animal 
identification system, contact Mr. Neil Hammerschmidt, Animal 
Identification Coordinator, Eradication and Surveillance Team, National 
Center for Animal Health Programs, VS, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 43, 
Riverdale, MD 20737; (301) 734-5571, or Dr. John Wiemers, National 
Animal Identification Coordinator, Eradication and Surveillance Team, 
National Center for Animal Health Programs, VS, APHIS, 2100 S. Lake 
Storey Road, Galesburg, IL 61401; (309) 344-1942. For copies of more 
detailed information on the information collection, contact Mrs. 
Celeste Sickles, APHIS' Information Collection Coordinator, at (301) 
734-7477.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: National Animal Identification System.
    OMB Number: 0579-XXXX.
    Type of Request: Emergency approval of a new information 
collection.
    Abstract: The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of 
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulates the importation and 
interstate movement of animals and animal products and conducts various 
other activities to protect the health of our Nation's livestock and 
poultry.
    Animal disease outbreaks around the globe over the past decade, and 
the detection of an imported cow infected with bovine spongiform 
encephalopathy in Washington State in December 2003, have intensified 
the public interest in developing a national animal identification 
program for the purpose of protecting animal health.
    Fundamental to controlling any disease threat, foreign or domestic, 
to the Nation's animal resources is to have a system that can identify 
individual animals or groups, the premises where they are located, and 
the date of entry to each premises. Further, in order to achieve 
optimal success in controlling or eradicating an animal health threat, 
the timely retrieval of this information and implementation of 
intervention strategies after confirmation of a disease outbreak is 
necessary.
    While there is currently no nationwide animal identification system 
in the United States for all animals of a given species, some segments 
of certain species are required to be identified as part of current 
program disease eradication activities. In addition, some significant 
regional voluntary identification programs are in place, and others are 
currently being developed and tested.
    A national animal identification system, being implemented by USDA 
at present on a voluntary basis, is intended to identify all livestock, 
as well as record their movements over the course of their lifespans. 
USDA's goal is to create an effective, uniform, consistent, and 
efficient national system that, when fully implemented, will allow 
traces to be completed within 48 hours of detection of a disease, 
ensuring rapid containment of the disease.
    This program will involve a number of information collection and 
recordkeeping activities including nonproducer participant, individual 
animal, and animal group identifications; premises identifications; 
individual transaction records; and group/lot movement records. APHIS 
has submitted a request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for emergency approval of the information collection activities 
associated with the national animal identification system.
    Please send written comments on the emergency approval request to 
the following addresses: (1) Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, OMB, Attention: Desk Officer for APHIS, Washington, DC 20503; 
and (2) Docket No. 04-048-1, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, 
APHIS, Station 3C71, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-
1238. Please state that your comments refer to Docket No. 04-048-1 and 
send your comments within 10 days of publication of this notice. All 
comments will become a matter of public record.
    The purpose of this notice is to solicit comments from the public 
(as well as affected agencies) concerning our information collection. 
These comments will help us:
    (1) Evaluate whether the collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the functions of the Agency, including 
whether the information will have practical utility;
    (2) Evaluate the accuracy of our estimate of the burden of the 
information collection, including the validity of the methodology and 
assumptions used;
    (3) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected; and
    (4) Minimize the burden of the information collection on those who 
are

[[Page 56991]]

to respond, through use, as appropriate, of automated, electronic, 
mechanical, and other collection technologies, e.g., permitting 
electronic submission of responses.
    Estimate of burden; Public reporting burden for this collection of 
information is estimated to average 0.1911198 hours per response.
    Respondents: State animal health authorities; federally recognized 
tribal governments; owner/operators of feedlots, markets, buying 
stations, and slaughter plants; producers; and nonproducer 
participants, such as accredited veterinarians, animal identification 
(ID) number managers (individuals or firms responsible for assigning 
animal ID numbers to producers), animal identification ID companies 
(companies that manufacture animal identification tags, microchips, or 
other animal ID devices), third party service providers (companies that 
provide herd management, dairy herd improvement, genetic evaluation, 
and other services to producers), and diagnostic laboratories and 
livestock buyers/dealers who submit data to the national database.
    Estimated annual number of respondents: 495,055.
    Estimated annual number of responses per respondent: 10.0991.
    Estimated annual number of responses: 4,999,610.
    Estimated total annual burden on respondents: 505,560 hours. (Due 
to averaging, the total annual burden hours may not equal the product 
of the annual number of responses multiplied by the reporting burden 
per response.)

    Done in Washington, DC, this 17th day of September 2004.
Kevin Shea,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. E4-2344 Filed 9-22-04; 8:45 am]
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