[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 159 (Friday, October 8, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60347-60348]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-22788]


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 Notices
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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 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 195 / Friday, October 8, 2004 / 
Notices  

[[Page 60347]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. 04-048-2]


Notice of Request for Emergency Approval of an Information 
Collection

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: New information collection; reopening of comment period.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced in the Federal 
Register that it had 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. That notice 
was published on September 23, 2004 (69 FR 56990-56991), and comments 
were due by October 4, 2004. This notice announces our intention to 
reopen that comment period for an additional 20 days beyond the date of 
this notice.

DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before 
October 28, 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.
    As a first stage of implementing a national animal identification 
system (NAIS), USDA has funded 29 State and tribal projects that will 
be conducted under cooperative agreements. States and tribes can use 
the funds to register premises, establish data transfer procedures, and 
conduct field trials or research in order to test and fine-tune 
identification technologies and collect animal movement data. 
Additional nonfederally funded projects may also be conducted. The 
pilot projects will help inform USDA's decisions about how to proceed 
with the animal identification initiative. USDA has also solicited 
public comment on this initiative through an advance notice of proposed 
rulemaking published in the Federal Register on July 14, 2004 (69 FR 
42288-42300) and has conducted a series of listening sessions across 
the country to discuss the development, structure, and implementation 
of the NAIS with livestock producers and other interested persons.
    USDA's ultimate goal for the NAIS is to gain the ability to 
identify all animals and premises that have had direct contact with a 
foreign animal disease or disease of concern within 48 hours of 
discovery. A functioning system will

[[Page 60348]]

also be crucial as USDA works to complete disease eradication programs 
in which States, industry, and the Federal Government have invested 
many years and millions of dollars. USDA is committed to developing a 
program that is tested both on the farm and in the livestock markets to 
ensure it is both practical and effective. USDA's technology-neutral 
position will allow industry to determine which animal identification 
method or methods are the most practical and effective for each 
species.
    APHIS has submitted a request to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for emergency approval of the information collection and 
recordkeeping activities that will be conducted under the State and 
tribal pilot projects discussed above. We have amended the estimate of 
burden shown in our initial notice to reflect only the time period that 
will be covered by the emergency approval.
    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 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 0.1404691 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: 189,963.
    Estimated annual number of responses per respondent: 1.2055189.
    Estimated annual number of responses: 229,004.
    Estimated total annual burden on respondents: 32,168 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.)
    APHIS will provide the Office of Management and Budget with a copy 
of all comments received on this notice. All comments will become a 
matter of public record.

    Done in Washington, DC, this 6th day of October 2004.
Elizabeth E. Gaston,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 04-22788 Filed 10-7-04; 8:45 am]
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