[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 76 (Thursday, April 21, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20733-20734]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-1881]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. 04-081-1]


Notice of Availability of Draft Document Concerning the 
Identification of EU Administrative Units

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that a draft document has been 
prepared by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service that 
identifies the smallest administrative jurisdictions within 11 Member 
States of the European Union that we would consider ``regions'' in the 
event of future animal disease outbreaks. The draft document refers to 
these jurisdictions as ``administrative units'' and also reevaluates 
the administrative units already identified for Italy. We are making 
this draft document available to the public for review and comment.

DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before June 
20, 2005.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
    EDOCKET: Go to http://www.epa.gov/feddocket to submit or view 
public comments, access the index listing of the contents of the 
official public docket, and to access those documents in the public 
docket that are available electronically. Once you have entered 
EDOCKET, click on the ``View Open APHIS Dockets'' link to locate this 
document.
    Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Please send four copies of your 
comment (an original and three copies) to Docket No. 04-081-1, 
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. 04-081-1.
    Reading Room: You may read the draft document and any comments we 
receive on the draft document in the 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.
    You may request a copy of the draft document by calling or writing 
to the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. The draft 
document is also available on the Internet. Instructions for accessing 
the draft document on the Internet are provided below under 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
    Other Information: You may view APHIS documents published in the 
Federal Register and related information on the Internet at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/webrepor.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Chip Wells, Senior Staff 
Veterinarian, Regionalization Evaluation Services Staff, National 
Center for Import and Export, VS, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 38, 
Riverdale, MD 20737-1231; (301) 734-4356.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the 
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) 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, among other things, 
amend the regulations regarding the importation of swine and swine 
products from a specifically defined region in the European Union (EU) 
consisting of Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Luxembourg, the 
Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and parts of Germany and Italy. 
Consistent with EU terminology, we refer to individual EU countries as 
``Member States.'' In proposing to recognize smaller ``regions'' within 
the countries of Germany and Italy as free of classical swine fever 
(CSF, which we referred to in the proposed rule as hog cholera), we 
chose to use the German ``kreis'' and the Italian ``Region'' because we 
considered them to be the smallest administrative jurisdictions that 
have ``effective oversight of normal animal movements into, out of, and 
within that jurisdiction, and that, in association with national 
authorities, if necessary, have the responsibility for controlling 
animal disease locally.''
    On April 7, 2003, we published in the Federal Register (68 FR 
16922-16941, Docket No. 98-090-5) a final rule that, among other 
things, amended the regulations to recognize a region in the EU 
consisting of Austria, Belgium, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, and 
parts of Germany and Italy as free of CSF. In the final rule, APHIS did 
not recognize France, Spain, or Luxembourg as free of CSF, as we had 
proposed to do in our June 1999 proposed rule. This was because CSF 
outbreaks had occurred in domestic swine in each of those Member States 
after the publication of the proposed rule and we had not identified 
the smallest administrative jurisdictions within those Member States 
that we could use as ``regions'' in restricting the importation of 
swine and swine products from less than the whole Member State.
    Following the elimination of CSF in domestic swine in France and 
Spain (April 26, 2002, and April 30, 2002, respectively), on November 
24, 2003, we published in the Federal Register (68 FR 65869-65871, 
Docket No. 98-090-6) a supplemental risk analysis which examined the 
risk of introducing CSF from the importation of swine and swine 
products from those two Member States. The supplemental risk analysis 
also identified the smallest administrative jurisdictions in France

[[Page 20734]]

and Spain that could be considered ``regions'' in each of those Member 
States.
    On April 20, 2004, we published in the Federal Register (69 FR 
21042-21047, Docket No. 98-090-7) a final rule that recognized France 
and Spain as regions in which CSF does not exist and affirmed the 
designation of the Commune in France and the Comarca in Spain as the 
smallest administrative jurisdictions within those Member States that 
we will use for regionalization purposes.
    We are giving notice that a draft document entitled ``APHIS 
Considerations on the Identification of Administrative Units for 
Certain Member States of the European Union'' is available for public 
review and are requesting comments on the draft document for 60 days. 
In the draft document we identify the smallest administrative 
jurisdictions in 11 Member States that we would use to regionalize 
those Member States in the event of future animal disease outbreaks. As 
discussed in the draft document, we believe that each of those 
jurisdictions is the smallest that can be demonstrated to have 
effective oversight of normal animal movements into, out of, and within 
that Member State, and that, in association with national authorities, 
if necessary, has effective control over animal movements and animal 
diseases locally. For the sake of convenience, the draft document and 
any future rulemakings will refer to these jurisdictions as 
``administrative units'' (AUs).
    The draft document designates AUs for 11 Member States within the 
EU region. These Member States are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, 
Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and the 
United Kingdom. Because APHIS considers the entire territory of 
Luxembourg to be the smallest possible administrative jurisdiction with 
effective control over animal movement and control of animal disease 
locally, the entire country of Luxembourg will be considered one AU. 
The draft document also reidentifies the AU for Italy as the Aziende 
Sanitarie Locali (Local Health Unit). In the event of an animal disease 
outbreak, APHIS could regionalize a Member State to the AU level 
specified in our draft document. Although addressed in the document in 
the context of the specific disease, CSF, the concept of 
regionalization to the AU level is not disease specific.

Accessing the Draft Document on the Internet

    The draft document may be viewed on the may be viewed on the 
EDOCKET Web site (see ADDRESSES above for instructions for accessing 
EDOCKET). You may request paper copies of the draft document by calling 
or writing to the person listed under FOR FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT. Please refer to the title of the draft document when 
requesting copies. The draft document is also available for review in 
our reading room (information on the location and hours of the reading 
room is listed under the heading ADDRESSES at the beginning of this 
notice).

    Done in Washington, DC, this 18th day of April 2005.
W. Ron DeHaven,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. E5-1881 Filed 4-20-05; 8:45 am]
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