[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 233 (Wednesday, December 5, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68554-68555]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-23524]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. APHIS-2007-0149]


National Animal Identification System; Updated Program Standards

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 we are making available for 
review and comment a revised version of the National Animal 
Identification System (NAIS) Program Standards and Technical Reference 
document. A previous Program Standards document was originally made 
available in May 2005. The revised Program Standards and Technical 
Reference document reflects the continuing evolution of the NAIS, 
particularly with regard to identification devices available for 
official use within the system, and provides further guidance to NAIS 
participants and other interested stakeholders.

ADDRESSES: The revised Program Standards and Technical Reference 
document is available on the Internet at http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/. The document may also be viewed 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Adam Grow; Director, Surveillance 
and Identification Programs, National Center for Animal Health 
Programs, VS, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 200, Riverdale, MD 20737-
1231; (301) 734-3752.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On May 6, 2005, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 
(APHIS) published in the Federal Register (70 FR 23961-23963, Docket 
No. 05-015-1) a notice advising the public that two documents related 
to the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), a Draft Strategic 
Plan and a Draft Program Standards document, were being made available 
to the public for review and comment. The Draft Program Standards 
document provided technical data standards to be used for information 
systems in the NAIS. Subsequently, a Draft User Guide for the NAIS 
replaced the 2005 Draft Program Standards, as well as other draft NAIS 
documents. We published a notice of availability of the Draft User 
Guide in the Federal Register (72 FR 4680-4681, Docket No. APHIS-2007-
0007) on February 1, 2007. The February 2007 notice also announced the 
availability of a technical specification document for animal tracking 
databases and an updated Program Standards and Technical Reference 
document.
    The Program Standards and Technical Reference document supplemented 
the User Guide and contained an update of the data element standards 
that were in the 2005 Draft Program Standards. It was targeted to 
entities that are involved in the administration of the program, 
including manufacturers of animal identification devices. At that time, 
only

[[Page 68555]]

the Cattle Working Group and the Equine Species Working Group had 
provided performance standards for APHIS to employ when approving 
devices for use in the NAIS, so the standards included only the 
recommendations of those groups. Since then, the Swine Working Group 
and the Sheep and Goat Working Group have also provided 
recommendations, and in October 2007, we updated the Program Standards 
and Technical Reference document to include information specific to 
those species and made some other changes. We are, therefore, now 
making available to the public for review and comment this newly 
updated version of the Program Standards and Technical Reference 
document. We will continue to solicit public comments and stakeholder 
feedback on the document through the NAIS Web site.
    Updates to the document include the following: (1) Adjustments to 
performance standards for identification eartags; (2) adjustments to 
printing standards for individual animal identification eartags; (3) 
the addition of printing standards for slaughter swine premises 
identification; and (4) the adjustment of our performance standards for 
radio frequency identification (RFID) injectable transponders to allow 
for the potential use of alternate International Organization for 
Standardization (ISO) or U.S.-based technology standards. These updates 
are discussed in more detail below.

Performance Standards for Identification Eartags

    In the February 2007 Program Standards and Technical Reference 
document, we included a table outlining performance standards for 
identification eartags. These standards focused on cattle, since the 
Cattle Working Group had provided performance standards and since 
cattle were the primary species using NAIS identification at that time. 
We have now updated the performance standards for ``Readability'' and 
``Tag loss rates'' to include information specific to sheep and goats 
and swine. For readability, we have added a note indicating that, for 
swine, the premises identification number (PIN) must also be easily and 
reliably readable. For tag loss rates, we have specified separate 
performance requirements for cattle (noting that the requirements for 
cattle should be used for all other species not specified in the 
table), sheep and goats, and swine. Due to the addition of eartag 
identification performance standards for species other than cattle, we 
have also changed the title of the table from ``Identification Eartag'' 
to ``Performance Standards for Identification Eartags for all Species 
that use Eartags.''

Printing Standards for Eartags

    In the February 2007 Program Standards and Technical Reference 
document, we included a table containing printing standards for 
identification eartags. As with the performance standards discussed 
above, the printing standards focused on cattle, since the Cattle 
Working Group had provided standards and since cattle were the primary 
species using NAIS identification at that time. We have now updated 
those standards to address the needs for unique, individual animal 
identification for sheep and goats and swine. Specifically, we have 
provided for the following options: (1) The use of smaller print sizes 
for the U.S. Shield, numbers, and letters, if needed, on tags for sheep 
and goats; (2) the inclusion of an eight-character series in the 
National Uniform Eartagging System, in addition to the current nine-
character series, to accommodate the need for smaller eartags in 
smaller species such as swine and sheep; (3) the continuing use of a 
PIN plus an individual animal number unique to the premises for swine 
as an alternative to the animal identification number (AIN); and (4) 
the use of a number issued by the scrapie program consisting of a flock 
identification number (FIN) plus an individual animal number unique to 
the flock for sheep and goats as an alternative to the AIN. We have 
also changed the title of the table from ``Printing Standards for 
Eartags'' to ``Printing Standards for Individual Animal ID Eartags'' to 
differentiate these standards for ``individual animal identification'' 
eartags from the standards for ``premises identification'' eartags for 
slaughter swine. Slaughter swine do not require unique, individual 
animal identification.

Printing Standards for Slaughter Swine Premises Identification

    The Swine Working Group recently provided recommendations related 
to printing standards necessary for official identification for 
slaughter swine premises identification. This updated October 2007 
Program Standards and Technical Reference document now provides a 
table, directly following the ``Printing Standards for Individual 
Animal ID Eartags'' table described above, outlining the printing 
standards for slaughter swine premises identification eartags. The 
February 2007 document did not have such a table.

Adjustment to Performance Requirements for RFID Injectable Transponders

    The February 2007 Program Standards and Technical Reference 
document included a table outlining performance requirements for RFID 
injectable transponders, as recommended by the Equine Species Working 
Group. Continuing work with this group resulted in an application to be 
used by manufacturers of such devices to gain approval by APHIS for use 
in the NAIS. The application indicates that other ISO or U.S.-based 
technology standards might be approved for use by APHIS, so the ``ISO 
Compliant'' standard has been adjusted to read, ``All transponders must 
be certified by ICAR [International Committee for Animal Recording] for 
conformance with ISO 11784 and 11785, unless other ISO or U.S.-based 
technology standards are applicable to livestock and approved for use 
by APHIS.''
    Comments about the revised Program Standards and Technical 
Reference document or other aspects of the NAIS may be submitted to 
USDA through the NAIS Web site e-mail address: 
[email protected] or by mail to NAIS Program Staff, VS, 
APHIS, 4700 River Road, Unit 200, Riverdale, MD 20737.

    Done in Washington, DC, this 29th day of November 2007.
Kevin Shea,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. E7-23524 Filed 12-4-07; 8:45 am]
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