[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 243 (Tuesday, December 18, 2012)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 74787-74788]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-30257]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 243 / Tuesday, December 18, 2012 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 74787]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
9 CFR Part 94
[Docket No. APHIS-2012-0094]
Notice of Availability of an Evaluation of the Swine Vesicular
Disease Status of Certain Regions in Italy
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of Availability.
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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that we have determined that the
Italian Regions of Lombardia, Emilio-Romagna, Veneto, and Piemonte and
the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano are free of swine
vesicular disease. This determination is based on our review of the
documentation submitted by the Government of Italy in support of its
request and the findings of our own animal health risk evaluation. We
are making our determination, as well as the evaluation we have
prepared in connection with this action, available for review and
comment.
DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before
February 19, 2013.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=APHIS-2012-0094-0001.
Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to
Docket No. APHIS-2012-0094, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD,
APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-
1238.
Supporting documents and any comments we receive on this docket may
be viewed at http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2012-
0094 or in our reading room, which 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) 799-7039 before coming.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Chip Wells, Senior Staff
Veterinarian, 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) 851-3089.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The regulations in 9 CFR part 94 (referred to below as the
regulations) govern the importation of certain animals and animal
products into the United States in order to prevent the introduction of
various communicable diseases, including swine vesicular disease (SVD).
These are dangerous and destructive communicable diseases of ruminants
and swine.
Sections 94.12 and 94.14 of the regulations contain requirements
governing the importation of pork and pork products and swine,
respectively, from regions where SVD exists in order to prevent the
introduction of the disease into the United States. We consider SVD to
exist in all regions except those listed in accordance with Sec.
94.12(a)(2) as being free of SVD.
Section 94.13 of the regulations contains requirements governing
the importation of pork or pork products from regions that have been
determined to be free of SVD, but that are subject to certain
restrictions because of their proximity to or trading relationships
with SVD-affected regions. Such regions are listed in accordance with
paragraph (a)(2) of that section.
The regulations in 9 CFR 92.2 contain requirements for requesting
the recognition of the animal health status of a region or for the
approval of the export of a particular type of animal or animal product
to the United States from a foreign region. If, after review and
evaluation of the information submitted in support of the request, the
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) believes the request
can be safely granted, APHIS will make its evaluation available for
public comment through a notice published in the Federal Register.
Following the close of the comment period, APHIS will review all
comments received and will make a final determination regarding the
request that will be detailed in another notice published in the
Federal Register.
In July 1997, the European Commission and the Government of Italy
submitted a request to APHIS seeking the recognition of certain Regions
in northern Italy (in Italy, a ``Region'' is a type of political
jurisdiction) as being free of SVD. We conducted a qualitative risk
assessment, and on June 25, 1999, we published in the Federal Register
(64 FR 34155-34168, Docket No. 98-090-1) a proposal to amend the
regulations in order to recognize eight regions in northern Italy as
free of SVD. However, before that rule was made final, SVD outbreaks
occurred in four of the eight Regions. Therefore, in the final rule
published April 7, 2003, in the Federal Register (68 FR 16922-16941,
Docket No. 98-090-5), APHIS recognized only those four Regions that
remained free of SVD (Friuli, Liguria, Marche, and Valle d'Aosta). In
the intervening years, we have continued our evaluation of the SVD
status of Italy, as is our standard procedure in cases where the
requesting country does not withdraw its request for recognition of
disease freedom. Based on information provided by the Italian
government as well as multiple site visits, we have now found four
Regions within north-central Italy (Lombardia, Emilio-Romagna, Veneto,
and Piemonte) and two autonomous provinces (Trento and Bolzano) to be
free of SVD.
APHIS has evaluated the risk of introducing SVD into the United
States via the importation of SVD-susceptible species or products from
these areas of Italy in accordance with 9 CFR part 92. Based on this
evaluation, APHIS has found that that the surveillance, prevention, and
control measures implemented by Italy in the four Regions and two
autonomous provinces under consideration as being free of SVD are
sufficient to minimize the likelihood of introducing SVD into the
United States via imports of SVD-susceptible species or products.
However, because of its proximity to or trading relationships with SVD-
affected regions, we have found that it is necessary to impose
additional restrictions in accordance with Sec. 94.13
[[Page 74788]]
on the importation of pork or pork products from the areas of Italy
under consideration for being declared free of SVD.
Therefore, in accordance with Sec. 92.2(e), we are announcing the
availability, for public review and comment, of our evaluation of the
SVD status of the Regions and autonomous provinces under consideration.
The evaluation may be viewed on the Regulations.gov Web site or in our
reading room. (Instructions for accessing Regulations.gov and
information on the location and hours of the reading room are provided
under the heading ADDRESSES at the beginning of this document.) The
evaluation, as well as the information evaluated, may also be viewed at
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/animals/reg_request.shtml by
following the link for ``Previous regionalization requests and
supporting documentation.''
After reviewing any comments we receive, we will announce our
decision regarding the disease status of the Italian Regions of
Lombardia, Emilio-Romagna, Veneto, and Piemonte and the autonomous
provinces of Trento and Bolzano with respect to SVD and the import
status of susceptible animals and products of such animals in a
subsequent notice.
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 450, 7701-7772, 7781-7786, 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 11th day of December 2012.
Kevin Shea,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2012-30257 Filed 12-17-12; 8:45 am]
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