[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 151 (Tuesday, August 8, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37043-37044]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-16675]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. APHIS-2016-0038]


Notice of Availability of an Evaluation of the Classical Swine 
Fever Status of Mexico

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that we are proposing to recognize 
Mexico as free of classical swine fever, subject to conditions in the 
regulations governing the importation of live swine, pork, and pork 
products from certain regions into the United States. We are proposing 
this action based on a risk evaluation that we have prepared in 
connection with this action and that we are making available to the 
public for review and comment.

DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before 
October 10, 2017.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2016-0038.
     Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to 
Docket No. APHIS-2016-0038, 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-2016-
0038 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, National Import 
Export Services, VS, APHIS, USDA, 4700 River Road, Unit 38, Riverdale, 
MD 20737-1231; [email protected]; (301) 851-3317.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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

[[Page 37044]]

to guard against the introduction of animal diseases not currently 
present or prevalent in this country. The regulations in 9 CFR part 94 
(referred to below as the regulations) prohibit or restrict the 
importation of specified animals and animal products to prevent the 
introduction into the United States of various animal diseases, 
including classical swine fever (CSF), foot-and-mouth disease, swine 
vesicular disease, and rinderpest. These are dangerous and communicable 
diseases of ruminants and swine.
    APHIS currently recognizes nine Mexican States as free of CSF: Baja 
California, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chihuahua, Nayarit, Quintana 
Roo, Sinaloa, Sonora, and Yucatan. Because of the proximity of those 
nine States to CSF-affected regions and/or other risk factors, however, 
their live swine, pork, and pork products may only be imported into the 
United States under the conditions specified in Sec.  94.32. These 
conditions include, among others, a requirement for certification by a 
full-time salaried veterinary officer of the national government of the 
region of export that the pork or pork products originated in a CSF-
free region, requirements that the pork or pork products be derived 
only from swine that were born and raised in such a region and never 
lived in a CSF-affected region, a prohibition against the comingling of 
the pork or pork products with pork or pork products that have been in 
an affected region, and a requirement that any processing of the pork 
or pork products be done in a federally inspected processing plant in a 
CSF-free region.
    The regulations in 9 CFR part 92, Sec.  92.2, contain requirements 
for requesting the recognition of the animal health status of a region 
(as well as 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, APHIS believes the request can be safely granted, APHIS 
will make its evaluation available for public comment through a 
document 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 document published in the Federal Register.
    Between 2007 and 2009, the Government of Mexico submitted a series 
of requests to APHIS seeking recognition of additional States as CSF-
free. The last of those requests, submitted in January 2009, after the 
Government of Mexico had declared that CSF had been eradicated in the 
country, was for APHIS to recognize all of Mexico as CSF-free.
    In response to these requests, we conducted a qualitative risk 
evaluation to evaluate the CSF status of the Mexican States not already 
recognized by APHIS as CSF-free. This evaluation included site visits 
to farms and diagnostic laboratories, as well as examinations of 
Mexico's capabilities with respect to veterinary control and oversight, 
disease history and vaccination, livestock demographics and 
traceability, epidemiological separation from potential sources of 
infection, disease surveillance, diagnostic laboratory capabilities, 
and emergency preparedness and response. The resulting risk evaluation 
document, ``APHIS Evaluation of the CSF Status of a Region in Mexico'' 
(referred to below as the ``2013 risk evaluation''), did not support 
CSF-free recognition of all of Mexico; however, it did support access 
to the U.S. domestic market under certain risk-mitigating conditions.
    Based on the findings of the 2013 risk evaluation, on July 29, 
2014, we published in the Federal Register (79 FR 43974-43980, Docket 
No. APHIS-2013-0061) a proposal \1\ to amend the regulations by 
recognizing a new APHIS-defined low-risk CSF region consisting of all 
Mexican States except the nine CSF-free States and the State of 
Chiapas, which we did not recognize as CSF-free.
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    \1\ To view the 2013 risk evaluation, the proposed rule, and the 
comments we received, go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2013-0061.
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    In February 2015, Mexico received notice that the World 
Organization for Animal Health (OIE) recognized the country as CSF-
free. Citing the OIE decision, the Government of Mexico then requested 
that APHIS suspend its rulemaking and instead continue evaluating 
Mexico for CSF-free status.
    In response to this request, APHIS reopened its evaluation of the 
CSF status of Mexico. This reevaluation incorporated findings from a 
2015 APHIS site visit report, along with updated surveillance data and 
information submitted by Mexico. These findings are documented in an 
April 2016 addendum to the 2013 risk evaluation.
    Based on improved conditions observed through the end of 2015, 
APHIS has determined that concerns identified in the 2013 risk 
evaluation that had supported the July 2014 proposed rule have been 
addressed and that conditions now support CSF-free recognition for all 
of Mexico. Additionally, our determinations support including the 
entire country of Mexico on the Web-based list \2\ of regions that are 
considered to be free of CSF but from which live swine, pork, and pork 
products may only be imported into the United States under the 
conditions specified in Sec.  94.32. As stated in the April 2016 
addendum to the 2013 risk evaluation, we consider the risk of the 
introduction of CSF into the United States via the importation of live 
swine, pork, and pork products from Mexico to be very low. We would 
note, however, that this determination applies only to Mexico's CSF 
status and that any existing restrictions on the importation of live 
swine, pork, and pork products from that country into the United States 
due to other animal diseases will remain in place.
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    \2\ The list is located on the APHIS Web site at: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth/animal-and-animal-product-import-information/import-live-animals/ct_classical_swine_fever_information.
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    Therefore, in accordance with Sec.  92.2(e), we are announcing the 
availability of our updated risk evaluation of the CSF status of Mexico 
for public review and comment. The risk 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 notice.)
    Information submitted in support of Mexico's request is available 
by contacting the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    After reviewing any comments we receive, we will announce our 
decision regarding the CSF status of Mexico and the import status of 
live swine, pork, and pork products from that country 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 2nd day of August 2017.
Michael C. Gregoire,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2017-16675 Filed 8-7-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-34-P