[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 152 (Wednesday, August 7, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64401-64402]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-17428]


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 Notices
                                                 Federal Register
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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 
 and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings, 
 delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency 
 statements of organization and functions are examples of documents 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 89 , No. 152 / Wednesday, August 7, 2024 / 
Notices  

[[Page 64401]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. APHIS-2023-0048]


Notice of Availability of an Evaluation of the Classical Swine 
Fever Disease Status of Costa Rica

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 
Costa Rica as being free of classical swine fever. This proposed 
recognition is based on a risk evaluation we have prepared in 
connection with this action, which we are making available for review 
and comment.

DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before 
September 6, 2024.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov. 
Enter APHIS-2023-0048 in the Search field. Select the Documents tab, 
then select the Comment button in the list of documents.
     Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to 
Docket No. APHIS-2023-0048, 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 regulations.gov or in our reading room, which is located 
in Room 1620 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. Rebecca Gordon, Senior Staff 
Officer, Regionalization Evaluation Services, Veterinary Services, 
APHIS, USDA, 920 Main Campus Drive, Venture II, 3rd Floor, Raleigh, NC 
27606; email: [email protected]; (919) 855-7741.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 animal diseases, including classical swine 
fever (CSF), a dangerous and communicable disease of swine. In part 94, 
Sec.  94.9 contains requirements governing the importation of pork or 
pork products from regions where CSF exists. Section 94.10 contains 
importation requirements for swine from regions where CSF is considered 
to exist.
    In accordance with Sec. Sec.  94.9(a)(1) and 94.10(a)(1), the 
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) maintains a web-
based list of regions that the Agency considers free of CSF. Sections 
94.9(a)(2) and 94.10(a)(2) state that APHIS will add a region to this 
list after it conducts an evaluation of the region and finds that CSF 
is not present.
    Finally, under Sec.  94.32, the importation into the United States 
of swine, pork, and pork products from certain regions that are 
considered free of CSF in accordance with Sec. Sec.  94.9 and 94.10 is 
still subject to mitigations for CSF, because the exporting region 
either supplements their pork supplies with fresh (chilled or frozen) 
pork imported from regions considered to be affected by CSF, or 
supplements their pork supplies with pork from CSF-affected regions 
that is not processed in accordance with the regulations, or shares a 
common land border with CSF-affected regions, or imports live swine 
from CSF-affected regions under conditions less restrictive than would 
be acceptable for importation into the United States. The section 
specifies that there is a web-based list of such regions.
    In the regulations in 9 CFR part 92, Sec.  92.2 contains 
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.
    In September 2020, the Government of the Republic of Costa Rica 
requested that APHIS evaluate the CSF disease status of the country. In 
response to Costa Rica's request, APHIS prepared an evaluation, titled 
``APHIS Evaluation of the Classical Swine Fever Status of the Republic 
of Costa Rica'' (May 2023). Based on the evaluation, APHIS has 
determined that CSF is not known to exist in Costa Rica. APHIS has also 
determined that the surveillance, prevention, and control measures 
implemented by Costa Rica are sufficient to minimize the likelihood of 
introducing CSF into the United States via imports of species or 
products susceptible to this disease. However, because Costa Rica 
shares a common land border with regions in which CSF exists, we have 
also determined that requirements of Sec.  94.32 should be operative, 
if Costa Rica is considered free of CSF. Our determination supports 
adding Costa Rica to the web-based list of regions that APHIS considers 
free of CSF.
    Therefore, in accordance with the regulations in Sec.  92.2, we are 
announcing the availability of our evaluation of the CSF status of 
Costa Rica for public review and comment. We are also announcing the 
availability of an environmental assessment (EA), which has been 
prepared in accordance with: (1) The National Environmental Policy Act 
of 1969 (NEPA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), (2) regulations of 
the Council on Environmental Quality for implementing the procedural 
provision of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), (3) USDA regulations 
implementing NEPA (7 CFR part 1b), and (4) APHIS' NEPA Implementing 
Procedures (7 CFR part 372). The evaluation and EA may be viewed on the 
Regulations.gov website or in our reading room. (Instructions for 
accessing Regulations.gov and information on the location and hours of 
the reading room

[[Page 64402]]

are provided under the heading ADDRESSES at the beginning of this 
notice.) The documents are also available by contacting the person 
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    Information submitted in support of Costa Rica'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 disease status of Costa Rica with respect to CSF 
in a subsequent notice.
    Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1633, 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 1st day of August 2024.
Michael Watson,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-17428 Filed 8-6-24; 8:45 am]
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