APHIS Proposes Significant Revision of its Fruit & Vegetables Import Regulations, Public Hearings Scheduled (Part I)
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has issued a proposed rule that, if adopted, would represent a significant structural revision of the fruits and vegetables import regulations and would establish a new process for approving certain new commodities for importation into the U.S. In addition, APHIS has scheduled four public hearings in May and June 2006 to discuss the proposed changes.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
This is Part I of a multipart series of summaries on this proposed rule. Part I provides an overview of the changes proposed by APHIS. See future issues of ITT for additional summaries.
APHIS Proposes Substantive Changes, Reorganization, Etc.
APHIS is proposing to make substantive changes to the regulations, including:
establishing criteria within the regulations that, if met, would allow APHIS to approve certain new fruits and vegetables for importation into the U.S. and to acknowledge pest-free areas in foreign countries more effectively and expeditiously;
doing away with the practice of listing specific commodities that may be imported subject to certain types of phytosanitary measures; and
providing for the issuance of special use permits for fruits and vegetables.
APHIS states that the proposed rule would also consolidate requirements of general applicability and eliminate redundant requirements, update terms and remove outdated requirements and references, update the regulations that apply to importations into territories under U.S. administration, and make various editorial and nonsubstantive changes to regulations to make them easier to use.
Four Public Hearings in May and June 2006
APHIS has scheduled hearings on its proposed rule for the following dates and locations:
| Date | Location |
|---|---|
| May 23, 2006 | Seattle, Washington |
| May 24, 2006 | Los Angeles, California |
| May 26, 2006 | Miami, Florida |
| June 20, 2006 | Washington, DC |
(According to APHIS, the proposed changes would not alter the manner in which the risk associated with a commodity import request is evaluated, nor would it alter the manner in which those risks are ultimately mitigated.)
| Matthew Rhoads (questions on proposed commodity import request evaluation process) | (301) 734-8790 |
| Donna West (questions on import conditions for particular commodities) | (301) 734-8758 |
APHIS Proposed Rule (D/N APHIS-2005-0106, FR Pub 04/27/06) available at
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/pdf/06-3897.pdf