APHIS Final Rule Significantly Revises its Fruit & Vegetable Import Regulations (Part I - Overview)
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has issued a final rule, effective August 17, 2007, that amends 7 CFR Parts 305, 319, and 352 by revising, reorganizing, and making substantive changes to the regulations pertaining to the prevention of pests in imported fresh fruits and vegetables.
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.
The substantial changes include, among other things, a new notice-based process that establishes criteria for APHIS' approval of certain fruits and vegetables for importation into the U.S., as well as a new notice-based process for acknowledging pest-free areas in foreign countries.
This is Part I, the first part of a multi-part series of BP summaries and provides an overview of the APHIS final rule, using information from the final rule and a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) press release. See ITT's Online Archives for future summaries.
Notice-Based Process for Approving Certain Fruit and Vegetable Imports
The final rule implements criteria that will allow APHIS to approve the importation of certain fruits and vegetables into the U.S. by publishing a notice in the Federal Register, rather than engaging in a lengthy rulemaking process.
(A significant number of APHIS' 400 pending commodity import requests will likely fit the new notice-based criteria and not need a rulemaking, thus shaving 6 - 12 months off the approval process for eligible fruit and vegetable imports.)
Only for fruits/vegetables that can be safely imported using certain measures. The notice-based process for approving fruits and vegetables will only apply to commodities that, based on APHIS' risk analyses, can be safely imported into the U.S. subject to one or more of the following five phytosanitary measures:
- port-of-entry inspection,
- approved postharvest treatment,
- a phytosanitary certificate verifying that it originated from a pest-free area,
- a phytosanitary certificate verifying that it is free from a specified pest(s), and/or
- that the risk associated with the commodity can be mitigated through commercial practices.
The new process does not alter which fruits and vegetables are currently eligible for importation, or how the risks associated with those commodities are evaluated or mitigated.
Other fruits and vegetables still subject to rulemaking. The importation of fruits and vegetables that require additional phytosanitary measures will continue to undergo the full rulemaking process.
Notice-Based Process for Approving Pest-Free Areas in Exporting Countries
APHIS' final rule also establishes a notice-based process for approving pest-free areas in exporting countries. APHIS will use Federal Register notices and public comment to acknowledge pest-free areas in foreign countries, without undertaking a rulemaking. This approach will allow the agency to be more responsive in recognizing changes in the pest-free status of foreign countries.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 05/12/06, 05/16/06, 05/22/06, 05/24/06, and 05/25/06 news, 06051215, 06051625, 06052235, 06052425, and 06052535, for Parts I - V of BP summary of the April 2006 proposed rule.
See ITT's Online Archives or 08/03/06 news, 06080335, for BP summary on reopening of comment period on the proposed rule.)
| Matthew Rhoads (Program Manager) | (301) 734-8790 |
| Donna West (Import Specialist) | (301) 734-8758 |
APHIS final rule (D/N APHIS-2005-0106, FR Pub 07/18/07) available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/pdf/E7-13708.pdf
USDA press release (Release No. 0197.07, dated 07/17/07) available at http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2007/07/0197.xml