APHIS Corrects CFR for Solid Wood Packing Material (Regs Had Been Updated Too Early)
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has issued a notice correcting the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) in order to re-include certain solid wood packing material (SWPM) regulations for China and Hong Kong that were accidentally removed while still in effect, when the CFR was annually updated on January 1, 2005.
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APHIS sources explain that these SWPM regulations were inadvertently removed and replaced with regulations from a September 2004 final rule for wood packaging material (WPM) from all countries,1 that is not scheduled to take effect until September 16, 2005.
Specifically, APHIS' correction to the CFR re-includes certain definitions and regulations at: 7 CFR 319.40-1, 319.40-3, 319.40-3, 319.40-5, 319.40-10.
Readers should note that the e-CFR (which is updated daily) has been corrected by removing the September 2004 final rule's regulations and re-including the existing regulations, but the January 1, 2005 annual version of the online CFR (and probably the annual printed, paper version too) still erroneously contains the September 2004 amendments.
(APHIS' September 2004 final rule will require all regulated WPM imported into the U.S.1 under general permit to be either heat treated or fumigated with methyl bromide, in accordance with the international standard entitled, "Guidelines for Regulating WPM in International Trade" (Guidelines) that was approved by the IPPC in March 2002, which were developed to prevent the introduction and spread of a variety of pests, and marked with an approved international mark certifying treatment. See ITT's Online Archives or 09/17/04, 09/20/04, and 09/23/04 news, 04091710, 04092020, and 04092320, for Parts I - III of BP's summary of this final rule.
1including WPM from China and Hong Kong, but excluding WPM from Canada, and excluding certain firewood, etc. from Mexico's border states)
APHIS CFR Correction (FR Pub 05/02/05) available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/pdf/05-55505.pdf