APHIS Corrects Rule on Imports of Certain Hides, Skins from Mexico

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is issuing a technical amendment to its December 15, 2009 final rule (effective on January 14, 2010), which amended the regulations governing the importation of animal byproducts to, among other things, provide specific conditions under which deer and other ruminant hides and skins from Mexico could be imported into the U.S. It was APHIS' intent to indicate that deer and ruminant hides and skins from Mexico may not go to an approved establishment upon importation into the U.S. rather than comply with the specific conditions established in the final rule, and it is correcting that error.