The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced that it has reached a final decision that the Neuchatel and Ticino cantons of Switzerland are free of Newcastle disease. The change in disease status eliminates certain restrictions for importation of carcasses, meat, parts or products of carcasses, and eggs (other than hatching eggs) of poultry, game birds or other birds from the two cantons. The determination takes effect Jan. 20.
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America issued a letter on Jan. 14 urging the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to continue accepting copies of phytosanitary certificates to the agency's Document Image System. APHIS twice has extended its temporary policy of accepting copies -- most recently from Jan. 1 to March 31 (see 2112290032) -- which is in place to mitigate challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. "Shuffling thousands of pieces of paper through the supply chain in an otherwise electronic system never made sense in the best of times," the trade group said. "In the current chaos, the prospect is alarming."
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will allow importers a few more months before it begins rejecting copies of phytosanitary certificates for plant commodities, it said Dec. 29. The agency had previously said it would end the policy of accepting copies Jan. 1 (see 2112100059), but now says it will begin accepting only originals on March 31. The policy is in place to mitigate challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is proposing to allow importation of pummelo from Vietnam into the United States, subject to certain phytostanitary requirements, it said in a notice released Dec. 23. Comments are due Feb. 25.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will classify Canada as having Level I risk for both bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis, it said in a notice released Dec. 23. Level I is the least restrictive level in APHIS’s bovine importation scheme, and allows imports of sexually intact bovines without a certificate or other restrictions. Imports under this classification may be authorized beginning Dec. 27.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection will no longer accept copies of phytosanitary certificates and forms as of Jan. 1, it said. The agency had been accepting copies to ease burdens on importers of plant commodities during the COVID-19 pandemic, but will as of the new year only accept original phytosanitary certificates, APHIS said. APHIS also will still continue to accept electronic phytosanitary certificates shared government-to-government through the ePhyto system for participating countries, and “a paper certificate would not need to be presented for cargo clearance by U.S. officials if the certificate is an ePhyto with a proper declaration in the APHIS Core message set using the PG13/14 code AE1,” the agency said.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is amending its regulations on imports of sheep and goats to remove bovine spongiform encephalopathy-related import restrictions. The agency’s final rule, released Dec. 2, ends BSE restrictions on live sheep and goats and most sheep and goat products. APHIS said the restrictions were originally put in place prior to “extensive research” that shows sheep and goats “pose a minimal risk of spreading BSE.” At the same time, APHIS is updating its scrapie requirements for importing live sheep and goats and their germplasm, requiring that any live sheep or goats not transported directly to slaughter, or to a designated feedlot and then to slaughter, must originate from a scrapie-free country or flock with a herd certification program equivalent to the U.S. Scrapie Flock Certification Program. APHIS is also adding transmissible spongiform encephalopathy import restrictions for certain wild, zoological and other non-bovine ruminant species, and will allow imports of such species on a case-by-case basis. The final rule takes effect Jan. 3, 2022.