The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is adding Hong Kong, Laos and North Korea to its list of regions subject to import restrictions on pork and pork products because they are affected by African swine fever, it said. Restrictions take effect retroactively to July 15, 2019, for Hong Kong, to July 5, 2019, for Laos, and to June 5, 2019, for North Korea.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is proposing to eliminate restrictions on imports of pine shoot beetle host materials from Canada, including cut pine Christmas trees and other articles containing pine bark. The agency’s proposed rule would remove quarantine requirements for domestic interstate transport of pine shoot beetle hosts, rendering the regulations covering imports from Canada obsolete, APHIS said. Current regulations under 7 CFR 319.40-5(m) that are set for elimination under this proposal require that imports from Canada be accompanied by statements and certificates showing the origin of regulated articles and the places through which they were moved, as well as fumigation requirements in some circumstances. Comments are due Nov. 22.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will allow imports of fresh cape gooseberry fruit from Ecuador, it said in a final rule. Shipments must come from pest-free places of production and be put in labeled boxes prior to shipping. Fresh cape gooseberry fruit that does not meet these conditions may still be imported but are subject to treatment. The final rule takes effect Sept. 19.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is proposing to find Romania to be free of highly pathogenic avian influenza and Newcastle disease. The change in disease status would eliminate certain requirements for importation of carcasses, meat, parts or products of carcasses, and eggs (other than hatching eggs) of poultry, game birds or other birds from Romania. Comments are due Nov. 15.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service recently issued a federal order prohibiting imports of tomatoes and certain plants to prevent introduction of the tomato leaf miner. The update to a federal order issued in 2014 now includes Haiti on the list of countries that is infested tomato leaf miner but can still export tomato fruits to the U.S. if they are able to meet certain import requirements. The revised federal order also adds the following countries to the list of countries infested with tomato leaf miner and prohibited from exporting to the U.S. propagative materials from Datura spp. and Salpichroa spp., and synonyms, except seeds, bringing the total to 109 countries: Afghanistan; Bangladesh; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Botswana; Croatia; Georgia; Guernsey; Haiti; India; Kyrgyzstan; Mayotte; Montenegro; Mozambique; Namibia; Nepal; Norway; Rwanda; Serbia; South Africa; Tajikistan; Tanzania; Uganda; Uzbekistan; Zambia; and Zimbabwe. The revised federal order took effect Aug. 16.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is adding Cambodia and Vietnam to its list of regions subject to import restrictions on pork and pork products because they are affected by African swine fever, it said. Restrictions take effect retroactively to April 4, 2019, for Cambodia, and to Feb. 18, 2019, for Vietnam.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is tightening restrictions on importation of bovines and bovine products from Scotland, it said in a notice. APHIS is reclassifying Scotland as having controlled risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, after a case of BSE was discovered there in October 2018, the agency said. Scotland had been classified as having negligible risk of BSE. The reclassification takes effect retroactively Oct. 18, 2018.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will allow imports of raspberries from Morocco into the continental U.S. as of July 24, it said in a notice. APHIS previously issued a proposed rule to allow the imports (see 1608260012), but since that proposal, the agency's regulations were changed to allow fruit and vegetable imports through notifications, it said. "With those changes to the regulations, we cannot issue the final regulations as contemplated in our August 2016 proposed rule and are therefore discontinuing that rulemaking without a final rule," it said. "Instead, it is necessary for us to finalize this action through the issuance of a notification." The allowed raspberries must be produced at a registered location under a “systems approach” to mitigate for the fungus Monilinia fructigena and would have to be inspected prior to exportation from Morocco and found free of this pest, APHIS said. The raspberries would have to be imported in commercial consignments and accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate from the Moroccan government, and would be subject to inspection at the U.S. port of entry.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service released a document that answers questions about using ACE for imports regulated by APHIS. The agency explains that APHIS data will eventually be required in ACE. "When an importer or broker selects a tariff code in ACE, the system notifies the user when APHIS data is or may be required," it said. "At this time, importers and brokers can bypass these flags and proceed without entering APHIS-required data in the system. Eventually, APHIS will enforce the flags, and users won’t be able to proceed until they enter APHIS-required import data via the message set. When ready, APHIS will announce the timeline for enforcing these flags."