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."
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is planning to update the entry conditions for imports of citrus longhorned beetle (CLB) and Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) host plants from Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, APHIS said in a notice. Those countries "have previously approved genera exempted from the category of plants Not Authorized Pending Pest Risk Analysis," it said. The exempt plants from those countries "would be admissible with the current import permit requirements with a stem or root collar diameter greater than 10 mm (0.4 inches)," it said. APHIS also plans to recognize 22 EU states as being free from CLB and ALB, but the import requirements for host plants will only change for the four countries, it said. Comments on the changes are due Sept. 16.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is adding Bulgaria to the list of regions it considers to be affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), it said in a notice. Temporary restrictions on importation of poultry, commercial birds, other types of birds (research, performing), ratites, any avian hatching eggs, unprocessed avian products and byproducts, and certain fresh poultry products from Bulgaria have been in place since Oct. 17, 2018, after discovery of the virus in the country, APHIS said.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is issuing a final rule to overhaul its regulations on importation and interstate movements of plant pests. The agency’s new regulations codify and clarify existing permitting procedures, as well as create new lists of exempt plant pests and biological control organisms that APHIS determines present no risk to plants and plant products. The final rule also sets new packaging requirements for plant pests, biological control agents and soil, and revises APHIS’s regulations on importation of soil, stone and quarry products. The new regulations take effect Aug. 8.