After a review lasting less than two weeks of Poland's export protocols, the Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has lifted import restrictions on pork from that country. Two establishments are excepted: Pork from those unnamed establishments cannot be imported unless it is cooked. The import restrictions, which began Oct. 18 (see 1810220017), were in place due to the risk of African Swine Fever, a disease that can affect feral hogs and domestic animals, but not people. The risk was seen as coming from several fresh pork-exporting facilities that might be located in a swine fever restricted zone. "We are retaining restrictions on raw product and heat treated, but not fully cooked, product from two establishments while we complete a more thorough review," APHIS said.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service suspended entry of pork imports from Poland beginning Oct. 18 as APHIS reviews that country's export protocols, the agency said in a notice. "In order to give us time to ensure all Polish facilities that export pork and pork products to the U.S. are acting in accordance with our import requirements, we have suspended entry for all fresh and frozen pork from Poland until our review is completed," it said. The restrictions are due to the possibility that "several plants in Poland actively exporting fresh pork to the U.S. may be located within an [African Swine Fever] restricted zone," according to a separate notice sent by Geodis. There is not a "grace period for shipments that are currently in transit to the United States, and all shipments of fresh/frozen/chilled pork shipped from Poland to the United States should be refused entry," it said.
The Trump administration issued its Fall 2018 unified regulatory agenda, advancing its deregulatory program through “structural reforms as well as the practical work of eliminating and revising regulations,” according to the agenda’s introductory statement. The effect can be seen on the individual regulatory agendas of agencies that regulate imports and exports, with many putting out shorter lists that include the elimination of rules and the creation of new regulatory exemptions.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service published a list of ongoing international sanitary and phytosanitary standard-setting activities of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), and the North American Plant Protection Organization (NAPPO). Comments on the standards being considered may be submitted at any time, APHIS said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept. 10-14 in case they were missed.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is finalizing a change to its procedures for setting fruit and vegetable import requirements. Under the final rule, APHIS will no longer go through a normal rulemaking process for changes to import requirements. Instead, the agency will simply publish a notice in the Federal Register advising the public of the change. APHIS will still give the public a chance to comment before changes are made through publication of a “pest risk analysis” document detailing the agency’s scientific rationale. The final rule takes effect Oct. 15.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will on Oct. 1 begin notifying importers and customs brokers when they submit Lacey Act declarations that contain errors, APHIS said in an emailed update. Importers who receive these letters of non-compliance “do not need to take action to correct the declaration in question, but they should take steps to correct future declarations,” APHIS said. “Repeated failures to correct errors may result in APHIS referring future violations for investigation or potential enforcement action.” Most notifications will be sent by email, it said. “Common errors include: misidentifying the species of imported wood or wood products, listing unlikely country and plant species pairs, submitting incomplete declarations, and/or failing to file a declaration in a timely manner,” APHIS said.
Importers lauded the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s proposal to create a de minimis exemption from Lacey Act declaration requirements, but called for the agency to allow flexibility in how products may qualify, in recently submitted comments on the APHIS proposed rule. But commenters criticized a proposed requirement for declarations to be submitted within three days after importation, instead urging APHIS to harmonize the timeline with other agencies’ import requirements.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is loosening requirements on importation of bovines and bovine products from Poland, Croatia, Scotland and Northern Ireland, it said in a notice. APHIS will reclassify the four countries as having negligible risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, concurring with recommendations recently issued by the World Organization for Animal Health, the agency said. Poland, Croatia, Scotland and Northern Ireland were previously classified as having controlled risk of BSE, a category for which imports face tighter restrictions.
ATLANTA -- CBP is set to begin two “proofs of concept” in fiscal year 2019 to test out a single replacement for company unique identifiers used by CBP and its partner government agencies (PGAs), said Danielle Pierson, an international trade specialist at CBP’s Office of Trade Policy and Programs, at the CBP 2018 Trade Symposium on Aug. 15. The goal of the agency’s “global business identifier initiative,” currently under discussion by a Border Interagency Executive Council working group, is to develop a set of identifiers that can be used across the government as well as replace CBP’s own problematic manufacturer ID (MID), Pierson said.