The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued a federal order on March 18 (here) prohibiting imports of 18 fruits and vegetables from the Dominican Republic. Effective immediately, imports of avocado; clementine; grape; grapefruit; lemon; litchi; longan; mamey (sapote); mandarin; orange; papaya; pepper; pummelo; tangelo; tangerine; tomato; and tuna (cactus fruit) will not be allowed from the Caribbean country. Imports of mango will be restricted to commercial consignments that have gone through the APHIS hot water treatment preclearance program. APHIS is also prohibiting overland in-bond transit movements of these fruits and vegetables south of 39° latitude. The agency said the ban comes after multiple detections of Medfly in the Punta Cana region of the Dominican Republic.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes March 12 to Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service confirmed that new foreign inspection certificate requirements will take effect on March 18, in a Federal Register notice formally “extending” the deadline (here). APHIS first announced in October that paper filers have until March 18 before they must begin submitting foreign inspection certificates meeting the new requirements along with a revised Form 9540-1 (Application for Import Inspection) (see 1411030021). A final rule issued in September required that foreign inspection certificates supply additional information about the product being imported, including the process category, and the product category and the product group, as well as the source country and establishment number (if the source materials originate from a country other than the country that is exporting to the U.S.).
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has moved a step closer to allowing importation of cranberries from Chile, finding in a pest risk analysis (here) that certain phytosanitary measures would be enough to mitigate the risk of pest introduction should imports of the product be allowed. The agency will accept comments on its analysis until May 11, after which it will announce its final decision.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is reopening the period for comments on its proposal to allow imports of orchid plants of the genus Oncidium from Taiwan to the U.S, it said (here). Under the proposed rule, issued in December (see 1412030014), the orchid would be required to be contained in an approved growing medium and would be subject to certification requirements. Comments on the proposed rule are now due by March 18.
CBP posted filing instructions within the Automated Commercial Environment for participating government agencies:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is proposing to allow the importation of tomato plantlets from Mexico in approved growing media (here). Importation would be subject to requirements currently in place for tomato plants and for plants imported in approved growing media, said APHIS. The plantlets would have to be imported into greenhouses in the continental United States. The importer or greenhouse owner would have to enter into a compliance agreement setting conditions under which the tomato plantlets can be entered and must be maintained within greenhouses, said APHIS. Comments are due May 4.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is withdrawing proposed regulations on the importation of genetically engineered organisms (here). The 2008 proposed rule would have set explicit procedures for the issuance and modification of permits for importation of GE products (see 08101635). APHIS received over 88,000 comments on the proposed rule, with some saying the regulations needed to be more rigorous and others saying it didn’t go far enough, said the agency. APHIS will instead pursue “alternative policy approaches,” and will soon begin a series of webinars to allow stakeholders to provide feedback, it said.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes Feb. 26 to Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes Feb. 25 to Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.