[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 22 (Tuesday, February 3, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5728-5729]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-02011]
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Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 22 / Tuesday, February 3, 2015 /
Notices
[[Page 5728]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. APHIS-2014-0042]
Notice of Availability of an Evaluation of the Classical Swine
Fever, Foot-and-Mouth Disease, Swine Vesicular Disease, and Rinderpest
Status of Croatia
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that we determined that the
Republic of Croatia is free of foot-and-mouth disease, swine vesicular
disease, and rinderpest and is low risk for classical swine fever. We
are making our determinations, as well as an evaluation we have
prepared in connection with this action, available for review and
comment.
DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before April
6, 2015.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2014-0042.
Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to
Docket No. APHIS-2014-0042, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD,
APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-
1238.
Supporting documents and any comments we receive on this docket may
be viewed at http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2014-
0042 or in our reading room, which is located in Room 1141 of the USDA
South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue SW., Washington,
DC. Normal reading room hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except holidays. To be sure someone is there to help you,
please call (202) 799-7039 before coming.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Donald Link, Import Risk Analyst,
Regionalization Evaluation Services, National Import Export Services,
Veterinary Services, APHIS, 920 Main Campus Drive, Suite 200, Raleigh,
NC 27606; (919) 855-7731; [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The regulations in 9 CFR part 94 (referred
to below as the regulations) govern the importation of certain animals
and animal products into the United States to prevent the introduction
of various animal diseases, including classical swine fever (CSF),
foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), swine vesicular disease (SVD), and
rinderpest. The regulations prohibit or restrict the importation of
live ruminants and swine, and products from these animals, from regions
where these diseases are considered to exist.
Within part 94, Sec. 94.1 contains requirements governing the
importation of ruminants and swine from regions where rinderpest or FMD
exists and the importation of the meat of any ruminants or swine from
regions where rinderpest or FMD exists to prevent the introduction of
either disease into the United States. We consider rinderpest and FMD
to exist in all regions except those listed in accordance with
paragraph (a) of that section as free of rinderpest and FMD.
Section 94.9 contains requirements governing the importation of
pork and pork products from regions where CSF exists. Section 94.10
contains importation requirements for swine from regions where CSF is
considered to exist and designates the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service (APHIS)-defined European CSF region as a single
region of low-risk for CSF. Section 94.31 contains requirements
governing the importation of pork, pork products, and swine from the
APHIS-defined European CSF region. We consider CSF to exist in all
regions of the world except those listed in accordance with paragraph
(a) of Sec. 94.9 \1\ as free of the disease.
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\1\ The list of regions comprising the APHIS-defined European
CSF region and the lists of regions considered free of FMD, SVD, and
rinderpest are located on the APHIS Web site at: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wps/portal/aphis/ourfocus/importexport?1dmy&urile=wcm%3apath%3a%2Faphis_content_library%2Fsa_our_focus%2Fsa_animal_health%2Fsa_import_into_us%2Fct_animal_disease_status.
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Section 94.11 of the regulations contains requirements governing
the importation of meat of any ruminants or swine from regions that
have been determined to be free of rinderpest and FMD, but that are
subject to certain restrictions because of their proximity to or
trading relationships with rinderpest- or FMD-affected regions. Such
regions are listed in accordance with paragraph (a) of that section.
Section 94.12 of the regulations contains requirements governing
the importation of pork or pork products from regions where SVD exists.
We consider SVD to exist in all regions of the world except those
listed in accordance with paragraph (a) of that section as free of SVD.
Section 94.13 contains importation requirements governing the
importation of pork or pork products from regions that have been
declared free of SVD as provided in Sec. 94.12(a) but supplement their
national pork supply by the importation of fresh (chilled or frozen)
meat of animals from regions where SVD is considered to exist, or have
a common border with such regions, or have trade practices that are
less restrictive than are acceptable to the United States. Such regions
are listed in accordance with paragraph (a) of Sec. 94.13.
Section 94.14 states that no swine which are moved from or transit
any region in which SVD is known to exist may be imported into the
United States except wild swine imported in accordance with Sec.
94.14(b).
The regulations in 9 CFR part 92, Sec. 92.2, contain requirements
for requesting the recognition of the animal health status of a region
(as well as for the approval of the export of a particular type of
animal or animal product to the United States from a foreign region).
If, after review and evaluation of the information submitted in support
of the request, APHIS believes the request can be safely granted, APHIS
will make its evaluation available for public comment through a
document published in the Federal Register. Following the close of the
comment period, APHIS will review all comments received and will make a
final determination regarding the request that will be detailed in
another
[[Page 5729]]
document published in the Federal Register.
The Republic of Croatia submitted a request to APHIS to evaluate
the CSF, FMD, SVD, and rinderpest status of the country. In response to
this request, APHIS conducted a qualitative risk assessment to evaluate
Croatia with respect to these diseases. Based on this evaluation, APHIS
recognizes Croatia to be free of FMD, SVD, and rinderpest, and low risk
for CSF. APHIS has also determined that the surveillance, prevention,
and control measures implemented by the European Union (EU) and
Croatia, an EU Member State, are sufficient to minimize the likelihood
of introducing CSF, FMD, SVD, and rinderpest into the United States via
imports of species or products susceptible to these diseases. Our
determinations support adding Croatia to the Web-based list of regions
comprising the APHIS-defined European CSF region, which APHIS considers
to be low risk for CSF, and to the respective Web-based lists of
regions APHIS considers free of FMD, SVD, and rinderpest.
Therefore, in accordance with Sec. 92.2(e), we are announcing the
availability of our evaluation of the CSF, FMD, SVD, and rinderpest
status of Croatia for public review and comment. We are also announcing
the availability of an environmental assessment (EA) and a finding of
no significant impact (FONSI) \2\ which have been prepared in
accordance with: (1) The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
(NEPA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), (2) regulations of the
Council on Environmental Quality for implementing the procedural
provision of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), (3) USDA regulations
implementing NEPA (7 CFR part 1b), and (4) APHIS' NEPA Implementing
Procedures (7 CFR part 372). The evaluation, EA, and FONSI may be
viewed on the Regulations.gov Web site or in our reading room.
(Instructions for accessing Regulations.gov and information on the
location and hours of the reading room are provided under the heading
ADDRESSES at the beginning of this notice.) The documents are also
available by contacting the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT.
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\2\ The FONSI for Croatia incorporates by reference an EA
prepared for Slovakia that addresses the potential environmental
impacts of CSF, FMD, SVD, and rinderpest for Slovakia and other EU
Member States.
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Information submitted in support of Croatia's original request is
available by contacting the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT.
After reviewing any comments we receive, we will announce our
decision regarding the disease status of Croatia under consideration
with respect to CSF, FMD, SVD, and rinderpest and the import status of
susceptible animals and products of such animals in a subsequent
notice.
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 450, 7701-7772, 7781-7786, and 8301-8317; 21
U.S.C. 136 and 136a; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.4.
Done in Washington, DC, this 28th day of January 2015.
Kevin Shea,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-02011 Filed 2-2-15; 8:45 am]
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