. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/SPS/N/USA/2321/Add.1 
6 August 2012  
 (12-4341) 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
Addendum 
  
The following communication, received on 3 Augus t 2012, is being circulated at the request 
of the Delegation of the United States of America. 
 
_______________ 
  
Final Rule: Information From Foreign Regions Ap plying for Recognition of Animal Health Status 
(Docket No. APHIS-2007-0158) 
 The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Servi ce is amending the regulations that govern the 
importation of animals and animal products by consolidating the list of factors APHIS considers when 
evaluating the animal health status of a forei gn region and by setting out new factors APHIS will 
consider when evaluating a region as historically free of a specific disease.  These changes will make 
clearer the types of information APHIS needs fr om a requesting region in order to conduct an 
evaluation. 
 This notice is available in English at:  
http://www.regulations.gov/#!docum entDetail;D=APHIS-2007-0158-0017  Federal Register Volume 
77, Number 145 (Friday, July 27, 2012), Pages 44107-44110. 
 This action is subsequent to a notice publishe d in the Federal Register on 28 December 2011, 
(76 FR 81404-81408, Docket No. APHIS-2007-0158) a proposal to amend the regulations by 
consolidating the 11 factors listed in Sec.  92.2(b)  that APHIS considers when evaluating the animal 
health status of a foreign region into eight fact ors.  We also proposed to establish criteria for 
recognizing a region as historically free of a specific disease. Our intent was to make clearer the types 
of information APHIS needs from a requesting regi on to conduct an evaluation.  Additionally, 
although our regulations focus on requests from forei gn regions, we noted that APHIS could initiate 
an evaluation of the disease status of a foreign region and, if we did, would conduct the evaluation using these same factors. We also proposed to rem ove a statement in Sec. 92.2(d) that supporting 
information submitted with country requests will be made  available to the public prior to initiation of 
rulemaking. We proposed to replace it with a statem ent that a list of regions that have requested 
recognition of their animal health status will be available to the public, and to leave in place a 
statement in Sec. 92.2(f) that when APHIS makes its evaluation available for public comment, the 
public will have access to the information upon wh ich APHIS based its evaluation, as well as the 
evaluation itself.  We solicited comments concerning our proposal for 60 days ending 
27 February 2012.  We received 12 comments (includi ng two from the same person) by that date. G/SPS/N/USA/2321/Add.1 
Page 2  
 
  This addendum concerns a: 
[ ] Modification of final date for comments 
[X] Notification of adoption, publication or entry into force of regulation 
[ ] Modification of content and/or scope of previously notified draft regulation 
[ ] Withdrawal of proposed regulation 
[ ] Change in proposed date of adoption, publication or date of entry into force 
[ ] Other:    
Comment period:  (If the addendum extends the scope of th e previously notified measure in terms 
of products and/or potentially affected Members, a new deadline for receipt of comments should be 
provided, normally of at least 60 calendar days.  Under other circumstances, such as extension of 
originally announced final date for comments, th e comment period provided in the addendum may 
vary.)  
[ ] Sixty days from the date of circulation of the addendum to the notification and/or 
(dd/mm/yy) :  Not applicable 
Agency or authority designated to handle commen ts:  [ ] National Notification Authority, [ ] 
National Enquiry Point.  Address, fax number and e-mail address (if available) of other body: 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Kelly Rhodes, Regionalization Evaluation 
Services, Sanitary Trade Issues Team, National Center for Import and Export, VS, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 38, Riverdale, MD 20737-1231; +1 (301) 851-3300  
Text available from:  [X] National Notification Au thority, [ ] National Enquiry Point.  Address, 
fax number and e-mail address (if available) of other body: 
United States SPS National Notification Authority, US DA Foreign Agricultural Service, International 
Regulations and Standards Division (IRSD), Stop 1014, Washington D.C. 20250;  Tel:  +1 (202) 720 1301;  Fax:  +1 (202) 720 0433;  E-mail :  us.spsenquirypoint@fas.usda.gov    
 
__________