G/SPS/N/USA/2627/Add.1
23 October 2014 
(14-6137)  Page: 1/2
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English
 
  NOTIFICATION 
Addendum 
The following communication, received on 22 October 2014, is being circulated at the request of 
the Delegation of the United States of America. 
 
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 Final Rule: Importation of Fresh Bananas from the Philippines into Hawaii and U.S. Territories 
(Docket No. APHIS-2013-0045) 
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is amending the regulations concerning the importation of fruits and vegetables to allow th e importation of fresh bananas from the Philippines 
into Guam, Hawaii, and the Northern Mariana Islands. As a condition of entry, the bananas will 
have to be produced in accordance with a systems approach that includes requirements for 
importation of commercial consignments, monitoring of fruit flies to establish low-prevalence places of production, harvesting only of hard gr een bananas, and inspection for quarantine pests 
by the national plant protection organization of th e Philippines. The bananas will also have to be 
accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration stating that they were grown, packed, and inspected and found to be free of quarantine pests in accordance with the proposed requirements. This action will allow the importation of bananas from the Philippines into 
Guam, Hawaii, and the Northern Mariana Islands while continuing to protect against the 
introduction of plant pests. 
This notice is available in English at: http://www.regulations.gov/ #!documentDetail;D=APHIS-
2013-0045-0051 . 
Federal Register Vol. 79, No. 197, Friday, 10 October 2014, pages 61216-61221. 
On 28 January 2014, we published in the Federal Register (79 FR 4410-4414, Docket No. APHIS-
2013-0045) a proposal to amend the regulations to allow the importation of bananas from the 
Philippines into Guam, Hawaii, and the Northern Mariana Islands. We also prepared a pest risk assessment (PRA) entitled "Importation of Banana, Musa spp., as Fresh, Hard Green Fruit from the Philippines to Guam, Hawaii, and the Northern Mariana Islands" (January 2013). The PRA assesses 
the risks associated with the importation of fresh bananas from the Philippines into Guam, Hawaii, 
and the Northern Mariana Islands. Based on the in formation contained in the PRA, we prepared a 
risk management document (RMD) that recommends appropriate mitigation measures needed 
beyond the port-of-entry inspection requirements.  Based on the recommendations of the RMD, we 
proposed to allow the importation of bananas from  the Philippines into Hawaii and U.S. Territories 
o n l y  i f  t h e y  w e r e  p r o d u c e d  i n  a c c o r d a n c e  w i th a systems approach. The systems approach we 
proposed included requirements for: 
- Registration, monitoring, and oversight of places of production; 
- Trapping for the fruit flies Bact rocera spp. to establish low-prevalence places of production; 
- Covering bananas with pesticide bags during the growing season; 
- Harvesting only of hard green bananas; G/SPS/N/USA/2627/Add.1 
 
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  - Requirements for culling, safeguarding, and identifying the fruit; and 
- Inspection by the national plant protection or ganization (NPPO) of the Philippines for quarantine 
pests. 
We also proposed to require bananas from the Ph ilippines to be accompanied by a phytosanitary 
certificate with an additional declaration stating that the bananas were grown, packed, and 
inspected in accordance with the proposed requirements. These are the same conditions under which bananas from the Philippines were already authorized for importation into the continental 
United States. 
We solicited comments on the proposed rule for 60 days ending 31 March 2014. We received 
46 comments. 
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 the previously notified 
measure in terms of products and/or potent ially affected Members, a new deadline for 
receipt of comments should be provided, norm ally of at least 60 calendar days. Under 
other circumstances, such as extension of or iginally announced final date for comments, 
the 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) : This rule is Effective 10 November 2014. 
Agency or authority designated to handle co mments: [ ] National Notification Authority, 
[ ] National Enquiry Point. Address, fax nu mber and e-mail address (if available) of 
other body: 
For further information contact Mr. George Apgar Balady, Senior Regulatory Policy Specialist, 
Regulatory Coordination and Compliance, PPQ, AP HIS, 4700 River Road Unit 133, Riverdale, MD 
20737-1236; Tel: +(301) 851 2240.  
Text(s) available from: [X] National Notificati on Authority, [ ] National Enquiry Point. 
Address, fax number and e-mail addre ss (if available) of other body: 
United States SPS National Notification Authority, USDA 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  
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