. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/USA/1884 
11 November 2008  
 (08-5488) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  UNITED STATES
  
If applicable, name of local government involved:     
2. Agency responsible:  Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the US 
Department of Agriculture 
3. Products covered (provide tariff item numb er(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where 
applicable):  Longan 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable :  
Chinese Taipei 
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:  PROPOSED RULE :  
Importation of Longan from Chinese Taipei (Docket No. APHIS-2007-0161) (available in 
English, 6 pages) 
6. Description of content:  The Animal and Plant Health Insp ection Service is proposing to 
allow the importation of commercial shipment s of fresh longan with stems from Chinese 
Taipei into the United States.  As a condition of entry, the longan would be subject to cold 
treatment and special port-of-arrival inspection pr ocedures for certain quarantine pests.  In 
addition, the fruit would have to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate stating that the fruit was inspected and found to be free of cert ain pests, and the individual cartons or boxes in 
which the longan are shipped would have to be stamped or printed with a statement 
prohibiting their importation into or distribution in the State of Florida.  This action would 
allow for the importation of commercial shipments of fresh longan with stems from Chinese 
Taipei into the United States while continui ng to provide protection against the introduction 
of quarantine pests into the United States.  
7. Objective and rationale:  [   ] food safety, [   ] animal health,  [ X ] plant protection, [  
 ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease,  [   ] protect territory from other damage from pests    
8. International standard, guideline or recommendation:  
[   ] Codex Alimentarius Commission, [   ] World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE), [   ] International Plant Protection Convention, [ X ] None  
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate 
reference and briefly identify deviations:    G/SPS/N/USA/1884 
Page 2  
 
  9. Relevant documents and langu age(s) in which these are available:    
Federal Register:  07 November 2008 (V olume 73, Number 217), Pages 66200-66205;  
Available in English. 
To view online, go to http://www.gpoaccess. gov/fr/advanced.html
, select 2008 FR Vol. 73, 
and type "66200" in search box (with quotation marks). 
10. Proposed date of adoption:  N/A 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  N/A 
12. Final date for comments:  Comments in general will be accepted at any time after 
publication of the notice of filing; however, if a final rule is prom ulgated, it will address only 
those comments that were received on or  before the final date for comments. 
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [   ] National notification 
authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, or  address, fax number and E-mail address (if 
available) of other body: 
You may submit comments by either of the following methods: 
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov/  and search on the docket 
number (APHIS–2007–0161) to submit or view co mments and to view s upporting and related 
materials available electronically. 
• Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Please send two copies of your comment to Docket No. 
APHIS–2007–0161, Regulatory Analysis and Deve lopment, PPD, APHI S, Station 3A–03.8, 
4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737–1238.  Please state that your comment 
refers to Docket No. APHIS–2007–0161. 
For further information contact :  
Mr. Alex Belano, Assistant Branch Chief, Commodity Import Analysis and Operations, PPQ, 
APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 140, Riverdale, MD 20737-1231; + 1 (301) 734-8758. 
13. Texts available from:  [ X ] National notificati on authority, [   ] Na tional enquiry point, 
or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body: 
United States SPS National Notification Aut hority, USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, 
International Regulations and Standards Division (IRSD), Stop 1027, Washington D.C. 
20250;  Tel:  +(1 202) 720 1301;  Fax:  +(1 202) 720 0433;  E-mail:  
us.spsenquirypoint@fas.usda.gov