. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/USA/1670 
10 August 2007  
 (07-3380) 
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):  Plants and plant products 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable :  All 
countries 
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:  Cold Treatment 
Regulations (available in English, 6 pages) 
6. Description of content:  The Animal and Plant Health In spection Service is amending the 
phytosanitary treatment regulations by making several changes to the requirements for cold 
treatment enclosures and the requirements for conducting cold treatment.  The changes 
include:  adding more specific and stringent requirements for precooling fruit prior to cold 
treatment, requiring the use of temperature recording devices that are password-protected and 
tamperproof, adding requirements to increase th e effectiveness of cold  treatment conducted in 
vessel holds, and providing for officials authori zed by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection 
Service to conduct audits of th e cold treatment proc ess.  APHIS is maki ng these changes in 
response to the results of external  and internal reviews of the co ld treatment requirements that 
have been in place.  The changes will improve the effectiveness of cold treatment and thus 
will help to prevent the introduction of quar antine plant 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/1670 
Page 2  
 
  9. Relevant documents and language (s) in which these are available:   F e d e r a l  R e g i s t e r :  
2 July 2007 (Volume 72, Number 126), Page 35909 (available in English) 
Available at Federal Register on-line via GPO Access website: 
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html
 
Enter page # under “Quick Search” and link to relevant document. 
10. Proposed date of adoption:  31 August 2007   
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  N/A 
12. Final date for comments:  31 August 2007. 
Comments in general will be accepted at anyt ime after publication of the notice of filing; 
however, if a final rule is promulgated, it will address only those comments that were 
received prior to publication of the final rule.  
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: 
For further information contact : 
Dr. Inder P. S. Gadh, Senior Risk Manager-T reatments, Phytosanitary  Issues Management, 
PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 133, Riverdale, MD 20737-1236; +(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 Di vision (IRSD), Stop 1027, Washington, D.C. 
20250;  Tel:  +(1 202) 720 1301;  Fax:  +(1 (202) 690 0677;  E-mail:  us.spsenquirypoint@fas.usda.gov