This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

13890 

Vol. 76, No. 50 

Tuesday, March 15, 2011 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

7 CFR Part 319 

[Docket No. APHIS–2010–0005] 

RIN 0579–AD36 

Importation of Bromeliad Plants in 

Growing Media From Belgium, 

Denmark, and the Netherlands 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: We are proposing to amend 

the regulations governing the 

importation of plants and plant 

products to add Bromeliad plants of the 

genera Aechmea, Cryptanthus, 

Guzmania, Hohenbergia, Neoregelia, 

Tillandsia, and Vriesea from Belgium, 

Denmark, and the Netherlands to the list 

of plants that may be imported into the 

United States in an approved growing 

medium, subject to specified growing, 

inspection, and certification 

requirements. We are taking this action 

in response to requests from those three 

countries and after determining that the 

plants could be imported, under certain 

conditions, without resulting in the 

introduction into, or the dissemination 

within, the United States of a plant pest 

or noxious weed. 

DATES: We will consider all comments 

that we receive on or before May 16, 

2011. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by either of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/

component/main?main=DocketDetail

&d=APHIS-2010-0005 to submit or view 

comments and to view supporting and 

related materials available 

electronically. 

• Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: 

Please send one copy of your comment 

to Docket No. APHIS–2010–0005, 

Regulatory Analysis and Development, 

PPD, APHIS, Station 3A–03.8, 4700 

River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 

20737–1238. Please state that your 

comment refers to Docket No. APHIS– 

2010–0005. 

Reading Room: You may read any 

comments that we receive on this 

docket in our reading room. The reading 

room 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) 690–2817 before 

coming. 

Other Information: Additional 

information about APHIS and its 

programs is available on the Internet at 

http://www.aphis.usda.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Mr. William Aley, Senior Import 

Specialist, Commodity Import Analysis 

and Operations, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 

River Road, Unit 133, Riverdale, MD 

20737–1236; (301) 734–5057. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The regulations in 7 CFR part 319 

prohibit or restrict the importation into 

the United States of certain plants and 

plant products to prevent the 

introduction of plant pests and noxious 

weeds. The regulations in ‘‘Subpart— 

Nursery Stock, Plants, Roots, Bulbs, 

Seeds, and Other Plant Products,’’ 

§§ 319.37 through 319.37–14 (referred to 

below as the regulations) contain, 

among other things, prohibitions and 

restrictions on the importation of plants, 

plant parts, and seeds for propagation. 

Paragraph (a) of § 319.37–8 of the 

regulations requires, with certain 

exceptions, that plants offered for 

importation into the United States be 

free of sand, soil, earth, and other 

growing media. This requirement is 

intended to help prevent the 

introduction of plant pests that might be 

present in the growing media; the 

exceptions to the requirement take into 

account factors that mitigate that plant 

pest risk. Those exceptions, which are 

found in paragraphs (b) through (e) of 

§ 319.37–8, consider either the origin of 

the plants and growing media 

(paragraph (b)), the nature of the 

growing media (paragraphs (c) and (d)), 

or the use of a combination of growing 

conditions, approved media, 

inspections, and other requirements 

(paragraph (e)). 

Paragraph (e) of § 319.37–8 provides 

conditions under which certain plants 

established in growing media may be 

imported into the United States. In 

addition to specifying the types of 

plants that may be imported, § 319.37– 

8(e) also: 

• Specifies the types of growing 

media that may be used; 

• Requires plants to be grown in 

accordance with written agreements 

between the Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service (APHIS) and the 

plant protection service of the country 

where the plants are grown and between 

the foreign plant protection service and 

the grower; 

• Requires the plants to be rooted and 

grown in a greenhouse that meets 

certain requirements for pest exclusion 

and that is used only for plants being 

grown in compliance with § 319.37– 

8(e); 

• Restricts the source of the seeds or 

parent plants used to produce the 

plants, and requires grow-out or 

treatment of parent plants imported into 

the exporting country from another 

country; 

• Specifies the sources of water that 

may be used on the plants, the height of 

the benches on which the plants must 

be grown, and the conditions under 

which the plants must be stored and 

packaged; and 

• Requires that the plants be 

inspected in the greenhouse and found 

free of evidence of plant pests no more 

than 30 days prior to the exportation of 

the plants. 

A phytosanitary certificate issued by 

the plant protection service of the 

country in which the plants were grown 

that declares that the above conditions 

have been met must accompany the 

plants at the time of importation. These 

conditions have been used successfully 

to mitigate the risk of pest introduction 

associated with the importation into the 

United States of approved plants 

established in growing media. 

Currently, Bromeliad plants of the 

genera Aechmea, Cryptanthus, 

Guzmania, Hohenbergia, Neoregelia, 

Tillandsia, and Vriesea may only be 

imported into the United States as bare 

root plants, in accordance with 

§ 319.37–2. The Governments of 

Belgium, Denmark, and the Netherlands 

have requested that importation into the 

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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 50 / Tuesday, March 15, 2011 / Proposed Rules 13891 

1 Instructions on accessing Regulations.gov and 

information on the location and hours of the 

reading room may be found at the beginning of this 

document under ADDRESSES. You may also request 

paper copies of the risk analysis by calling or 

writing the person listed under FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT. 

United States of those plants be allowed 

under the provisions of § 319.37–8. 

The regulations in § 319.37–8(g) 

provide that requests such as those 

made by the Governments of Belgium, 

Denmark, and the Netherlands be 

evaluated by APHIS using specific pest 

risk evaluation standards that are based 

on pest risk analysis guidelines 

established by the International Plant 

Protection Convention of the United 

Nations’ Food and Agriculture 

Organization. Such analyses are 

conducted to determine the plant pest 

risks associated with each requested 

plant article and to determine whether 

or not APHIS should propose to allow 

the requested plant article established in 

growing media to be imported into the 

United States. 

In accordance with § 319.37–8(g), 

APHIS has conducted the required pest 

risk analysis. The pest risk analysis can 

be viewed on the Internet on the 

Regulations.gov Web site or in our 

reading room.1

In the pest risk analysis, titled 

‘‘Importation of Aechmea, Cryptanthus, 

Guzmania, Hohenbergia, Neoregelia, 

Tillandsia, and Vriesea in Growing 

Media, into the United States from 

Belgium, Denmark, and the 

Netherlands,’’ APHIS determined that 

there was only one quarantine pest that 

could potentially follow the import 

pathway: Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. 

aechmeae, which is present in Belgium. 

This organism was determined to have 

a low pest risk potential. The pest risk 

analysis therefore concluded that the 

safeguards in § 319.37–8(e) would allow 

the safe importation of Aechmea, 

Cryptanthus, Guzmania, Hohenbergia, 

Neoregelia, Tillandsia, and Vriesea into 

the United States from Belgium, 

Denmark, and the Netherlands. 

Under section 412(a) of the Plant 

Protection Act, the Secretary of 

Agriculture may prohibit or restrict the 

importation and entry of any plant or 

plant product if the Secretary 

determines that the prohibition or 

restriction is necessary to prevent the 

introduction into the United States or 

the dissemination within the United 

States of a plant pest or noxious weed. 

The Secretary has determined that it 

is not necessary to prohibit the 

importation from Belgium, Denmark, 

and the Netherlands of Aechmea, 

Cryptanthus, Guzmania, Hohenbergia, 

Neoregelia, Tillandsia, and Vriesea, 

provided that the plants are established 

in an approved growing medium and 

meet all other applicable conditions of 

§ 319.37–8(e). This determination is 

based on the findings of the pest risk 

analysis and the Secretary’s judgment 

that the application of the measures 

required under § 319.37–8(e) will 

prevent the introduction or 

dissemination of plant pests into the 

United States. 

Accordingly, we are proposing to 

amend the regulations in § 319.37–8(e) 

by adding Aechmea, Cryptanthus, 

Guzmania, Hohenbergia, Neoregelia, 

Tillandsia, and Vriesea from Belgium, 

Denmark, and the Netherlands to the list 

of plants established in an approved 

growing medium that may be imported 

into the United States. The plants would 

have to be produced, handled, and 

imported in accordance with the 

requirements of § 319.37–8(e) and be 

accompanied at the time of importation 

by a phytosanitary certificate issued by 

the plant protection service of the 

country in which the plants were grown 

that declares that those requirements 

have been met. 

Miscellaneous 

In ‘‘Subpart—Nursery Stock, Plants, 

Roots, Bulbs, Seeds, and Other Plant 

Products,’’ the footnotes are out of 

sequence. Currently, there is no footnote 

7, and there are two footnotes 11. To 

correct these errors, we would 

redesignate some footnotes and revise 

one of them. Current footnotes 8 and 9 

would be redesignated as 7 and 8, 

respectively. In § 319.37–8(e), current 

footnote 10, which indicates that 

Bromeliads imported into Hawaii are 

subject to postentry quarantine in 

accordance with § 319.37–7, would be 

redesignated as footnote 9. As 

Bromeliads, Aechmea, Cryptanthus, 

Guzmania, Hohenbergia, Neoregelia, 

Tillandsia, and Vriesea imported into 

Hawaii from Belgium, Denmark, or the 

Netherlands would be subject to the 

same postentry quarantine requirement. 

Our proposed new entry to the list in 

§ 319.37–8(e) would therefore include a 

new footnote 10 that would refer the 

reader back to newly redesignated 

footnote 9. Current footnote 11 in 

§ 319.37–8(e) also refers the reader back 

to the footnote pertaining to postentry 

quarantine. We would revise footnote 11 

to refer the reader to newly redesignated 

footnote 9, rather than to footnote 10, as 

it currently does. Finally, a footnote in 

§ 319.37–13(a), now also designated, 

incorrectly, as footnote 11, would be 

redesignated as footnote 12. 

Executive Order 12866 and Regulatory 

Flexibility Act 

This proposed rule has been 

determined to be not significant for the 

purposes of Executive Order 12866 and, 

therefore, has not been reviewed by the 

Office of Management and Budget. 

In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 603, we 

have performed an initial regulatory 

flexibility analysis, which is 

summarized below, regarding the 

economic effects of this proposed rule 

on small entities. Copies of the full 

analysis are available by contacting the 

person listed under FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT or on the 

Regulations.gov Web site (see 

ADDRESSES above for instructions for 

accessing Regulations.gov). 

Based on the information we have, 

there is no reason to conclude that 

adoption of this proposed rule would 

result in any significant economic effect 

on a substantial number of small 

entities. However, we do not currently 

have all of the data necessary for a 

comprehensive analysis of the effects of 

this proposed rule on small entities. 

Therefore, we are inviting comments on 

potential effects. In particular, we are 

interested in determining the number 

and kind of small entities that may 

incur benefits or costs from the 

implementation of this proposed rule. 

This proposed rule would amend the 

regulations governing the importation of 

plants and plant products by adding 

Aechmea, Cryptanthus, Guzmania, 

Hohenbergia, Neoregelia, Tillandsia, 

and Vriesea from Belgium, Denmark, 

and the Netherlands to the list of plants 

established in an approved growing 

medium that may be imported into the 

United States, subject to certain 

conditions. 

APHIS does not expect the proposed 

rule to have a significant economic 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities, as there are believed to be 

relatively few U.S. producers of 

Bromeliad plants, the entities who stand 

to be affected most by the rule. The 

initial regulatory flexibility analysis 

describes the proposed rule’s expected 

small-entity impact and specifically 

seeks public comment on that expected 

impact, as only limited data were 

available for analysis. Most U.S. growers 

of Bromeliad plants are likely to be 

small entities under the Small Business 

Administration’s standards. 

Executive Order 12988 

This proposed rule has been reviewed 

under Executive Order 12988, Civil 

Justice Reform. If this proposed rule is 

adopted: (1) All State and local laws and 

regulations that are inconsistent with 

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13892 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 50 / Tuesday, March 15, 2011 / Proposed Rules 

10See footnote 9. 

11See footnote 9. 

this rule will be preempted; (2) no 

retroactive effect will be given to this 

rule; and (3) administrative proceedings 

will not be required before parties may 

file suit in court challenging this rule. 

National Environmental Policy Act 

To provide the public with 

documentation of APHIS’ review and 

analysis of any potential environmental 

impacts associated with the importation 

of plants of the genera Aechmea, 

Cryptanthus, Guzmania, Hohenbergia, 

Neoregelia, Tillandsia and Vriesea, of 

the family Bromeliaceae, from Belgium, 

Denmark, and the Netherlands, we have 

prepared an environmental assessment. 

The environmental assessment was 

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 provisions 

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 environmental assessment may 

be viewed on the Regulations.gov Web 

site or in our reading room. (A link to 

Regulations.gov and information on the 

location and hours of the reading room 

are provided under the heading 

ADDRESSES at the beginning of this 

proposed rule.) In addition, copies may 

be obtained by calling or writing to the 

individual listed under FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT. 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

This proposed rule contains no new 

information collection or recordkeeping 

requirements under the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 

et seq.). 

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 319 

Coffee, Cotton, Fruits, Imports, Logs, 

Nursery stock, Plant diseases and pests, 

Quarantine, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements, Rice, 

Vegetables. 

Accordingly, we propose to amend 7 

CFR part 319 as follows: 

PART 319—FOREIGN QUARANTINE 

NOTICES 

1. The authority citation for part 319 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 450, 7701–7772, and 

7781–7786; 21 U.S.C. 136 and 136a; 7 CFR 

2.22, 2.80, and 371.3. 

§ 319.37–6 [Amended] 

2. In § 319.37–6, footnote 8 is 

redesignated as footnote 7 

§ 319.37–7 [Amended] 

3. In § 319.37–7, footnote 9 is 

redesignated as footnote 8. 

§ 319.37–13 [Amended] 

4. In § 319.37–13, footnote 11 is 

redesignated as footnote 12. 

5. In § 319.37–8, paragraph (e) 

introductory text, the list is amended as 

follows: 

a. By redesignating footnote 10 as 

footnote 9. 

b. By adding a new entry, in 

alphabetical order, to read as set forth 

below. 

c. By revising footnote 11 to read as 

set forth below. 

§ 319.37–8 Growing media. 

* * * * * 

(e) * * * 

Bromeliad plants of the genera 

Aechmea, Cryptanthus, Guzmania, 

Hohenbergia, Neoregelia, Tillandsia, 

and Vriesea from Belgium, Denmark, 

and the Netherlands 10

* * * * * 

Nidularium 11

* * * * * 

Done in Washington, DC, this 9th day of 

March 2011. 

Kevin Shea, 

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2011–5965 Filed 3–14–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

7 CFR Part 319 

[Docket No. APHIS–2010–0020] 

RIN 0579–AD33 

Importation of Tomatoes With Stems 

From the Republic of Korea Into the 

United States 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: We are proposing to amend 

the fruits and vegetables regulations to 

allow, under certain conditions, the 

importation into the United States of 

commercial consignments of tomatoes 

with stems from the Republic of Korea. 

The conditions for the importation of 

tomatoes with stems from the Republic 

of Korea include requirements for pest 

exclusion at the production site, fruit fly 

trapping inside and outside the 

production site, and pest-excluding 

packinghouse procedures. The tomatoes 

would also be required to be 

accompanied by a phytosanitary 

certificate issued by the national plant 

protection organization of the Republic 

of Korea with an additional declaration 

confirming that the tomatoes had been 

produced in accordance with the 

proposed requirements. This action 

would allow for the importation of 

tomatoes with stems from the Republic 

of Korea while continuing to provide 

protection against the introduction of 

injurious plant pests into the United 

States. 

DATES: We will consider all comments 

that we receive on or before May 16, 

2011. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by either of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/

component/main?main=DocketDetail&

d=APHIS-2010-0020 to submit or view 

comments and to view supporting and 

related materials available 

electronically. 

• Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: 

Please send one copy of your comment 

to Docket No. APHIS–2010–0020, 

Regulatory Analysis and Development, 

PPD, APHIS, Station 3A–03.8, 4700 

River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 

20737–1238. Please state that your 

comment refers to Docket No. APHIS– 

2010–0020. 

Reading Room: You may read any 

comments that we receive on this 

docket in our reading room. The reading 

room 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) 690–2817 before 

coming. 

Other Information: Additional 

information about APHIS and its 

programs is available on the Internet at 

http://www.aphis.usda.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Phillip B. Grove, Regulatory 

Coordination Specialist, Regulatory 

Coordination and Compliance, PPQ, 

APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 156, 

Riverdale, MD 20737; (301) 734–6280. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The regulations in ‘‘Subpart—Fruits 

and Vegetables’’ (7 CFR 319.56–1 

through 319.56–50, referred to below as 

the regulations) prohibit or restrict the 

importation of fruits and vegetables into 

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