The Plant Protection

Act

After 17 years in the making, the Plant Protection Act

(PPA) became law in June 2000 as part of the

Agricultural Risk Protection Act. The PPA consolidates all or part of 10 existing USDA plant health

laws into one comprehensive law, including the

authority to regulate plants, plant products, certain

biological control organisms, noxious weeds, and

plant pests. The Plant Quarantine Act, the Federal

Pest Act, and the Federal Noxious Weed Act are

among the 10 statutes the new Act replaces. The

PPA is necessary because of the major impact plant

pests currently have and could have on the agriculture, environment, economy, and commerce of the

United States.

The PPA gives the Secretary of Agriculture, and

through delegated authority, USDA’s Animal and

Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the ability

to prohibit or restrict the importation, exportation, and

the interstate movement of plants, plant products,

certain biological control organisms, noxious weeds,

and plant pests. Under the PPA, violators face harsher civil penalties than ever before for smuggling illegal

plants or produce that could harbor plant pests or

diseases. The PPA gives the Secretary of Agriculture

the authority to subpoena documentary evidence and

witnesses to prosecute violators. The Act also provides APHIS with a cost recovery mechanism for

expenses related to the disposal of abandoned shipments at U.S. ports of entry.

This factsheet highlights some of the most important changes the PPA will have on the way APHIS

conducts business.

Action Areas

The PPA grants significant new regulatory authority for noxious weeds and clarifies APHIS’ existing

regulatory authority for beneficial organisms used in

biological control.

Currently, APHIS’ Plant Protection and

Quarantine (PPQ) program is developing plans and

procedures to incorporate new PPA authorities. PPQ

has identified eight PPA action areas and established

implementation timeframes to ensure that new

authorities are fully incorporated into program activities. These action items are:

1. Publishing a public notice describing procedures and standards for import requests;

2. Conducting a study outlining the role and

application of systems approaches associated with

proposals to import plants and plant products;

3. Establishing uniform procedures for conducting warrantless inspections;

4. Developing guidelines for the issuance of subpoenas;

5. Creating guidelines for the standardization of

civil penalties that will be applied consistently nationwide for specific violations;

6. Establishing internal procedures for cost 

recovery of expenses related to the disposal of smuggled or illegal agricultural products that are abandoned after APHIS takes regulatory action at U.S.

ports of entry;

7. Soliciting public comment at regional public

meetings on a concept paper prior to publication of a

proposed rule for noxious weeds; and

8. Publishing regulations for the movement of

biological control organisms.

Any new regulations or guidelines issued under

the PPA can be found in the Federal Register and the

APHIS website, which can be viewed at

www.aphis.usda.gov.

Civil Penalties and Subpoena Power

One of the PPA’s most significant changes is the

harsher civil penalties it allows the USDA to impose.

The PPA increases civil penalties to a maximum of

$50,000 for any individual who violates the law.

However, the maximum of $1,000 remains for firsttime offenders carrying an agricultural product

through U.S. ports of entry for personal use only. Any

business or group violating the PPA can now be fined

a maximum of $250,000 and no more than $500,000

per adjudication. Smugglers also face criminal penalties when the violation is intentional. These

increased penalties allow APHIS to get tougher on

those who threaten American agriculture.

Under the PPA, anyone causing harm to or interfering with an animal used in official inspections,

such as one of the animals in USDA’s Beagle

Brigade, can be fined up to $10,000. The Beagle

Brigade is made up of detector dogs that work at

international airports and borders to sniff passenger

luggage and packages for hidden fruits, vegetables,

meats, and other agricultural products that may contain invasive animal or plant pests or diseases.

PPQ is currently developing uniform standards

for the enforcement of these new civil penalties.

Factsheet

 	
  
	 	 

APHIS
The PPA also gives the Secretary of Agriculture

the power to issue subpoenas for documents and witnesses to aid in the prosecution of violators. When an

APHIS inspection leads to suspicion that prohibited

materials are being housed in a facility, a thorough

investigation will begin. APHIS will request a subpoena to be issued based on an active investigation, evidence that previous attempts to gain access to documents has been refused, and that the request for documents that pertain to the investigation is reasonable.

The subpoena will set a date and time for APHIS to

obtain the documents.

A notice regarding APHIS’ subpoena authority

and procedures will be published in the Federal

Register in the near future.

Warrantless Inspections

Currently, APHIS conducts inspections without

warrants every day on passenger baggage and cargo

at all of this country’s international airports and most

border crossings. Inspectors look for prohibited agricultural products that could harm American agriculture

by bringing in plant pests and diseases. Under the

PPA, APHIS also has the authority to conduct inspections without warrants on interstate commerce, based

on probable cause, as well as intrastate commerce as

part of an extraordinary emergency.

A working group comprised of PPQ staff and

APHIS’ Investigative and Enforcement Services staff,

with guidance from USDA’s Office of General

Counsel, is developing written guidelines for warrantless inspections. These guidelines will follow the U.S.

Attorney General’s guidelines for warrantless inspections and will include search criteria and procedures

that ensure that warrantless inspections do not violate

the legal or constitutional rights of citizens.

Cost Recovery Measures

Previously, when APHIS required regulatory

action for infested or prohibited agricultural products

and the importer abandoned the shipment, APHIS

covered the cost of disposing of the cargo. With the

PPA, if the importer fails to take the required remedial

measures, APHIS will take the necessary action and

bill the importer for all associated costs.

Quality Assurance Programs

The PPA allows APHIS-PPQ to work with industry

and other cooperators to establish programs to

improve the health and pest and disease–free status

of specific commodities. One outcome of this cooperation is that APHIS can publish industry-developed

standards under its regulatory authority.

If industry members wish to voluntarily comply

with these best practices or higher standards, APHIS

can authorize them to put a predetermined quality

sticker or seal on their product.

Noxious Weeds

The PPA expands the definition of noxious weed

from the definition in the Federal Noxious Weed Act,

which included only weeds that were of foreign origin,

new to, or not widely prevalent in the United States.

The PPA now defines a noxious weed as a weed that

could bring harm to agriculture, the public health, navigation, irrigation, natural resources, or the environment. Under the PPA, noxious weeds are regulated

similarly to plant pests.

The PPA allows the Secretary of Agriculture to

develop a classification system to describe the status

and action levels for noxious weeds. In conjunction

with the classification system, the Secretary may

develop integrated management plans for noxious

weeds for the specific geographic region or ecological

range where the noxious weed is found in the United

States.

The PPA gives authority to the Secretary of

Agriculture and APHIS to declare an extraordinary

emergency when a newly introduced or not widely

prevalent noxious weed poses a significant threat and

to declare an emergency that would enable the transfer of money from other agencies or corporations of

the Department, including the Commodity Credit

Corporation, to cover the cost of eradicating the weed.

An extraordinary emergency declaration gives APHIS

the authority to hold, seize, quarantine, treat, or

destroy any plant or plant product being moved within

a State that is believed to be infested with a plant pest

or noxious weed. This authority is used when a State

is unable to take the necessary measures itself.

A list of noxious weeds that are prohibited from

entering the United States or moving from State to

State, except under a permit with restricted conditions, is currently available on the APHIS website.

Any person may petition the Secretary of Agriculture

to add or remove a plant species from this list.

Biological Control

The PPA separates biological control organisms,

which were formerly grouped with plant pests, and

defines them as any enemy, antagonist, or competitor

used to control plant pests or noxious weeds. This

recognizes that not all organisms in need of permits

are plant pests and that some are actually beneficial

to U.S. agriculture and the environment.

APHIS has proposed new regulations for the

movement of plant pests and release of biological

control agents of weeds, which should be published in

the Federal Register in the near future.

The PPA reaffirms APHIS authority to regulate

biological control to prevent the introduction or dissemination of plant pests or noxious weeds and

encourages the USDA, other Federal agencies, and

the States to facilitate biological control whenever fea-
sible. The Act also provides APHIS with guidance on

how to regulate the movement of biological control

organisms and authorizes APHIS’ participation in

activities that enable the effective transfer of biological

control techniques.

Additional Information

The PPA broadens the scope of APHIS’ authority

and clarifies existing authorities to enable APHIS to

continue its mission of protecting America’s plants

and animals. For more information on the PPA, or to

read the Act in its entirety, please visit the APHIS

website at www.aphis.usda.gov or call APHIS’ PPQ

program at (301) 734-8295.

United States Department of Agriculture • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Safeguarding American Agriculture

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination

in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national

origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to

all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative

means for communication of program information (Braille, large

print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at

(202) 720–2600 (voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of

Civil Rights, Room 326–W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence

Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250–9410 or call (202) 720–5964

(voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and

employer.