APHIS Factsheet

Plant Protection and Quarantine July 2007

APHIS’ Quarantine 

56 Revision

In accordance with the Plant Protection Act (7 U.S. 

Code 7701 et seq.), the Secretary of Agriculture has 

the authority to establish regulations and take measures to prevent the spread of plant pests and disease 

into or through the United States. Under this authority, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and 

Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) regulates the 

importation of fruits and vegetables into the 

United States. 

 Effective August 16, 2007, APHIS implemented 

revised regulations pertaining to the importation of 

fruits and vegetables. Collectively, these regulations 

are commonly referred to as Quarantine 56 or the Q56 

regulations. Overall, the Q56 revisions, which are 

now in effect, simplify and expedite APHIS’ process 

for approving new imports and pest-free areas while 

continuing to allow for public participation in agency 

decisionmaking. Specifically, these changes include:

• Establishing an approval process that allows 

APHIS to authorize certain imports without rulemaking; 

• Eliminating the listing of specific commodities that 

may be imported subject to certain types of riskmanagement measures; and

• Establishing a process for APHIS to approve new 

pest-free areas without rulemaking. 

 The Q56 revisions do not change which fruits and 

vegetables are approved for importation or alter how 

the risks associated with those commodities are 

evaluated or mitigated. The revisions make the 

approval process more efficient for those fruits 

and vegetables that are safe for importation under 

approved conditions. 

 In addition to these substantive changes, APHIS 

also revised the regulations to consolidate into one 

place the requirements of general applicability and 

eliminated redundant and outdated requirements 

from the previous regulations. The revisions also 

updated regulatory terms, consolidated the requirements for importing fruits and vegetables into U.S. 

territories, and incorporated various other nonsubstantive changes. 

Substantive Changes

Prior to 1987, APHIS authorized the importation of a 

fruit or vegetable by simply issuing a permit once the 

agency was satisfied that the relevant criteria in the 

regulations had been met. These permits were issued 

without prior public notice, without rulemaking, and 

without specifically listing the approved commodities in 

the regulations. In 1987, in an effort to make the process more transparent, APHIS began approving new 

imports of fruits and vegetables through rulemaking. 

 The rulemaking process for approving fruit and 

vegetable imports requires that APHIS conduct a 

pest-risk analysis for each import request. The risk 

analysis serves as the primary basis for a proposed 

rule, which is published in the Federal Register for 

public comment. The public comments are considered, and if appropriate, a final rule to authorize the 

imports is prepared.

 APHIS estimates that it takes a minimum of 18 

months to evaluate and approve new import requests 

under the rulemaking-based system. In reality, the 

process typically takes 2 to 3 years and longer in 

some cases. 

 With international trade in fruits and vegetables 

increasing steadily, APHIS determined that it could 

not keep pace with the volume of import requests by 

using solely a rulemaking-based review and approval 

process. Therefore, under the Q56 revisions, APHIS 

established criteria that allows for faster, more efficient 

approval of certain fruits and vegetables for importation into the United States, while providing the same 

level of protection against foreign pests and diseases 

and the same level of public participation in the 

decisionmaking process.

 APHIS established a new “notice-based process” 

that still requires a pest risk analysis to be conducted 

for new fruits or vegetables, just as in the rulemakingbased process. However, if the risk analysis shows 

that the commodity’s risk can be sufficiently mitigated 

by one or more of five designated phytosanitary 

measures, the commodity becomes eligible for a more 

streamlined approval process. 

 Under the streamlined process, a notice announcing the availability of the pest-risk analysis is published 

in the Federal Register to allow for public comment for 

60 days. Barring substantive comments that disprove 

the findings of the pest-risk analysis, a notice is then 

published in the Federal Register to announce that 

APHIS will begin issuing import permits for the commodity. If a commodity’s pest risk cannot be sufficiently mitigated by one or more of the five designated 

phytosanitary measures, the commodity must undergo 

the full rulemaking process. 

 Commodities approved under the notice-based 

process will no longer be listed individually in the 

regulations. Additionally, commodities previously 
approved for importation and which meet the noticebased criteria will no longer be listed. However, 

APHIS will specifically list in the Code of Federal 

Regulations (CFR) any commodities that are eligible 

for import under more stringent mitigation measures. 

 Lastly, under the Q56 revisions, APHIS also established a framework for a notice-based process for 

approving pest-free areas in exporting countries. This 

process, which is similar to the commodity approval 

process described above, allows the agency to be 

more responsive in recognizing changes in the pestfree status of foreign areas. In the past, APHIS recognized changes in the pest-free status of countries via 

rulemaking. The new and more efficient notice-based 

process will enable APHIS’ oversight of imports to 

better reflect the actual pest status of areas in 

foreign countries. 

 Using the notice-based process, APHIS will publish a notice in the Federal Register announcing that 

an exporting country has provided information that 

meets or exceeds the pest-free criteria listed in 7 CFR 

319.56-5, and that APHIS officials have completed an 

evaluation of the request. The notice will be available 

for public comment for 60 days. At the time the notice 

is published, APHIS will also make copies of the supporting information available. Once all comments 

have been considered, APHIS will, if still warranted, 

publish a notice in the Federal Register stating that 

the agency is recognizing the areas as free of specified pests. 

Nonsubstantive Changes

Many of the revisions to the Q56 regulations were 

made to make them easier to understand. The following are examples of the nonsubstantive changes 

APHIS made: 

• Consolidate Requirements of General Applicability—APHIS consolidated all requirements 

of general applicability into one section. For 

example, instructions concerning required permits, 

ports-of-entry that can be used, charges for APHIS 

services, and other general requirements for 

importing fruits and vegetables are now located at 

the beginning of the Q56 regulations.

• Remove Redundant and Outdated Requirements—APHIS removed sections of the Q56 

regulations that were redundant with other regulations. For example, APHIS removed Q56 text 

concerning treatment schedules for imported fruits 

and vegetables because this and other related 

information are already available elsewhere in 

the CFR. This revision and other similar changes 

improved the clarity of the Q56 import regulations.

• Update Terms—APHIS removed outdated terms 

and added several new definitions to the Q56 

regulations. For example, APHIS removed the 

definition for Deputy Administrator because references to that official were changed to refer to the 

Administrator under this rule. As a result, the 

definition for Administrator was added to Q56.

• Update Regulations to the Territories—The Q56 

regulations generally apply to fruits and vegetables 

imported into the United States, as well as U.S. 

territories and possessions. In some instances, 

the regulations provide different conditions for the 

importation of fruits and vegetables into territories 

and possessions than the conditions required for 

imports to U.S. States. With the Q56 revisions, 

APHIS consolidated all of the import requirements 

for U.S. territories and possessions into one section. 

For More Information

For additional information on the Q56 regulations, 

please visit <http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/Q56/

index.html>. For information on APHIS permits, 

please visit, <http://www.aphis.usda.gov/permits>. 

APHIS is also in the process of creating a Web site 

that will allow customers to search, by commodity or 

country, for eligible fruits and vegetables and their 

requirements for importation into the United States. 

The goal is to launch the system this winter. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, 

national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital 

status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, 

genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part 

of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance 

program. (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 to USDA, 

Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W. 

, Washington , D.C. 20250–9410 , or call (800) 795–3272 (voice) 

or (202) 720–6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider 

and employer. 

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