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[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 203 (Thursday, October 20, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65165-65166]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-27173]

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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. APHIS-2011-0092]

Importation of Plants for Planting; Risk-Based Sampling and 
Inspection Approach and Propagative Monitoring and Release Program

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: We are advising the public of our decision to implement a 
risk-based sampling approach for the inspection of imported plants for 
planting. In our previous approach, we inspected 2 percent of 
consignments of imported plants for planting regardless of previous 
evidence of the risk posed by the plants for planting. The risk-based 
sampling and inspection approach will allow us to target high-risk 
plants for planting for more extensive inspection to help ensure that 
plants for planting infested with quarantine pests do not enter the 
United States, while providing a speedier inspection process for lower-
risk plants for planting. In addition, for taxa of plants for planting 
that pose an extremely low risk, we are establishing a Propagative 
Monitoring and Release Program under which consignments of those taxa 
will be periodically monitored but not every consignment will be 
inspected.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Gordon Muraoka, National Plant 
Inspection Station Coordinator, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 133, 
Riverdale, MD 20737; (301) 734-0932; or Dr. Mary Palm, Senior 
Mycologist and Lab Director, National Identification Services, 
Molecular Diagnostic Lab, PPQ, APHIS, B-580, BARC-East, Powder Mill 
Road, Beltsville, MD 20705; (301) 504-7154.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The regulations in 7 CFR part 319 prohibit 
or restrict the importation of certain plants and plant products into 
the United States to prevent the introduction of plant pests that are 
not already established in the United States or plant pests that may be 
established but are under official control to eradicate or contain them 
within the United States.
    The regulations in ``Subpart--Plants for Planting,'' Sec. Sec.  
319.37 through 319.37-14 (referred to below as the regulations), 
restrict the importation of plants for planting. Plants for planting is 
defined in Sec.  319.37-1 as plants intended to remain planted, to be 
planted or replanted. The definition of plant in that section includes 
any plant (including any plant part) for or capable of propagation, 
including a tree, a tissue culture, a plantlet culture, pollen, a 
shrub, a vine, a cutting, a graft, a scion, a bud, a bulb, a root, and 
a seed.
    All plants for planting imported into the United States must be 
presented for inspection. Inspectors examine the plants for planting to 
determine whether they show any visual evidence of being infested with 
quarantine pests or infected with quarantine pathogens. After 
inspection, the plants may be allowed entry into the United States 
(with treatment, if necessary), destroyed, or reexported, depending on 
the results of the inspection.
    Plants for planting that are required to be imported under a 
written permit under Sec.  319.37-3(a)(1) through (a)(6) and that are 
not from Canada must be imported or offered for importation at a U.S. 
Department of Agriculture (USDA) plant inspection station. Under Sec.  
319.37-3(a)(5), lots of 13 or more articles (other than seeds, bulbs, 
or sterile cultures of orchid plants) from any country or locality 
except Canada may be imported into the United States only after 
issuance of a written permit. Therefore, most consignments of plants 
for planting must be imported or offered for importation at a USDA 
plant inspection station. Such stations are listed in Sec.  319.37-14. 
Plants for planting that are offered for inspection at a USDA plant 
inspection station are inspected by Plant Protection and Quarantine 
(PPQ) inspectors.
    This notice announces our decision to standardize our approach to 
sampling and inspecting consignments of plants for planting offered for 
importation at USDA plant inspection stations based on the pest risk 
presented by the plants for plant for planting.
    To this point, PPQ inspectors have inspected a minimum of 2 percent 
of every consignment of plants for planting presented for inspection. 
We have assessed our sampling and inspection methods and found that we 
can use our resources more effectively by targeting our efforts towards 
plants for planting that are known to present a higher risk, based on 
past inspection results for those plants for planting. Such an approach 
would be consistent with International Standard for Phytosanitary 
Measures (ISPM) 31, ``Methodologies for Sampling of 
Consignments.'' \1\
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    \1\ ISPMs are developed under the auspices of the International 
Plant Protection Convention, to which the United States is a 
signatory. To view this and other ISPMs on the Internet, go to 
http://www.ippc.int/ and click on the ``Adopted Standards'' link 
under the ``Core activities'' heading.
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    Therefore, we are standardizing our sampling and inspection 
approach to adjust the intensity of our inspection of imported plants 
for planting based on the risk they present of introducing quarantine 
pests into the United States. We will evaluate the risk associated with 
combinations of taxa of plants for planting and countries from which 
they are exported and assign risk ratings to those articles.
    Plants for planting determined to present an extremely low risk 
will be inspected under the Propagative Monitoring and Release Program 
(PMRP). Taxa of plants for planting included in this program will be 
periodically monitored at plant inspection stations. Not every 
consignment of plants for planting included in the PRMP will be 
inspected, but those consignments that are inspected will be inspected 
at normal levels to confirm the plants' continued eligibility for the 
PMRP.
    Subsequently, we will also implement a risk-based sampling plan for 
all other plants for planting. We will implement this approach 
initially by considering all taxa of plants for planting to be high 
risk. All plants for planting will be sampled at high risk rates until 
we have gathered sufficient data to establish that the plants for 
planting present a medium or low risk.
    If a taxon of plants for planting from a certain country is 
determined to present a medium or low risk, it will be sampled at the 
plant inspection stations at a less intensive rate than high-risk 
plants for planting. We will continue to sample some consignments of 
the taxon at higher rates to monitor whether the taxon should still be 
considered to be medium or low risk. We will update our categorizations 
of taxa regularly in response to data from all inspections. This 
approach will allow us to target our resources towards taxa of plants 
for planting that pose the greatest risk and thus to provide greater 
security against the introduction of quarantine pests into the United 
States.

[[Page 65166]]

    For importers of plants for planting, this approach may increase or 
decrease inspection time at the plant inspection station, depending on 
the risk level of the material. We believe this new sampling and 
inspection approach will result in increased effectiveness and that the 
difference in inspection time will be an incentive for importers to 
present high-quality, pest-free plants for planting for inspection at 
plant inspection stations.
    We plan to implement the PMRP on October 17, 2011. The risk-based 
sampling will be implemented following further analysis of the sampling 
protocol.

    Done in Washington, DC, this 14th day of October 2011.
Kevin Shea,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2011-27173 Filed 10-19-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P
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