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[Federal Register: September 23, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 184)]
[Proposed Rules]               
[Page 57864-57866]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr23se10-13]                         

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Proposed Rules
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

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.

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[[Page 57864]]

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

7 CFR Part 319

[Docket No. APHIS-2007-0117]
RIN 0579-AC90

 
Importation of Wooden Handicrafts from China

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Proposed rule; supplemental.

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SUMMARY: We are proposing a change related to our proposed rule 
published in the Federal Register on April 9, 2009, that would amend 
the regulations to provide for the importation of wooden handicrafts 
from China under certain conditions. One of those conditions would have 
required that, unless the handicrafts are under 6 inches in diameter 
and treated with methyl bromide, they must be treated with heat 
treatment or heat treatment with moisture reduction that raises the 
temperature at the center of the handicraft to at least 71.1 [deg]C and 
maintains the handicraft at that center temperature for at least 75 
minutes. Based on a recently published article, in this supplemental 
proposed rule we are proposing measures that would modify this 
requirement to a temperature at the center of at least 60 [deg]C for a 
duration of at least 60 minutes.

DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before 
November 22, 2010.

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-2007-0117) 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-2007-0117, 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-2007-0117.
    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. John Tyrone Jones, Trade Director 
(Forestry Products), Phytosanitary Issues Management, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 
River Road Unit 140, Riverdale, MD 20737-1231; (301) 734-8860.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The regulations in ``Subpart-Logs, Lumber, and Other Unmanufactured 
Wood Articles'' (7 CFR 319.40-1 through 319.40-11, referred to below as 
the regulations) govern the importation of various logs, lumber, and 
other unmanufactured wood products into the United States. Under Sec.  
319.40-9 of the regulations, all regulated articles must be inspected 
at the port of first arrival. If a regulated article shows any signs of 
pest infestation, the inspector may require treatment, if an approved 
treatment exists, or refuse entry of the consignment.
    Prior to 2005, wood decorative items and craft products (wooden 
handicrafts) from China had been entering the United States in 
increasing quantities. However, between 2002 and 2005, the Animal and 
Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issued more than 300 emergency 
action notices for wooden handicrafts from China, including artificial 
trees manufactured from a composite of natural and synthetic materials, 
garden trellis towers, home and garden wood d[eacute]cor, and craft 
items. Moreover, in 2004, the United States Department of Agriculture 
(USDA) intercepted live wood boring beetles, Callidiellum villosulum 
(Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), on artificial trees manufactured from wood 
components and on other craft products imported from China. Subsequent 
to these interceptions, shipments of the articles were recalled from 
retail stores. Based on these pest interceptions, in 2005, we suspended 
the importation of most wooden handicrafts (i.e., all handicrafts made 
from wooden logs, limbs, branches, or twigs greater than 1 centimeter 
in diameter) from China until a more thorough evaluation of the pest 
risks associated with those articles could be conducted.
    APHIS prepared a pest risk assessment, titled ``Pests and 
mitigations for manufactured wood d[eacute]cor and craft products from 
China for importation into the United States,'' to evaluate the risks 
associated with the importation of such wooden handicrafts into the 
United States from China. We also prepared a risk management document, 
titled ``Pests and mitigations for manufactured wood d[eacute]cor and 
craft products from China for importation into the United States,'' to 
determine mitigations necessary to prevent pest entry, introduction, or 
establishment associated with imported wooden handicrafts from China. 
Based on the conclusions in the pest risk assessment and the 
accompanying risk management document, we determined that wooden 
handicrafts could be imported from China provided they met certain 
requirements for treatment, issuance of a phytosanitary certificate, 
inspection, and box identification.
    Accordingly, on April 9, 2009, we published in the Federal Register 
(74 FR 16146-16151, Docket No. APHIS-2007-0117) a proposal\1\ to 
authorize the importation of wooden handicrafts from China under those 
conditions. We solicited comments concerning the proposed rule for 60 
days ending June 8, 2009. We received eight comments by that date. They 
were from the national plant protection organization (NPPO) of China, a 
State department of agriculture, manufacturers of Chinese wooden 
handicrafts, a public advocacy organization, and private citizens.
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    \1\ To view the proposed rule, supporting documents, or the 
comments we received, go to (http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#docketDetail?R=APHIS-2007-0117).
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    One of the commenters urged us to finalize the proposed rule 
without

[[Page 57865]]

change. The remaining commenters provided comments on the rule in 
general, and requested modifications to certain of its provisions.
    One commenter disagreed with our proposed requirement that would 
have required that, unless the wooden handicraft is 6 inches or less 
and treated with methyl bromide, it must be treated with heat treatment 
in accordance with Sec.  319.40-7(c) or heat treatment with moisture 
reduction in accordance with Sec.  319.40-7(d). At the time our 
proposed rule was published, paragraph (c) of Sec.  319.40-7 provided 
that, if heat treatment is required for a regulated article, any heat 
treatment procedure may be employed that raises the temperature at the 
center of the regulated article to at least 71.1 [deg]C and maintains 
the regulated article at that center temperature for at least 75 
minutes. Similarly, paragraph (d) provided that, if heat treatment with 
moisture reduction is required for a regulated article, unless the 
article is treated with kiln drying conducted in accordance with the 
schedules prescribed for the article in the Dry Kin Operator's Manual, 
Agriculture Handbook 188, it must be treated with a method that raises 
the temperature at the center of the article to at least 71.1 [deg]C 
and maintains the regulated article at that center temperature for at 
least 75 minutes.
    The commenter stated that the two paragraphs require regulated 
articles to be treated at a significantly higher temperature and for a 
longer duration than the temperature and duration recommended by 
International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) 15, which 
recommends that wood packaging material (WPM) be treated according to a 
heat treatment schedule that raises the temperature at the center of 
the WPM to at least 56 [deg]C and maintains the WPM at that center 
temperature for at least 30 minutes.\2\ The commenter suggested that we 
should modify the proposed heat treatment requirement for Chinese 
wooden handicrafts to make it consistent with ISPM 15.
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    \2\ To view ISPM 15, go to: (https://www.ippc.int/index.php?id=13399&tx_publication_pi1 
[lsqb]showUid[rsqb]=133703&frompage=13399&type= 
publication&subtype=&L=0#item).
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    Because the composition of WPM often differs from that of wooden 
handicrafts--for example, WPM is almost always debarked, while wooden 
handicrafts often are not--the plant pest risks associated with these 
classes of articles also often differ, and we therefore determined that 
we could not summarily modify the heat treatment requirement in the 
manner suggested by the commenter. Rather, we reexamined the findings 
of the pest risk assessment that accompanied the proposed rule to 
determine whether treatment in accordance with ISPM 15 would neutralize 
the pests of greatest concern identified in the pest risk assessment as 
likely to follow the pathway on imported wooden handicrafts from China.
    These pests were wood-boring beetles in the families Buprestidae, 
Cerambycidae, and Scolytidae. Based on a review of the relevant 
scientific literature and on efficacy studies conducted by the Center 
for Plant Health Science and Technology of APHIS' Plant Protection and 
Quarantine division, we determined that heat treatment of Chinese 
wooden handicrafts at the temperature and duration recommended by ISPM 
15 would be effective in neutralizing all pests in these families 
except Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). EAB is an extremely destructive pest; 
the mortality rate for infested trees is 100 percent, and EAB has 
already killed more than 20 million ash trees in the United States 
since it was first discovered in Michigan in the summer of 2002. It was 
therefore our intent to retain the heat treatment requirements of the 
proposed rule in issuing a follow-up regulatory action.
    However, in the December 2009 issue of Journal of Economic 
Entomology, an article titled ``Evaluation of Heat Treatment Schedules 
for Emerald Ash Borer (Coloeptera: Buprestidae)'' documents four recent 
independent experiments to determine the minimum core temperature and 
time duration necessary to neutralize EAB on firewood via heat 
treatment or heat treatment with moisture reduction. As part of the 
experiments, researchers obtained ash wood from trees showing visible 
signs of EAB infestation, split the wood, and stored it. They then 
heat-treated the articles in laboratory facilities (a drying oven and 
an environmental chamber) at temperatures and durations ranging from 45 
to 65 [deg]C and 15 to 60 minutes, respectively.
    The experiments suggested that ``a minimum heat treatment of 60 
[deg]C for 60 minutes[hellip]would provide >99.9% control (for EAB) 
based on probit estimates.''\3\
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    \3\ Myers, Scott, Ivich Fraser, and Victor Mastro, ``Evaluation 
of Heat Treatment Schedules for Emerald Ash Borer (Coloeptera: 
Buprestidae)'', Journal of Economic Entomology, 102:6 (December 
2009), 2048-2055.
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    Based on this article, we have reason to believe that heat 
treatment or heat treatment with moisture reduction methods that raise 
the center of wooden handicrafts from China to at least 60 [deg]C and 
maintain the handicrafts at that center temperature for at least 60 
minutes will neutralize all the pests of greatest concern identified in 
the pest risk assessment as likely to follow the pathway on imported 
Chinese wooden handicrafts.
    On January 26, 2010, we published in the Federal Register a final 
rule (75 FR 4228-4253, Docket No. APHIS-2008-0022) that, among other 
things, removed all treatment schedules found in 7 CFR chapter III, 
including those in Sec.  319.40-7(c) and (d). It replaced all such 
schedules with a reference to 7 CFR part 305, which contains our 
regulations governing phytosanitary treatments. Finally, it amended 7 
CFR part 305 itself to state that all approved treatment schedules for 
regulated articles are now found, not in the regulations, but in the 
PPQ Treatment Manual, and to establish a process for adding new 
treatment schedules for regulated articles to the Treatment Manual.\4\
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    \4\ The Treatment Manual is available on the Internet at (http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/plants/manuals/ports/treatment.shtml).
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    Under this process, when we are proposing to add a new treatment 
schedule to the Treatment Manual, we will publish a notice in the 
Federal Register describing the reasons we have determined that it is 
necessary to add the treatment schedule to the manual and providing for 
a public comment period on the new treatment schedule. If we prepare 
documentation to support the proposed change to the Treatment Manual, 
we will also announce its availability via this notice.
    Consistent with this process, we have prepared a treatment 
evaluation document (TED) to accompany this proposed rule. The TED 
provides information regarding why the findings of the December 2009 
article, which pertain to firewood, also apply to Chinese wooden 
handicrafts, and why we believe that heat treatment methods that raise 
the center of the wooden handicrafts to at least 60 [deg]C and maintain 
the handicrafts at that center temperature for at least 60 minutes will 
neutralize all the pests of greatest concern likely to follow the 
pathway on those handicrafts. The TED is available from the person 
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT or on the Regulations.gov 
Web site (see ADDRESSES above for a link to Regulations.gov).
    In our proposed rule, proposed paragraph (o)(1)(i) of Sec.  319.40-
5 would have required that wooden handicrafts from China be treated 
with heat

[[Page 57866]]

treatment in accordance with Sec.  319.40-7(c) or with heat treatment 
with moisture reduction in accordance with Sec.  319.40-7(d). However, 
as we mentioned above, these paragraphs no longer contain heat 
treatment schedules; all approved schedules now are listed only in the 
PPQ Treatment Manual. Accordingly, under this supplemental proposal, 
paragraph (o)(1)(i) would now require that wooden handicrafts be 
treated with heat treatment or heat treatment with moisture reduction 
as specified in the PPQ Treatment Manual, in accordance with 7 CFR part 
305. If we finalize our April 2009 proposed rule and this supplemental 
proposal, we would add heat treatment that raises the center of Chinese 
wooden handicrafts to at least 60 [deg]C and maintains the handicrafts 
at that center temperature for at least 60 minutes to the PPQ Treatment 
Manual as an approved treatment for these handicrafts, and modified 
paragraph (o)(1)(i) would require such a treatment.

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.
    This action supplements a proposed rule published in the Federal 
Register on April 9, 2009. We prepared an initial regulatory 
flexibility analysis for the proposed rule that considered the 
potential effects of the rule on small entities. The analysis 
identified individuals engaged in wood product manufacturing, importing 
of the regulated articles, or furniture and related products 
manufacturing as the entities most likely to be affected by the 
proposed rule.
    The analysis took into consideration that the cost of treating 
Chinese handicrafts could be passed on to certain of these entities. 
However, it also noted that China already has in place the heat 
treatment facilities necessary to conduct treatment, and expected that, 
because of this, any increase in prices due to individual treatments 
would not be significant.
    In assessing the possible cost of heat treatment, we determined 
that, because China already has heat treatment facilities at their 
disposal, a range of treatment schedules and durations would cost 
approximately the same amount per treatment, and would accordingly 
result in the same cost pass-through. The treatment schedule that we 
would authorize in this supplemental proposal--one that raises the 
center of Chinese wooden handicrafts to at least 60 [deg]C and 
maintains the handicrafts at that center temperature for at least 60 
minutes--falls within this range.
    Therefore, we believe that the findings of the initial regulatory 
flexibility analysis prepared for the proposed rule are still accurate 
and appropriate.
    That analysis was included in the proposed rule in its entirety, 
and is available on the Internet at the Regulations.gov Web site (see 
ADDRESSES at the beginning of this document for a link to 
Regulations.gov).

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This action supplements a proposed rule published in the Federal 
Register on April 9, 2009, that would amend the regulations to provide 
for the importation of wooden handicrafts from China under certain 
conditions. That proposed rule would necessitate the use of certain 
information collection activities, including the completion of 
phytosanitary certificates and identification tags of packages of 
wooden handicrafts.
    This supplemental 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.

0
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, we propose to amend 7 CFR 
part 319 as set out in the proposed rule published on April 9, 2009 (74 
FR 16146-16151, Docket No. APHIS-2007-0117), as follows:

PART 319--FOREIGN QUARANTINE NOTICES

0
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.

0
2. In Sec.  319.40-5, paragraph (o)(1)(i) is revised to read as 
follows:

Sec.  319.40-5  Importation and entry requirements for specified 
articles.

* * * * *
    (o) * * *
    (1) * * *
    (i) Wooden handicrafts must be treated with heat treatment or heat 
treatment with moisture reduction as specified in the PPQ Treatment 
Manual in accordance with part 305 of this chapter.
* * * * *
    Done in Washington, DC, this 17th day of September 2010.

Kevin Shea,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2010-23817 Filed 9-22-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-S
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