United States Department of Agriculture

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

June 2014

Analysis in Support of Certification that the Rule will not 

have a Significant Economic Impact on a Substantial 

Number of Small Entities

Final Rule

APHIS-2008-0071

RIN 0579-AD47

Importation of Plants for Planting

Policy & Program Development

Policy Analysis & Development
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Summary

APHIS is amending the regulations in 7 CFR §§ 319.37 through 319.37-14, which restrict 

the importation of living plants, plant parts, and seeds for propagation or planting. Several of the 

amendments will update regulatory provisions and thereby continue to mitigate plant pest risks

while promoting trade. The final rule will also clarify certain import requirements and improve 

the consistency between certain import and domestic regulations. Economic effects of the rule 

are expected to be relatively minor.

Easing the import requirements for potato cyst nematode (PCN) host plants for planting

that are grown in a PCN-free environment will result in cost savings for affected foreign 

producers, some portion of which may or may not be passed on to U.S. buyers.

Adding Canada to the list of countries known to have plum pox potyvirus, while allowing 

seeds of Prunus species to be imported from Canada if certified free of this disease, will help 

protect the U.S. stone fruit industries while allowing for seed imports from areas in Canada that 

are free of the disease to continue unabated.

Allowing importation from the Netherlands of previously restricted Dianthus species as 

long as they are grown in greenhouse nurseries and certified disease-free will have a positive 

impact on carnation imports from that country.

While nearly all of the entities that may be affected by the final rule, such as importers 

and wholesale merchants of fresh fruits and vegetables, flowers, nursery stock, and florist 

supplies are small, none of the effects will be economically significant. The APHIS 

Administrator has determined that this action, if promulgated, will not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
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Introduction 

The following analysis provides the basis, as required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 

for certification by the APHIS Administrator that the final rule, if promulgated, will not have a 

significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. APHIS is proposing to 

amend the regulations in 7 CFR §§ 319.37 through 319.37-14, which restrict the importation of 

living plants, plant parts, and seeds for propagation or planting. Several of the amendments will

update regulatory provisions and thereby continue to mitigate plant pest risks while promoting 

trade. Other changes will clarify certain import requirements and improve the consistency 

between certain import and domestic regulations.

The principal amendments will:

 Add Turkey to the list of countries that are prohibited from exporting restricted 

articles of Chrysanthemum species, Leucanthemella serotina, and 

Nipponanthemum nipponicum to the United States, due to the presence of

Chrysanthemum white rust;

 Require a permit for the importation of seed that is coated, pelleted, or embedded 

in a substrate that obscures visibility, and thus codify an existing import protocol;

 Remove the exemption for “wild collected plants” with respect to certification 

requirements for articles associated with potato cyst nematode (PCN), and add an 

alternative declaration option for plants imported from a country where PCN is 

known to occur, but in which the plants are grown either in greenhouses or on 

raised benches without soil, in vitro, or in an area known to be PCN-free;

 Add Canada to the list of countries that are known to have plum pox potyvirus

(PPV), but allow seeds of Prunus spp. to be imported with an additional 
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declaration certifying that the seeds or mother plants have been tested and found 

free of PPV;

 Provide for the importation of Dianthus species (carnations) from the Netherlands

under inspection and certification requirements currently allowed for Great 

Britain.

Potential Impact on Small Entities

Here we discuss likely economic effects of the principal amendments noted above, 

followed by a description of small entities that may be affected by the final rule.

1. The addition of Turkey to the list of countries where chrysanthemum white rust is 

known to occur is expected to have no impact on U.S. entities. Turkey has no history of having 

exported the restricted species to the United States, and there is no expectation that Turkey will 

be exporting these species to the United States in the future. 

2. An existing protocol already requires that a permit be issued for the importation of any 

seed that is coated, pelleted, or embedded in a substrate that obscures visibility. The amendment 

will codify that protocol. Since there will be no change from current practice, this amendment 

will not have any effect on seed importers or other U.S. entities.

For three years, 2010-2012, the value of U.S. imports of planting seeds averaged more 

than $52 million and U.S. exports of planting seeds exceeded $59.7 million (table 1). U.S. seed 

exports have increased during these three years, while seed import levels have remained

relatively constant. Codification will more firmly establish the importance of an import permit 

for entry of seed that is coated, pelleted, or embedded in a substrate that obscures visibility. 
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Table 1: Annual value of U.S. trade in vegetable and fruit seeds and spores for sowing 

and planting, 2010-2012, million dollars (HTC:120999)

2010 2011 2012

U.S. Exports $56.9 $68.3 $53.8

U.S. Imports $46.6 $56.9 $52.6

U.S. Net Exports $10.3 $11.4 $1.2

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, as reported by Global Trade Information Services, Inc.

3. Countries known to be infested with potato cyst nematode (PCN) must currently 

certify that the growing areas in which they produce host plants for export to the United States 

are free of this pest. We expect that the final additional declaration option for host plants for 

planting produced in a PCN-free environment (such as grown without soil; in greenhouses; on 

raised benches; or in vitro) may result in cost savings for entities that export such plants to the 

United States, since there will be no need for surveys of the growing media. Effects for U.S. 

importers are likely to be minor; some portion of any cost savings realized by affected foreign 

producers may or may not be passed on to buyers.

Removal of the exemption for “wild collected plants” with respect to certification 

requirements for articles associated with PCN will reduce the risk of pest introduction by this 

pathway.

The value of U.S. potatoes sold in 2012 was about $3.73 billion. Imports of fresh or 

chilled potatoes that year were valued at $134 million (equivalent to about 4 percent of U.S. 

production), with almost all coming from Canada.

4. APHIS lacks data regarding production of Prunus spp. plants for planting within 

Canada, or the percentage of such production that is exported yearly to the United States. 

However, by means of context, in 2012, Canadian production of Prunus spp. fruit (plum, peach, 

apricot, and other stone fruit) reached nearly 42,224 metric tons (MT), valued at $86 million—

around 2 percent of the quantity and less than 4 percent of the value of U.S. production (table 2). 
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Canada exported about 2,739 MT of stone fruit to the United States, a small fraction (i.e., 3 

percent) compared to U.S. stone fruit exports to Canada of 90,063 MT and to the world (225,877

MT) (table 3). 

Adding Canada to the list of countries known to have plum pox potyvirus, but allowing 

seeds and nursery stock of Prunus spp. to be imported with an additional declaration certifying 

that the articles or their mother plants have been tested and found free of PPV, will help protect 

the U.S. stone fruit industries from this disease and preserve U.S. export markets, while allowing 

for stone fruit seed imports from areas in Canada that are free of the disease to continue 

unabated.

Table 2: Quantity and value of selected stone fruits produced in the United States and in Canada, 2013

U.S. Production Canadian Production

Quantity in metric tons Value in USD Quantity in metric tons Value in USD

1,767,165 $2,288,138,000 42,224 $85,793,000

Note: Includes apricots, sweet and sour cherries, nectarines, peaches, plums and prunes .

Source: FAOSTAT/ FAO Statistics Division 2013.

Table 3: Quantity and value of U.S. trade with Canada and the world in selected stone fruits, 2013

U.S. Production U.S. Exports 

to the World

U.S. Imports from the 

World U.S. Imports from Canada U.S. Exports to Canada

1,767,165 MT

$2,288,138,000

225,877 MT

$665,861,000

78,007 MT

 $133,665,000

2,739 MT

$9,200,000

90,063 MT

$248,228,000

U.S. net exports to the World: 147,870 MT

$532,196,000

U.S. net exports to Canada: 87,324 MT 

$239,028,000

Source: FAOSTAT and World Trade Atlas (HS: 0809).

5. The final inspection and certification requirements for Dianthus species from the 

Netherlands will allow the importation of previously restricted articles of some species of 

carnations as long as they are grown in greenhouse nurseries and certified disease free. The 

greenhouse nurseries will need to be inspected once a month for four consecutive months prior to 

U.S. importation. The final rule will have a positive impact on U.S. imports from the Netherlands 

of Dianthus species. As shown in table 4, U.S. imports of cut carnations from the Netherlands as 
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a percentage of total cut carnation imports by the United States varies from year to year, and 

averaged about 3 percent between 2010 and 2013. 

Table 4: Value of U.S. imports of cut carnations (HS: 0603.12.000) from the Netherlands and the 

world, 2010-2013 

U.S. Partner 2010 2011 2012 2013

World $62,369,862 $69,635,803 $85,549,585 $80,380,431

Netherlands $2,450 $10,956 $79,628 $3,805

U.S. imports from Netherlands as a percent

of U.S. imports from the world 

1% 2% 10% 0.0%

Source: http://www.fas.usda.gov/gats/ Source: Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Foreign Trade 

Statistics. 

Entities most likely to be directly affected by the final rule are importers and wholesale 

merchants of flowers, nursery stocks, and florists’ supplies (NAICS 424930) and wholesale 

merchants of fresh fruits and vegetables (NAICS 424480). The Small Business Administration 

(SBA) has established guidelines for determining which establishments are to be considered 

small. Imports/export merchants, agents and brokers are identified within the broader 

wholesaling trade sector. A firm primarily engaged in wholesaling live plants and flowers is 

considered small if it employs not more than 100 persons. The same small-entity standard 

applies to wholesale merchants of fresh fruits and vegetables.1 In 2007, more than 98 percent 

(3,534 of 3,601) of wholesale merchants of flowers, nursery stocks, and florists’ supplies that 

operated the entire year were small by the SBA standard (table 5). That same year, nearly 95 

percent (4,207 of 4,437) of fruit and vegetable wholesale establishments that operated the entire 

year were small by the SBA standard.

 

1 NAICS Code Report, https://epic.od.nih.gov/naics/Naicscodelist.asp (Subsector 424 – Merchant Wholesalers, 

Nondurable Goods; pp. 15:16 of 39-)
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Table 5. Prevalence of small entities in industries that may be affected by the rule, 2007

Industry Number of 

Establishments

Number of 

Establishments 

that operated the 

entire year

Number of 

Establishments with 

fewer than 100 

employees that 

operated the entire year

Small-entity 

Establishments as a 

percentage of those that 

operated the entire year

Flower, Nursery 

Stock, and Florists’

Supplies Merchant 

Wholesalers 

(NAICS 424930)

4,218 3,601 3,534 98.1%

Fresh Fruits and 

Vegetables, 

Wholesale 

Merchants

(NAICS 424480)

5,074 4,437 4207 94.8%

Source: 2007 Economic Census. Sector 42: Wholesale Trade: Subject Series- Establishment & Firm Size: Summary 

Statistics by Employment size of establishments for the United States.

While nearly all of the entities that may be affected by the final rule are small, none of 

the effects of the final amendments will be economically significant. Under these circumstances, 

the Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has determined that this 

action, if promulgated, will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of 

small entities.