This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

public. Notices of hearings and investigations,

committee meetings, agency decisions and

rulings, delegations of authority, filing of

petitions and applications and agency

statements of organization and functions are

examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

77003 

Vol. 77, No. 250 

Monday, December 31, 2012 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

[Docket No. APHIS–2012–0083] 

Notice of Request for Revision to and 

Extension of Approval of an 

Information Collection; Animal Disease 

Traceability Information Systems, 

Agreements, and Reports 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Revision to and extension of 

approval of an information collection; 

comment request. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 

notice announces the Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service’s intention to 

request a revision to and extension of 

approval of an information collection 

that will help the Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service to strengthen 

its animal disease prevention and 

response capabilities. 

DATES: We will consider all comments 

that we receive on or before March 1, 

2013. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by either of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov/#!document

Detail;D=APHIS-2012-0083-0001. 

• Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: 

Send your comment to Docket No. 

APHIS–2012–0083, Regulatory Analysis 

and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 

3A–03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, 

Riverdale, MD 20737–1238. 

Supporting documents and any 

comments we receive on this docket 

may be viewed at http://www.

regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;

D=APHIS-2012-0083 or in our reading 

room, which 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) 799–7039 before 

coming. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

information on the animal disease 

traceability data systems, contact Mr. 

Neil Hammerschmidt, Program 

Manager, Animal Disease Traceability, 

VS, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 200, 

Riverdale, MD 20737; (301) 851–3539. 

For copies of more detailed information 

on the information collection, contact 

Mrs. Celeste Sickles, APHIS’ 

Information Collection Coordinator, at 

(301) 851–2908. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title: Animal Disease Traceability 

Information Systems, Agreements, and 

Reports. 

OMB Number: 0579–0259. 

Type of Request: Revision to and 

extension of approval of an information 

collection. 

Abstract: Under the Animal Health 

Protection Act (AHPA, 7 U.S.C. 8301 et 

seq.), the Secretary of Agriculture has 

the authority to issue orders and 

promulgate regulations to prevent the 

introduction into the United States and 

the dissemination within the United 

States of any pest or disease of livestock. 

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service’s (APHIS’) regulations in 9 CFR 

subchapter B govern cooperative 

programs to control and eradicate 

communicable diseases of livestock. 

The regulations in 9 CFR subchapter C 

establish requirements for the interstate 

movement of livestock to prevent the 

dissemination of diseases of livestock 

within the United States. Knowing 

where diseased and at-risk animals are, 

where they have been, and when, is 

indispensable in emergency response 

and in ongoing disease control and 

eradication programs. To provide a 

system that could provide for animal 

traceability, APHIS developed the 

Animal Disease Traceability (ADT) 

framework and ADT information 

systems. The basic data APHIS acquires 

through the ADT information systems 

will help APHIS obtain timely 

information on animal movement 

tracebacks and trace forwards when 

responding to an animal disease of 

concern. 

The framework for ADT provides the 

basic tenets of an improved animal 

disease traceability capability in the 

United States and will only apply to 

animals moved in interstate commerce, 

be administered by the States and Tribal 

Nations to provide more flexibility, 

encourage the use of lower-cost 

technology, and be implemented 

transparently through Federal 

regulations. APHIS is adopting these 

tenets for animal disease traceability 

while using investments previously 

made on information systems, such as 

official animal identification devices 

and other areas where States and Tribes 

had achieved progress through 

cooperative agreements. 

The ADT information systems involve 

a number of previously approved 

collection and recordkeeping activities, 

including animal identification; 

premises registration; nonproducer 

participant registration; updates 

submitted by animal identification 

number manufacturers and managers; 

cooperative agreements; cooperative 

agreement applications; cooperator 

(State/Tribe) quarterly accomplishment 

reports; and an identification number 

management system. These information 

collection activities were approved by 

the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) under control number 0579– 

0259. The ADT information systems 

require updates to information 

provided. In addition, producers and 

operators of feedlots, markets, buying 

stations, and slaughter plants will have 

to maintain records associated with 

their animal movement activities for 2 

to 5 years, although these records are 

already routinely maintained by these 

entities. 

Other activities are being 

discontinued. APHIS has discontinued 

the evaluation and listing of animal 

tracking databases since the activity is 

now managed by the States and Tribes. 

APHIS no longer requires reporting of 

animal movements to premises, so we 

no longer track individual and group/lot 

movement records, resulting in a 

450,000-hour decrease in the overall 

burden. APHIS has removed the animal 

tracking database and movement record 

entries from the forms of burden. APHIS 

will no longer require producers to file 

quarterly progress reports. Finally, 

APHIS has consolidated its tracking 

methods for issuance of the various 

forms of identification. The overall 

result of discontinuing many of the 

previously approved activities has led to 

an overall decrease in estimated annual 

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77004 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 250 / Monday, December 31, 2012 / Notices 

1The final standards document will be available 

at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/ 

index.shtml. 

burden on respondents from 2,832,437 

hours to 47,051 hours. In addition, the 

estimated annual number of 

respondents has decreased from 500,472 

to 106,890. 

We are asking OMB to approve our 

use of these information collection 

activities for an additional 3 years. 

The purpose of this notice is to solicit 

comments from the public (as well as 

affected agencies) concerning our 

information collection. These comments 

will help us: 

(1) Evaluate whether the collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

Agency, including whether the 

information will have practical utility; 

(2) Evaluate the accuracy of our 

estimate of the burden of the collection 

of information, including the validity of 

the methodology and assumptions used; 

(3) Enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and 

(4) Minimize the burden of the 

information collection on those who are 

to respond, through use, as appropriate, 

of automated, electronic, mechanical, 

and other collection technologies; e.g., 

permitting electronic submission of 

responses. 

Estimate of burden: The public 

reporting burden for this collection of 

information is estimated to average 0.44 

hours per response. 

Respondents: State and Tribal animal 

health authorities; animal producers; 

operators of markets, buying stations, 

and feedlots; laboratory staff; device 

manufacturers; and slaughter plant 

personnel. 

Estimated annual number of 

respondents: 60,315. 

Estimated annual number of 

responses per respondent: 1.77. 

Estimated annual number of 

responses: 106,890. 

Estimated total annual burden on 

respondents: 47,051 hours. (Due to 

averaging, the total annual burden hours 

may not equal the product of the annual 

number of responses multiplied by the 

reporting burden per response.) 

All responses to this notice will be 

summarized and included in the request 

for OMB approval. All comments will 

also become a matter of public record. 

Done in Washington, DC, this 20th day of 

December, 2012 . 

Kevin Shea, 

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2012–31346 Filed 12–28–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

[Docket No. APHIS–2012–0058] 

Data Standards for Electronic 

Interstate Certificates of Veterinary 

Inspection 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: This notice announces the 

availability of new data standards 

required to generate an official interstate 

certificate of veterinary inspection 

(ICVI). The data standards would define 

the minimum data elements required to 

generate an ICVI using an electronic 

data system, outline the methods by 

which data can be shared between 

participating systems, and provide 

methods of approving data systems for 

data quality control. We are making 

these standards available for public 

review and comment. 

DATES: We will consider all comments 

that we receive on or before January 30, 

2013. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by either of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov/ 

#!documentDetail;D=APHIS–2012– 

0058–0001. 

• Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: 

Send your comment to Docket No. 

APHIS–2012–0058, Regulatory Analysis 

and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 

3A–03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, 

Riverdale, MD 20737–1238. 

The data standards and any comments 

we receive may be viewed at http:// 

www.regulations.gov/ 

#!docketDetail;D=APHIS–2012–0058 or 

in our reading room, which 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) 799–7039 

before coming. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

Joseph Vantiem, Information 

Technology Coordinator, National 

Animal Health Policy and Programs, VS, 

APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 35, 

Riverdale, MD 20737–1231; (301) 851– 

3579. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service (APHIS) has established a set of 

minimum data standards for any 

electronic system to be used to generate 

an official interstate certificate of 

veterinary inspection (ICVI). The 

standards were developed with the 

National Assembly of State Animal 

Health Officials. 

ICVIs protect animal health in several 

important ways. States use ICVIs to 

monitor animal movements, address 

specific animal health concerns, and 

enforce regulations. Specifically, ICVI 

are used to document the health status 

of animals moving interstate and track 

the animals’ movement. ICVIs are also 

used to record observations and test 

results that show freedom from specific 

diseases. 

ICVIs have traditionally been paper 

documents; however, a paper-based 

system can result in lag time between 

animal movement and the distribution 

of documents as well as inefficiencies in 

document archiving and retrieval. 

APHIS has attempted to address these 

deficiencies by developing an electronic 

module that lets States enter ICVI data 

into the Veterinary Services Process 

Streamlining (VSPS) system. Several 

States and private entities are also 

attempting to improve the usefulness of 

ICVIs by developing electronic versions 

for use by State animal health officials 

and accredited veterinarians. 

Since ICVIs contain important data 

fields for both animal disease 

traceability and disease surveillance, the 

data elements used in ICVIs must be 

compatible with one another and with 

the current database standards being 

implemented in the Surveillance 

Collaborative Services (SCS) 

application. SCS is an animal health 

and surveillance system that is used to 

maintain test and vaccination data and 

other program information such as 

disease or certification status for flocks/ 

herds subject to APHIS’ animal disease 

or pest surveillance and control 

programs. 

We have prepared a document 

entitled ‘‘Data Standards for Interstate 

Certificates of Veterinary Inspection’’ 

(July 2012) that establishes a common 

set of data for ICVIs so the data can be 

collected by a variety of methods and be 

shared seamlessly between all 

participating entities. We are making 

this document available to the public for 

review and comment before posting it 

on the APHIS Web site 1 for use by 

interested States and private entities. 

The data standards document may be 

viewed on the Regulations.gov Web site 

or in our reading room (see ADDRESSES

above for instructions for accessing 

Regulations.gov and information on the 

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