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contains regulatory documents having general

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are keyed to and codified in the Code of

Federal Regulations, which is published under

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Rules and Regulations Federal Register

59605 

Vol. 75, No. 187 

Tuesday, September 28, 2010 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

9 CFR Part 161 

[Docket No. APHIS-2006-0093] 

RIN 0579-AC04 

National Veterinary Accreditation 

Program; Currently Accredited 

Veterinarians Performing Accredited 

Duties and Electing to Participate 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Final rule; extension of period 

for election to participate. 

SUMMARY: We are announcing to the 

public that veterinarians who are 

currently accredited in the National 

Veterinary Accreditation Program 

(NVAP) may continue to perform 

accredited duties and to elect to 

continue to participate in the NVAP 

until further notice. The regulations 

indicate that currently accredited 

veterinarians must elect to continue 

their participation in the NVAP in order 

to maintain their accredited status, after 

which we will confirm their continued 

participation and notify them of their 

first renewal date. Various logistical 

obstacles have prevented us from 

processing in a timely manner the 

elections to participate that we have 

received. Allowing currently accredited 

veterinarians to continue to perform 

accredited duties and to elect to 

participate will ensure that we obtain an 

accurate and complete record of 

accredited veterinarian participation 

while continuing to allow veterinarians 

to provide accredited services to the 

public. 

EFFECTIVE DATE: September 28, 2010. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

Todd Behre, National Veterinary 

Accreditation Program, VS, APHIS, 

4700 River Road Unit 200, Riverdale, 

MD 20737; (301) 851-3401. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

regulations in 9 CFR chapter I, 

subchapter J (parts 160 through 162, 

referred to below as the regulations), 

govern the accreditation of veterinarians 

and the suspension and revocation of 

such accreditation. These regulations 

are the foundation for the National 

Veterinary Accreditation Program 

(NVAP). Accredited veterinarians are 

approved by the Administrator of the 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service (APHIS), U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, to perform certain 

regulatory tasks to control and prevent 

the spread of animal diseases 

throughout the United States and 

internationally. 

On December 9, 2009 (74 FR 64998- 

65013, Docket No. APHIS-2006-0093), 

we published a final rule in the Federal 

Register that amended the regulations to 

establish two accreditation categories in 

place of the former single category, to 

add requirements for supplemental 

training and renewal of accreditation, 

and to offer program certifications. The 

final rule was effective February 1, 

2010, a date intended to give us time to 

prepare to implement the new 

regulations, which affect about 71,000 

veterinarians who are currently 

accredited. 

Section 161.3 of the final rule 

contained the requirements for 

supplemental training and renewal of 

accreditation. Because accredited 

veterinarians have not previously been 

required to renew their accreditation or 

complete supplemental training, we 

established in paragraph (d) of § 161.3 a 

process allowing currently accredited 

veterinarians to determine whether they 

wished to continue to participate in the 

NVAP. 

Paragraph (d) of § 161.3 states that 

veterinarians who are accredited as of 

February 1, 2010, may continue to 

perform accredited duties between 

February 1, 2010, and the date of their 

first renewal. In accordance with 

paragraph (d), APHIS provided notice 

for 3 months to accredited veterinarians 

who were accredited as of February 1, 

2010, to notify them that they must elect 

to participate in the NVAP as a Category 

I or Category II veterinarian. Paragraph 

(d) requires veterinarians to elect to 

continue to participate within 3 months 

of the end of the notification period, or 

their accredited status will expire. 

Paragraph (d) of § 161.3 goes on to 

state that when APHIS receives notice 

from an accredited veterinarian that he 

or she elects to participate, APHIS will 

notify the accredited veterinarian of his 

or her date for first renewal. The 

accredited veterinarian must then 

complete all the training requirements 

for renewal, as described in § 161.3, by 

his or her first renewal date. The 

notification of the first renewal date was 

thus intended to be the means by which 

APHIS notifies an accredited 

veterinarian that we have received 

notice that he or she has elected to 

participate and can thus continue 

performing accredited duties. 

To date, approximately 50,000 

veterinarians have elected to continue to 

participate, and another 10,000 are 

expected to do so. Processing these 

elections to continue to participate 

involves many steps to verify, clarify, 

and proofread the information provided. 

At times, we have needed to contact 

State boards, area offices of the 

Veterinary Services program, and the 

accredited veterinarians themselves. As 

much as possible, we want to clear up 

any omissions or potential errors so that 

we have correct information for all 

accredited veterinarians in our database. 

Accredited veterinarians provide 

valuable regulatory services to their 

communities, allowing agricultural 

commerce to continue and ensuring that 

travelers can meet regulatory 

requirements for pets. It is important 

that those services continue to be 

provided. 

As a result, we have not yet been able 

to review all of the forms submitted by 

accredited veterinarians to elect to 

continue to participate, ensure that the 

forms accurately reflect the 

veterinarians’ intent and situation, and 

provide notice to the veterinarians of 

their first renewal date. This process is 

expected to take several more months, 

during which we will continue to need 

veterinarians to perform accredited 

duties. 

In addition, we stated in the 

Background section of the final rule that 

we will notify veterinarians who 

routinely perform accredited 

veterinarian duties and have not yet 

elected to continue participating as 

accredited veterinarians, to ensure that 

such veterinarians do not inadvertently 

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59606 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 187 / Tuesday, September 28, 2010 / Rules and Regulations 

let their accreditation lapse. We have 

discovered that we need additional time 

to reach out to such veterinarians to 

ensure that they are aware of the new 

requirements. We have also found that 

some veterinarians who received 

notification did not understand what 

the notification meant, and we plan to 

work to clarify the new requirements for 

currently accredited veterinarians in the 

coming months. 

Therefore, this document announces 

that currently accredited veterinarians 

may continue to perform accredited 

duties until further notice, even if they 

have not received a date for their first 

accreditation renewal from APHIS. We 

will also allow currently accredited 

veterinarians to continue to elect to 

participate in the NVAP. 

We currently expect to be able to 

process all the elections to participate 

we have received by March 2011. When 

we are closer to reaching this goal, we 

will publish another document in the 

Federal Register that will amend 

§ 161.3(d) to indicate the date by which 

veterinarians must elect to continue to 

participate in the NVAP. 

Done in Washington, DC, this 17th day 

of September 2010. 

Kevin Shea, 

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2010–24294 Filed 9–27–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–S 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 39 

[Docket No. FAA–2010–0941; Directorate 

Identifier 2010–CE–051–AD; Amendment 

39–16453; AD 2010–20–18] 

RIN 2120–AA64 

Airworthiness Directives; Pacific 

Aerospace Limited Models FU24–954 

and FU24A–954 Airplanes 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Final rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: We are adopting a new 

airworthiness directive (AD) for the 

products listed above. This AD results 

from mandatory continuing 

airworthiness information (MCAI) 

issued by the aviation authority of 

another country to identify and correct 

an unsafe condition on an aviation 

product. The MCAI describes the unsafe 

condition as: 

Investigation of a recent accident has 

indicated it is possible to exceed the aircraft 

aft C of G limits during parachute operations. 

It is the responsibility of the pilot in 

command to ensure that the aircraft is loaded 

within the approved weight and balance 

limitations and these limitations are not 

exceeded throughout the flight. 

This AD requires actions that are 

intended to address the unsafe 

condition described in the MCAI. 

DATES: This AD becomes effective 

October 18, 2010. 

We must receive comments on this 

AD by November 12, 2010. 

ADDRESSES: You may send comments by 

any of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Fax: (202) 493–2251. 

• Mail: U.S. Department of 

Transportation, Docket Operations, 

M–30, West Building Ground Floor, 

Room W12–140, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590. 

• Hand Delivery: U.S. Department of 

Transportation, Docket Operations, 

M–30, West Building Ground Floor, 

Room W12–140, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590, 

between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, except Federal holidays. 

Examining the AD Docket 

You may examine the AD docket on 

the Internet at http:// 

www.regulations.gov; or in person at the 

Docket Management Facility between 9 

a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays. The AD 

docket contains this AD, the regulatory 

evaluation, any comments received, and 

other information. The street address for 

the Docket Office (telephone (800) 647– 

5527) is in the ADDRESSES section. 

Comments will be available in the AD 

docket shortly after receipt. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karl 

Schletzbaum, Aerospace Engineer, FAA, 

Small Airplane Directorate, 901 Locust, 

Room 301, Kansas City, Missouri 64106; 

telephone: (816) 329–4146; fax: (816) 

329–4090. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Discussion 

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), 

which is the aviation authority for New 

Zealand, has issued AD DCA/FU24/179, 

dated September 10, 2010 (referred to 

after this as ‘‘the MCAI’’), to correct an 

unsafe condition for the specified 

products. The MCAI states: 

Investigation of a recent accident has 

indicated it is possible to exceed the aircraft 

aft C of G limits during parachute operations. 

It is the responsibility of the pilot in 

command to ensure that the aircraft is loaded 

within the approved weight and balance 

limitations and these limitations are not 

exceeded throughout the flight. 

The MCAI requires amending the 

airplane flight manual (AFM) to restrict 

maximum occupancy of the cabin aft of 

F.S 118.84 to 6 persons and requires 

doing a weight and balance calculation 

for any parachuting operation to ensure 

the aircraft center of gravity (C of G) will 

remain within AFM limits for the 

duration of the flight. You may obtain 

further information by examining the 

MCAI in the AD docket. 

FAA’s Determination and Requirements 

of the AD 

This product has been approved by 

the aviation authority of another 

country, and is approved for operation 

in the United States. Pursuant to our 

bilateral agreement with this State of 

Design Authority, they have notified us 

of the unsafe condition described in the 

MCAI and service information 

referenced above. We are issuing this 

AD because we evaluated all 

information provided by the State of 

Design Authority and determined the 

unsafe condition exists and is likely to 

exist or develop on other products of the 

same type design. 

Differences Between This AD and the 

MCAI 

We have reviewed the MCAI and, in 

general, agree with its substance. But we 

might have found it necessary to use 

different words from those in the MCAI 

to ensure the AD is clear for U.S. 

operators and is enforceable. In making 

these changes, we do not intend to differ 

substantively from the information 

provided in the MCAI. 

We might have also required different 

actions in this AD from those in the 

MCAI in order to follow FAA policies. 

Any such differences are described in a 

separate paragraph of the AD. These 

requirements take precedence over 

those copied from the MCAI. 

FAA’s Determination of the Effective 

Date 

An unsafe condition exists that 

requires the immediate adoption of this 

AD. The FAA has found that the risk to 

the flying public justifies waiving notice 

and comment prior to adoption of this 

rule because a recent accident indicates 

it is possible to exceed the aircraft aft C 

of G limits during parachute-drop 

operations. Exceeding C of G limits 

could result in loss of control of the 

aircraft. Therefore, we determined that 

notice and opportunity for public 

comment before issuing this AD are 

impracticable and that good cause exists 

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