United States Department of Agriculture

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

December

2011

Analysis in Support of Certification that the Rule will not 

have a Significant Economic Impact on a Substantial 

Number of Small Entities

Proposed Rule

APHIS-2008-0071

RIN 0579-AD47

Importation of Plants for Planting
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Policy & Program Development

Policy Analysis & Development

Summary

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 would update regulatory provisions and thereby continue to mitigate 

plant pest risks while promoting trade. The proposed rule would 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 would 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, would 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 would have a positive 

impact on carnation imports from that country.

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

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

florist supplies are small, none of the effects would be economically significant. The APHIS 
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Administrator has determined that this action, if promulgated, will not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.

Introduction 

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

for certification by the APHIS Administrator that the proposed 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 

proposed amendments would update regulatory provisions and thereby continue to mitigate plant 

pest risks while promoting trade. Other changes would clarify certain import requirements and 

improve the consistency between certain import and domestic regulations.

The principal amendments would:

 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;
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 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 

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 proposed 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 

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

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

For three years, 2008-2010, the value of U.S. imports of planting seeds averaged more 

than $45 million and U.S. exports of planting seeds exceeded $52 million (table 1). U.S. seed 

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

relatively constant. Codification would 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, 2008-2010, million dollars 

2008 2009 2010

U.S. Exports $47.8 $53.0 $56.9

U.S. Imports $47.5 $41.6 $46.6

U.S. Net Exports $0.3 $11.4 $10.3

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 proposed 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 would 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 would reduce the risk of pest introduction by this 

pathway.

The value of U.S. potatoes sold in 2010 was about $3.45 billion. Imports of fresh or 

chilled potatoes that year were valued at $132 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 2010, Canadian production of Prunus spp. fruit (plum, peach, 

apricot, and other stone fruit) reached nearly 44,000 metric tons (MT), valued at $65 million—

less than 2 percent of the quantity and less than 4 percent of the value of U.S. production (table 
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2). Canada exported about 3,600 MT of stone fruit to the United States, a small quantity

compared to U.S. stone fruit exports to Canada (94,000 MT) and to the world (231,000 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, would 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, 2010

U.S. Production Canadian Production

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

2,328,425 $1,797,000,000 43,941 $65,000,000

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

Source: FAOSTAT/ FAO Statistics Division 2011, and USDA, NASS, Crops Branch, Chapter 5, Statistics of fruits, 

tree nuts, and Horticultural Specialties, tables 5-10;20,21,47,50,64,65.

Table 3: Quantity and value of U.S. trade with Canada and the world in selected stone fruits, 2010

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

2,328,425 MT

$1,797,000,000

230,658 MT

$570,006,337

98,886 MT

 $171,609,291

3,644 MT

$11,667,791

94,060 MT

$225,626,826

U.S. net exports to the World: 131,772 MT

$398,397,046

U.S. net exports to Canada: 90,416 MT 

$213,959,035

Source: Stone-Fruit Commodity-based survey guideline; USDA/APHIS/PPQ/CPHST Melinda Sullivan and Tom 

Kalaris, July 2011; http://caps.ceris.purdue.edu/survey/manual/stone-fruit-guidelines

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

Netherlands would 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 would need to be inspected once a month for four consecutive months prior 

to U.S. importation. The proposed rule would 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 
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Netherlands, as a percentage of total cut carnation imports by the United States, varies from year 

to year, and averaged about 13 percent between 2006 and 2010. 

Table 4: Value of U.S. imports of cut carnations (HS: 06031) from the Netherlands and the 

world, 2006-2010

U.S. Partner 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

World $69,581 $70,791 $62,915 $55,938 $62,370

Netherlands $15,000 $4,000 $8,000 $11,000 $2,000

U.S. imports from Netherlands as a percent

of U.S. imports from the world 

21.6% 5.7% 12.7% 19.7% 3.2%

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 proposed 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 proposed rule are small, none 

of the effects of the proposed amendments would 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.