57408 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 162 / Wednesday, August 23, 2023 / Notices 

1Tuscany and Toscana are equivalent. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: We are advising the public 

that we are proposing to recognize the 

regions of Tuscany and Umbria, Italy as 

being free of swine vesicular disease. 

This proposed recognition is based on a 

risk evaluation we have prepared in 

connection with this action, which we 

are making available for review and 

comment. 

DATES: We will consider all comments 

that we receive on or before October 23, 

2023. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by either of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

www.regulations.gov. Enter APHIS– 

2023–0028 in the Search field. Select 

the Documents tab, then select the 

Comment button in the list of 

documents. 

• Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: 

Send your comment to Docket No. 

APHIS–2023–0028, 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 regulations.gov or in 

our reading room, which is located in 

room 1620 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. 

Chip Wells, Senior Veterinary Medical 

Officer, Regionalization Evaluation 

Services (RES), Strategy & Policy, 

Veterinary Services, APHIS, 4700 River 

Road, Unit 38, Riverdale, MD 20737– 

1231; (301) 851–3317; email: 

AskRegionalization@usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

regulations in 9 CFR part 94 (referred to 

below as the regulations) govern the 

importation of certain animals and 

animal products into the United States 

in order to prevent the introduction of 

various animal diseases, including 

swine vesicular disease (SVD). This is a 

dangerous and communicable disease of 

swine. 

Within part 94, § 94.12 contains 

requirements governing the importation 

of pork or pork products from regions 

where SVD exists. Section 94.14 

prohibits the importation of domestic 

swine that are moved from or transit any 

region in which SVD is known to exist. 

In accordance with § 94.12(a)(1), the 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service (APHIS) maintains a web-based 

list of regions which the Agency 

considers free of SVD. Paragraph (a)(2) 

of this section states that APHIS will 

add a region to this list after it conducts 

an evaluation of the region and finds 

that SVD is not present. 

The regulations in § 92.2 contain 

requirements for requesting the 

recognition of the animal health status 

of a region (as well as for the approval 

of the export of a particular type of 

animal or animal product to the United 

States from a foreign region). If, after 

review and evaluation of the 

information submitted in support of the 

request, APHIS believes the request can 

be safely granted, APHIS will make its 

evaluation available for public comment 

through a document published in the 

Federal Register. Following the close of 

the comment period, APHIS will review 

all comments received and will make a 

final determination regarding the 

request that will be detailed in another 

document published in the Federal 

Register. 

The Government of Italy has 

requested that APHIS evaluate the SVD 

disease status of the regions of Tuscany 

and Umbria. In response to Italy’s 

request, we have prepared an 

evaluation, titled ‘‘APHIS Evaluation of 

Toscana and Umbria, Italy for Swine 

Vesicular Disease’’ (November 2022).1

Based on the evaluation, we have 

determined that the regions of Tuscany 

and Umbria, Italy are free of SVD. 

APHIS has also determined that the 

surveillance, prevention, and control 

measures implemented by Italy are 

sufficient to minimize the likelihood of 

introducing SVD into the United States 

via imports of species or products 

susceptible to these diseases. Our 

determination supports adding the 

regions of Tuscany and Umbria, Italy to 

the web-based list of regions that APHIS 

considers free of SVD. 

Therefore, in accordance with 

§ 92.2(g), we are announcing the 

availability of our evaluation of the SVD 

status of the regions of Tuscany and 

Umbria, Italy for public review and 

comment. We are also announcing the 

availability of an environmental 

assessment (EA), which has been 

prepared in accordance with: (1) The 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969 (NEPA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 

4321 et seq.), (2) regulations of the 

Council on Environmental Quality for 

implementing the procedural provision 

of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500–1508), (3) 

USDA regulations implementing NEPA 

(7 CFR part 1b), and (4) APHIS’ NEPA 

Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part 

372). The evaluation and EA may be 

viewed on the Regulations.gov website 

or in our reading room. (Instructions for 

accessing Regulations.gov and 

information on the location and hours of 

the reading room are provided under the 

heading ADDRESSES at the beginning 

of this notice.) The documents are also 

available by contacting the person listed 

under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT. 

Information submitted in support of 

Italy’s request is available by contacting 

the person listed under FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT. 

After reviewing any comments we 

receive, we will announce our decision 

regarding the disease status of the 

regions of Tuscany and Umbria, Italy 

with respect to SVD in a subsequent 

notice. 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1633, 7701–7772, 

7781–7786, and 8301–8317; 21 U.S.C. 136 

and 136a; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, 

and 371.4. 

Done in Washington, DC, this 17th day of 

August 2023. 

Michael Watson, 

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2023–18112 Filed 8–22–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

[Docket No. APHIS–2023–0044] 

Addition of the Republic of Ecuador 

and the Republic of Peru to the List of 

Regions Affected With Highly 

Pathogenic Avian Influenza 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: We are advising the public 

that we added the Republic of Ecuador 

and the Republic of Peru to the list of 

regions that the Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service considers to 

be affected by highly pathogenic avian 

influenza (HPAI). These actions follow 

our imposition of HPAI-related 

restrictions on avian commodities 

originating from or transiting the 

Republic of Ecuador and the Republic of 

Peru, as a result of the confirmation of 

HPAI in these countries. 

DATES: The Republic of Ecuador and the 

Republic of Peru were added to the list 

of regions APHIS considers to be 

affected with HPAI, effective 

respectively on December 3, 2022, and 

December 12, 2022. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

La’Toya Lane, APHIS Veterinary 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 162 / Wednesday, August 23, 2023 / Notices 57409 

1The World Organization for Animal Health 

internationally follows a British English spelling of 

‘‘organisation’ in its name; also, it was formerly the 

Office International des Epizooties, or OIE, but on 

May 28, 2022, the Organization announced that the 

acronym was changed from OIE to WOAH. 

Services, Regionalization Evaluation 

Services, 920 Main Campus Drive, Suite 

300, Raleigh, NC 27606; phone: (301) 

550–1671; email: AskRegionalization@

usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

regulations in 9 CFR part 94 (referred to 

below as the regulations) govern the 

importation of certain animals and 

animal products into the United States 

to prevent the introduction of various 

animal diseases, including Newcastle 

disease and highly pathogenic avian 

influenza (HPAI). The regulations 

prohibit or restrict the importation of 

live poultry, poultry meat, and other 

poultry products from regions where 

these diseases are considered to exist. 

Section 94.6 of the regulations 

contains requirements governing the 

importation into the United States of 

carcasses, meat, parts or products of 

carcasses, and eggs (other than hatching 

eggs) of poultry, game birds, or other 

birds from regions of the world where 

HPAI exists or is reasonably believed to 

exist. HPAI is an extremely infectious 

and potentially fatal form of avian 

influenza in birds and poultry that, once 

established, can spread rapidly from 

flock to flock. The Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service (APHIS) 

maintains a list of restricted regions it 

considers affected with HPAI of any 

subtype on the APHIS website at 

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ 

ourfocus/animalhealth/animal-andanimal-product-import-information/ 

animal-health-status-of-regions. 

APHIS receives notice of HPAI 

outbreaks from veterinary officials of the 

exporting country, from the World 

Organization for Animal Health 

(WOAH),1 or from other sources the 

Administrator determines to be reliable. 

On November 28, 2022, the veterinary 

authorities of the Republic of Ecuador 

reported to the WOAH the occurrence of 

HPAI in that country. On December 3, 

2022, after confirming that HPAI 

occurred in commercial birds and 

poultry, APHIS added the Republic of 

Ecuador to the list of regions where 

HPAI exists. On that same day, APHIS 

issued an import alert notifying 

stakeholders that APHIS imposed 

import restrictions on poultry, 

commercial birds, ratites, avian 

hatching eggs, unprocessed avian 

products and byproducts, and certain 

fresh poultry commodities from the 

Republic of Ecuador to mitigate risk of 

HPAI introduction into the United 

States. 

On December 2, 2022, the veterinary 

authorities of the Republic of Peru 

reported to the WOAH the occurrence of 

HPAI in that country. On December 12, 

2022, after confirming that the HPAI 

occurred in commercial birds or 

poultry, APHIS added the Republic of 

Peru to the list of regions where HPAI 

exists. On that same day, APHIS issued 

an import alert notifying stakeholders 

that APHIS imposed import restrictions 

on poultry, commercial birds, ratites, 

avian hatching eggs, unprocessed avian 

products and byproducts, and certain 

fresh poultry commodities from the 

Republic of Peru to mitigate risk of 

HPAI introduction into the United 

States. 

With the publication of this notice, 

we are informing the public that we 

added: The Republic of Ecuador to the 

list of regions APHIS considers affected 

with HPAI of any subtype, effective 

December 3, 2022; and the Republic of 

Peru to the list of regions APHIS 

considers affected with HPAI of any 

subtype, effective December 12, 2022. 

This notice serves as an official record 

and public notification of these actions. 

Congressional Review Act 

Pursuant to the Congressional Review 

Act (5 U.S.C. 801 et seq.), the Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs 

designated this action as not a major 

rule, as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2). 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1633, 7701–7772, 

7781–7786, and 8301–8317; 21 U.S.C. 

136 and 136a; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 7 CFR 

2.22, 2.80, and 371.4. 

Done in Washington, DC, this 15th day of 

August 2023. 

Michael Watson, 

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2023–18073 Filed 8–22–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

[Docket No. APHIS–2022–0038] 

Notice of Availability of a Pest Risk 

Analysis for the Importation of Fresh 

Table Beet Root (Beta vulgaris L.) for 

Consumption From the United 

Kingdom Into the Continental United 

States, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the 

U.S. Virgin Islands 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: We are advising the public 

that we have prepared a pest risk 

analysis that evaluates the risks 

associated with importation of fresh 

table beet root (Beta vulgaris L.) for 

consumption from the United Kingdom 

into the continental United States, 

Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin 

Islands. Based on the analysis, we have 

determined that the application of one 

or more designated phytosanitary 

measures will be sufficient to mitigate 

the risks of introducing or disseminating 

plant pests or noxious weeds via the 

importation of fresh table beet root from 

the United Kingdom. We are making the 

pest risk analysis available to the public 

for review and comment. 

DATES: We will consider all comments 

that we receive on or before October 23, 

2023. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by either of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

www.regulations.gov. Enter APHIS– 

2022–0038 in the Search field. Select 

the Documents tab, then select the 

Comment button in the list of 

documents. 

• Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: 

Send your comment to Docket No. 

APHIS–2022–0038, 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 www.regulations.gov 

or in our reading room, which is located 

in room 1620 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: Ms. 

Claudia Ferguson, Senior Regulatory 

Policy Specialist, Regulatory 

Coordination and Compliance, PPQ, 

APHIS, 4700 River Road, Unit 133, 

Riverdale, MD 20737–1231; (301) 851– 

2352; Claudia.Ferguson@usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Under the regulations in ‘‘Subpart L– 

Fruits and Vegetables’’ (7 CFR 319.56– 

1 through 319.56–12, referred to below 

as the regulations), the Animal and 

Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) 

prohibits or restricts the importation of 

fruits and vegetables into the United 

States from certain parts of the world to 

prevent plant pests from being 

introduced into or disseminated within 

the United States. 


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