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[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 163 (Tuesday, August 23, 2011)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 52548-52549]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-21526]

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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; technical amendment and announcement of end of 
period for election to participate.

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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 may elect to 
continue to participate in the NVAP until October 1, 2011. 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. A previous 
document announced 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. That 
document stated that we would specify a date by which veterinarians 
would have to elect to participate in a subsequent document.

DATES: Effective Date: August 23, 2011.

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 Sec.  161.3 a process allowing currently accredited 
veterinarians to determine whether they wished to continue to 
participate in the NVAP.
    Paragraph (d) of Sec.  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 Sec.  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 
Sec.  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.
    In a notice published in the Federal Register and effective on 
September 28, 2010 (75 FR 59605-59606, Docket No. APHIS-2006-0093), we 
announced 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 
stated that we would also allow currently accredited veterinarians to 
continue to elect to participate in the NVAP. We took this action 
because logistical difficulties had prevented us from processing the 
elections to participate of all the currently accredited veterinarians 
(over 50,000) who elected to participate. We stated that, when we are 
closer to reaching the goal of processing those elections, we would 
publish another document in the Federal Register that would amend Sec.  
161.3(d) to indicate the date by which veterinarians must elect to 
continue to participate in the NVAP.
    We have determined that setting a deadline of October 1, 2011, will 
allow adequate time for currently accredited veterinarians to elect to 
continue participating, if they wish to do so, and for us to process 
the elections to participate that we have received to this point and 
any further elections to participate that may be submitted by that 
date. Accordingly, this document amends Sec.  161.3(d) to indicate that 
currently accredited veterinarians must elect to participate by October 
1, 2011.
    A Web seminar on the revisions to the NVAP and how to elect to 
participate is

[[Page 52549]]

available at mms://ocbmtcwmp.usda.gov/content/aphis/aphis21.wmv.

List of Subjects in 9 CFR Part 161

    Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Veterinarians.

    Accordingly, we are amending 9 CFR part 161 as follows:

PART 161--REQUIREMENTS AND STANDARDS FOR ACCREDITED VETERINARIANS 
AND SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION OF SUCH ACCREDITATION

0
1. The authority citation for part 161 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  7 U.S.C. 8301-8317; 15 U.S.C. 1828; 7 CFR 2.22, 
2.80, and 371.4.

Sec.  161.3  [Amended]

0
2. In Sec.  161.3, paragraph (d) is amended by removing the words 
``within 3 months of the end of the notification period'' and adding 
the words ``by October 1, 2011'' in their place.

    Done in Washington, DC, this 17th day of August 2011.
Gregory L. Parham,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2011-21526 Filed 8-22-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P
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