APHIS Factsheet

Veterinary Services November 2013

Questions and 

Answers:

BSE Comprehensive 

Rule

Q. What is the bovine spongiform 

encephalopathy (BSE) comprehensive rule?

A. On November 1, 2013, the U.S. Department of 

Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service (APHIS) announced a final rule that will 

complete efforts to modernize the Agency’s import 

regulations for bovine spongiform encephalopathy 

(BSE). This action demonstrates to the international 

community that the United States is committed 

to basing its BSE regulations on internationallyaccepted scientific literature and standards set by 

the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). The 

final regulation will allow for the safe trade of cattle 

and cattle products, while still protecting the United 

States from the introduction of BSE. 

Q. What will the BSE comprehensive rule do? 

A. This fi nal rule will bring USDA’s BSE import 

regulations in line with international standards, which 

call for countries to base their trade policies on the 

actual risk of cattle and cattle products harboring the 

disease. 

 As a result, commodities that are now restricted 

but pose negligible risk for BSE could be imported. 

Commodities that present a risk of BSE would 

continue to be restricted. Though the rule would apply 

to both live cattle and c attle products, it will primarily 

affect cattle products. These commodities could be 

traded while still safeguarding human and animal 

health from BSE. 

 For example, the current regulations prohibit 

the importation of live ruminants and most ruminant 

products from regions that have BSE or that present 

an undue risk for BSE. The regulations are less 

restrictive for ruminants and ruminant products from 

BSE minimal-risk regions. The comprehensive rule 

would change all of these and incorporate a riskbased approach consistent with international animal 

health guidelines and scientifi c understanding. As 

one example, boneless beef is currently prohibited 

from most countries that have had a case of BSE. 

Scientifi c knowledge and international guidelines 

show that boneless beef presents a negligible risk 

of BSE transmission. Therefore, under the fi nal rule, 

boneless beef would not be restricted due to BSE 

regardless of a country’s risk categorization.

 These actions will further demonstrate to our 

trading partners our commitment to international 

standards and sound science, and we are hopeful it 

will help open new markets and remove remaining 

restrictions on U.S. cattle and cattle products.

Q. Why is it important to base the import 

regulations on OIE standards? 

A. The existing U.S. regulations with regard 

to the importation of live bovines and bovine 

products were not consistent with the OIE guidelines. 

By fi nalizing this rule, we are demonstrating to the 

international community that the United States 

is committed to basing its BSE regulations on 

internationally accepted scientifi c literature and 

guidelines. We anticipate that these changes could 

convince other countries to remove any remaining 

restrictions on U.S. cattle and cattle products.

 With this rule, APHIS will adopt the OIE’s 

categories and criteria used to determine the BSE 

risk of other countries that want to export cattle 

and cattle products to the United States. The rule 

incorporates the OIE’s other risk classifi cations and 

risk management practices into the regulations. 

USDA will use the OIE’s categories and criteria used 

to determine the BSE risk of other countries that 

want to export cattle and cattle products to the United 

States. We will have the option to accept the country 

risk determination made by the OIE or to conduct 

our own assessment if we deem it appropriate. The 

risk classifi cation of the country would determine 

the necessary mitigations that need to be applied to 

safely import cattle and cattle products into the United 

States. 

Q. Will countries immediately be able to start 

exporting beef and other bovine products to the 

United States upon publication of this rule?

A. This rule becomes effective 90 days after it is 

published in the Federal Register, and countries can 

export to the United States under these regulations 

after that time. During the 90 day period, APHIS will 

work with trading partners to explain and establish 

the appropriate certification processes to meet the 

requirements. For edible beef and beef products, 
countries will also need to work with our sister agency, 

the Food Safety Inspection Service, to ensure that the 

equivalency determinations of their meat inspection 

processes are updated and completed.

Q. Will this rule increase the risk of BSE entering 

the U.S.?

A. No. USDA is implementing this final rule after 

conducting a thorough review of relevant scientific 

literature, a comprehensive evaluation of the issues, 

and providing an opportunity for public comment. We 

have concluded that these changes to the regulations 

would continue to guard against the introduction of 

BSE into the United States, while incorporating a riskbased approach in our BSE import requirements. 

Q. What has USDA done to keep BSE from 

entering the United States?

A. In 1989, APHIS began to restrict imports of 

ruminants and certain ruminant products that 

could present a BSE risk. APHIS’ primary means 

of protecting the U.S. cattle herd from BSE was to 

keep out imports of ruminant and ruminant products 

from countries reporting cases of the disease. As 

more countries identifi ed the disease and there was 

increasing concern about the lack of knowledge on 

certain aspects of the disease, APHIS signifi cantly 

increased its import requirements. 

 Control of imports is only one of several 

interlocking safeguards against BSE. For animal 

health, these measures include the U.S. Food and 

Drug Administration’s ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban. 

A robust BSE surveillance program monitors the health 

of the U.S. cattle herd. Human health is protected by 

USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service measures 

that ensure the safety of U.S. beef, the most important 

of which is the ban on animal materials that have been 

shown to carry the BSE agent (known as specifi ed risk 

materials) from the food supply. In recognition of the 

strength of these measures in the United States, the 

OIE upgraded the U.S. risk classifi cation for BSE to 

negligible risk in May 2013.

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United States Department of Agriculture • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Safeguarding American Agriculture