This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

public. Notices of hearings and investigations,

committee meetings, agency decisions and

rulings, delegations of authority, filing of

petitions and applications and agency

statements of organization and functions are

examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

6681 

Vol. 80, No. 25 

Friday, February 6, 2015 

1To view the final rule and related documents, 

go to http://www.regulations.gov/

#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2011-0101. 

2This document may be viewed on the NPIP Web 

site at http://www.poultryimprovement.org/

documents/ProgramStandardsAugust2014.pdf, or 

by writing to the Service at National Poultry 

Improvement Plan, APHIS, USDA, 1506 Klondike 

Road, Suite 101, Conyers, GA 30094. 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

[Docket No. APHIS–2014–0100] 

Notice of Availability of Proposed 

Changes to the National Poultry 

Improvement Plan Program Standards 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: We are advising the public 

that proposed changes to the National 

Poultry Improvement Plan Program 

Standards are available for review and 

comment. 

DATES: We will consider all comments 

that we receive on or before March 9, 

2015. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by either of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov/

#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2014-0100. 

• Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: 

Send your comment to Docket No. 

APHIS–2014–0100, Regulatory Analysis 

and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 

3A–03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, 

Riverdale, MD 20737–1238. 

The proposed standards and any 

comments we receive may be viewed at 

http://www.regulations.gov/

#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2014-0100 or 

in our reading room, which is located in 

Room 1141 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. 

Denise Brinson, DVM, Director, 

National Poultry Improvement Plan, VS, 

APHIS, USDA, 1506 Klondike Road, 

Suite 101, Conyers, GA 30094–5104; 

(770) 922–3496. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

National Poultry Improvement Plan 

(NPIP, also referred to below as ‘‘the 

Plan’’) is a cooperative Federal-StateIndustry mechanism for controlling 

certain poultry diseases. The Plan 

consists of a variety of programs 

intended to prevent and control poultry 

diseases. Participation in all Plan 

programs is voluntary, but breeding 

flocks, hatcheries, and dealers must first 

qualify as ‘‘U.S. Pullorum-Typhoid 

Clean’’ as a condition for participating 

in the other Plan programs. 

The Plan identifies States, flocks, 

hatcheries, dealers, and slaughter plants 

that meet certain disease control 

standards specified in the Plan’s various 

programs. As a result, customers can 

buy poultry that has tested clean of 

certain diseases or that has been 

produced under disease-prevention 

conditions. 

The regulations in 9 CFR parts 145, 

146, and 147 (referred to below as the 

regulations) contain the provisions of 

the Plan. The Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service (APHIS, also referred 

to as ‘‘the Service’’) of the U.S. 

Department of Agriculture (USDA, also 

referred to as ‘‘the Department’’) amends 

these provisions from time to time to 

incorporate new scientific information 

and technologies within the Plan. 

In the past, APHIS has updated the 

regulations once every 2 years, 

following the Biennial Plan Conference. 

However, with the continual changes in 

diagnostic science and testing 

technology and in best practices for 

maintaining sanitation, the biennial 

update schedule has occasionally 

resulted in the regulations becoming out 

of date between updates. In some 

instances, tests have also been difficult 

to render properly in the regulations 

due to the need to describe flow charts 

or diagrams in a narrative format. 

On July 9, 2014, we published in the 

Federal Register (79 FR 38752–38768, 

Docket No. APHIS–2011–0101) a final 

rule 1 that, among other things, amended 

the regulations by removing tests and 

detailed testing procedures, as well as 

sanitation procedures, from part 147, 

and making these available in an NPIP 

Program Standards document.2 The rule 

also amended the regulations to provide 

for the Program Standards document to 

be updated through the issuance of a 

notice in the Federal Register followed 

by a period of public comment. This 

action was intended to make the NPIP 

program more effective by streamlining 

the provisions of the Plan, keeping those 

provisions current with changes in the 

poultry industry, and providing for the 

use of new approved sampling and 

testing procedures without the need for 

rulemaking. 

We are advising the public that we 

have prepared updates to the NPIP 

Program Standards document. The 

proposed updates include changes to 

blood testing procedures for 

mycoplasma, bacteriological 

examination procedure changes for 

Salmonella, and the addition of new 

approved diagnostic test kits. After 

reviewing any comments we receive on 

the proposed updates, we will publish 

a second notice in the Federal Register 

announcing our decision regarding the 

proposed changes. 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 8301–8317; 7 CFR 

2.22, 2.80, and 371.4. 

Done in Washington, DC, this 2nd day of 

February 2015. 

Kevin Shea, 

Administrator, Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2015–02406 Filed 2–5–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

[Docket No. APHIS–2008–0119] 

Implementation of Revised Lacey Act 

Provisions 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Food, Conservation, and 

Energy Act of 2008 amended the Lacey 

Act to provide, among other things, that 

importers submit a declaration at the 


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