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[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 6, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Page 14510]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-05138]

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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. APHIS-2012-0077]

Notice of Availability of New Guidelines for Pest Risk 
Assessments of Imported Fruits and Vegetables

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health 
Inspection Service (APHIS) has prepared a document that describes the 
revised methodology that APHIS will use to conduct plant health pest 
risk assessments for imported fruit and vegetable commodities. These 
new guidelines are necessary to incorporate advancements in pest risk 
assessment methods, provide clearer and more transparent analyses, and 
streamline the market access analysis process.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Meredith Jones, Senior Regulatory 
Policy Specialist, Regulatory Coordination and Compliance, PPQ, APHIS, 
4700 River Road Unit 156, Riverdale, MD 20737; (301) 851-2289.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On October 17, 2000, under the authority of the Plant Protection 
Act (7 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.), the Animal and Plant Health Inspection 
Service (APHIS) began using a specific set of guidelines to conduct 
pathway-initiated, qualitative pest risk assessments (PRAs) for imports 
of fruits and vegetables. A PRA is defined by the International Plant 
Protection Convention (IPPC), of which the United States is a member, 
as an ``evaluation of the probability of the introduction and spread of 
a pest and the magnitude of the associated potential economic 
consequences.'' Following the characterization of the risk of the pest 
in the PRA, APHIS produces a risk management document to determine 
appropriate pest risk mitigation methods.
    APHIS has determined that it is necessary to update the previous 
guidelines, which were developed over 10 years ago, in order to provide 
a more streamlined and efficient process for developing PRAs. Revising 
the PRA guidelines allows APHIS to incorporate advancements in PRA 
methods, provide a clearer, more transparent, and more logical order of 
progression of the assessment, and more closely align the assessments 
to the IPPC's international standards for phytosanitary measures. The 
new guidelines provide a more technically correct method of assessing 
risk by recognizing that the likelihood of pest introduction is 
multiplicative rather than additive; i.e., if one necessary step for 
the introduction of a pest has a low likelihood of occurring, there is 
an overall low likelihood of introduction of the pest, regardless of 
the likelihood of other steps. The new guidelines also address 
uncertainty, a principle not explicitly addressed in the previous 
guidelines. In addition, because the new guidelines are designed to 
make the PRA drafting process more efficient, we expect the time 
required to produce the PRAs and respond to market access requests to 
decrease.
    The PRA guidelines document, entitled ``Guidelines for Plant Pest 
Risk Assessment of Imported Fruit & Vegetable Commodities,'' may be 
viewed on the Regulations.gov Web site at http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2012-0077 or in our reading room. The reading 
room 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. In addition, copies may be obtained by calling or writing to 
the individual listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

    Authority:  7 U.S.C. 450, 7701-7772, and 7781-7786; 21 U.S.C. 
136 and 136a; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.3.

    Done in Washington, DC, this 28th day of February 2013.
Kevin Shea,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2013-05138 Filed 3-5-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P
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