This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

22510 

Vol. 77, No. 73 

Monday, April 16, 2012 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

7 CFR Part 319 

[Docket No. APHIS–2011–0028] 

RIN 0579–AD61 

Importation of Fresh Bananas From 

the Philippines Into the Continental 

United States 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: We are proposing to amend 

the regulations concerning the 

importation of fruits and vegetables to 

allow the importation of fresh bananas 

from the Philippines into the 

continental United States. As a 

condition of entry, the bananas would 

have to be produced in accordance with 

a systems approach that would include 

requirements for importation of 

commercial consignments, monitoring 

of fruit flies to establish low-prevalence 

places of production, harvesting only of 

hard green bananas, and inspection for 

quarantine pests by the national plant 

protection organization of the 

Philippines. The bananas would also 

have to be accompanied by a 

phytosanitary certificate with an 

additional declaration stating that they 

were grown, packed, and inspected and 

found to be free of quarantine pests in 

accordance with the proposed 

requirements. This action would allow 

the importation of bananas from the 

Philippines while continuing to protect 

against the introduction of plant pests 

into the United States. 

DATES: We will consider all comments 

that we receive on or before June 15, 

2012. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by either of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov/ 

#!documentDetail;D=APHIS-2011-0028- 

0001. 

• Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: 

Send your comment to Docket No. 

APHIS–2011–0028, 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 http:// 

www.regulations.gov/ 

#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2011-0028 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: Ms. 

Meredith Jones, Regulatory 

Coordination Specialist, PPQ, RPM, 

RCC, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 39, 

Riverdale, MD 20737–1231; (301) 851– 

2289. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The regulations in ‘‘Subpart—Fruits 

and Vegetables’’ (7 CFR 319.56–1 

through 319.56–54, referred to below as 

the regulations) prohibit or restrict the 

importation of fruits and vegetables into 

the United States from certain parts of 

the world to prevent the introduction 

and dissemination of plant pests that are 

new to or not widely distributed within 

the United States. 

The national plant protection 

organization (NPPO) of the Philippines 

has requested that the Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service (APHIS) 

amend the regulations to allow bananas 

from the Philippines to be imported into 

the continental United States. Currently, 

bananas may not be imported from the 

Philippines. Historically, bananas have 

been imported into the United States 

only from Central and South America 

and have been moved interstate from 

Hawaii to the continental United States. 

As part of our evaluation of the 

Philippines’ request, we prepared a pest 

risk assessment (PRA), titled 

‘‘Importation of Bananas, Musa spp., as 

Fresh, Hard Green Fruit from the 

Philippines to the Continental United 

States, A Qualitative Pathway-Initiated 

Risk Assessment’’ (July 21, 2009). The 

PRA evaluated the risks associated with 

the importation of green bananas into 

the United States from the Philippines. 

The PRA identified 16 pests of 

quarantine significance present in the 

Philippines that could be introduced 

into the United States through the 

importation of green bananas: 

Fruit flies: 

• Bactrocera musae 

• B. occipitalis 

• B. philippinensis 

Scales: 

• Red wax (Ceroplastes rubens) 

• Green (Coccus viridis) 

Beetle: 

• Longhorned (Sybra alternans) 

Mealybugs: 

• Gray pineapple (Dymicoccus 

neobrevipes) 

• Coffee root (Geococcus coffeae) 

• Hibiscus (Maconellicoccus hirsutus) 

• Coffee (Planococcus lilacinus) 

• Pacific (Planococcus minor) 

• Cryptic (Pseudococcus cryptus) 

• Mango (Rastrococcus invadens) 

• Philippine mango (Rastrococcus 

spinosus) 

Fungi 

• Cercospaora hayi Calpouzos 

• Guignardia musae Racib. 

The PRA rated the fruit flies as high 

risk; the beetle, both scales, and all the 

mealybugs as medium risk; and the 

fungi as low risk. Pests with low risk 

ratings do not typically require specific 

mitigation measures. Based on the 

information contained in the PRA, 

APHIS has determined that measures 

beyond standard port-of-entry 

inspection are required to mitigate the 

risks posed by the quarantine pests with 

high and medium pest risk potential. To 

recommend specific measures to 

mitigate those risks, we prepared a risk 

management document (RMD). Copies 

of the PRA and RMD may be obtained 

from the person listed under FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT or 

viewed on the Regulations.gov Web site 

(see ADDRESSES above for instructions 

for accessing Regulations.gov). 

Based on the recommendations of the 

RMD, we are proposing to allow the 

importation of bananas from the 

Philippines into the continental United 

States only if they are produced in 

accordance with a systems approach. 

The systems approach we are proposing 

would require: 

• Registration, monitoring, and 

oversight of places of production; 


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• Trapping for the Bactrocera spp. 

fruit flies to establish low-prevalence 

places of production; 

• Covering bananas with pesticide 

bags during the growing season; 

• Harvesting only of hard green 

bananas; 

• Requirements for culling, 

safeguarding, and identifying the fruit; 

and 

• Inspection by the NPPO of the 

Philippines for quarantine pests. 

Bananas from the Philippines would 

also be required to be accompanied by 

a phytosanitary certificate with an 

additional declaration stating that the 

bananas were grown, packed, and 

inspected in accordance with the 

proposed requirements. 

We are proposing to add the systems 

approach to the regulations in a new 

§ 319.56–57 governing the importation 

of bananas from the Philippines into the 

United States. The mitigation measures 

in the proposed systems approach are 

discussed in greater detail below. 

Proposed Systems Approach 

General Requirements 

Paragraph (a) of § 319.56–57 would 

set out general requirements for the 

NPPO of the Philippines and for 

growers and packers producing bananas 

for export to the United States. 

Paragraph (a)(1) would require the 

NPPO of the Philippines to provide a 

workplan to APHIS that details 

activities that the NPPO of the 

Philippines will, subject to APHIS’ 

approval of the workplan, carry out to 

meet the requirements of proposed 

§ 319.56–57. The implementation of a 

systems approach typically requires a 

bilateral workplan to be developed. A 

bilateral workplan is an agreement 

between APHIS’ Plant Protection and 

Quarantine program, officials of the 

NPPO of a foreign government, and, 

when necessary, foreign commercial 

entities that specifies in detail the 

phytosanitary measures that will 

comply with our regulations governing 

the import or export of a specific 

commodity. Bilateral workplans apply 

only to the signatory parties and 

establish detailed procedures and 

guidance for the day-to-day operations 

of specific export programs. Bilateral 

workplans also establish how specific 

phytosanitary issues are dealt within the 

exporting country and make clear who 

is responsible for dealing with those 

issues. 

Paragraph (a)(2) would require 

bananas to be grown at places of 

production that are registered with the 

NPPO of the Philippines and that meet 

the proposed requirements for places of 

production that are discussed later in 

this document. We would also require 

that each registered place of production 

renew its registration annually. 

Paragraph (a)(3) would require 

bananas to be packed for export to the 

United States in packinghouses that 

meet the packinghouse requirements 

that are described later in this 

document. 

Paragraph (a)(4) would require 

bananas from the Philippines to be 

imported in commercial consignment 

only. Commercial consignments, as 

defined in § 319.56–2, are consignments 

that an inspector identifies as having 

been imported for sale and distribution. 

Such identification is based on a variety 

of indicators, including, but not limited 

to: Quantity of produce, type of 

packaging, identification of grower or 

packinghouse on the packaging, and 

documents consigning the fruits or 

vegetables to a wholesaler or retailer. 

Produce grown commercially is less 

likely to be infested with plant pests 

than noncommercial consignments. 

Noncommercial consignments are more 

prone to infestations because the 

commodity is often ripe to overripe and 

is often grown with little or no pest 

control. 

Monitoring and Oversight 

The systems approach we are 

proposing includes monitoring and 

oversight requirements in paragraph (b) 

of proposed § 319.56–57 to ensure that 

the required phytosanitary measures are 

properly implemented throughout the 

process of growing and packing of 

bananas for export to the United States. 

Paragraph (b)(1) would require the 

NPPO of the Philippines to visit and 

inspect registered places of production 

monthly, starting at least 3 months 

before harvest and continuing until the 

end of the shipping season, to verify 

that the growers are complying with the 

requirements and follow pest control 

guidelines, when necessary, to reduce 

quarantine pest populations. If fruit fly 

trapping is conducted, the NPPO of the 

Philippines would also have to verify 

that the growers are complying with the 

fruit fly trapping requirements and 

would have to certify that each place of 

production has effective fruit fly 

trapping programs. Any personnel 

conducting trapping would have to be 

trained and supervised by the NPPO of 

the Philippines. APHIS would monitor 

the places of production by conducting 

random and scheduled inspections. 

Under paragraph (b)(2), if the NPPO of 

the Philippines finds that a place of 

production or a packinghouse is not 

complying with the proposed 

regulations, no fruit from the place of 

production or packinghouse would be 

eligible for export to the United States 

until APHIS and the NPPO of the 

Philippines conduct an investigation 

and appropriate remedial actions have 

been implemented. 

Paragraph (b)(3) would require the 

NPPO of the Philippines to retain all 

forms and documents related to export 

program activities in groves and 

packinghouses for at least 1 year and, as 

requested, provide them to APHIS for 

review. Such forms and documents 

would include (but would not 

necessarily be limited to) fruit fly 

trapping and inspection records. 

Fruit Fly Trapping To Establish Places 

of Production With Low Pest Prevalence 

Paragraph (c) of proposed § 319.56–57 

would provide for the use of trapping to 

demonstrate that registered places of 

production have a low prevalence of the 

Bactrocera spp. fruit flies. Although the 

PRA has determined that the three 

Bactrocera spp. are potential pests of 

bananas from the Philippines, bananas 

are known to be poor hosts to most 

species of fruit flies. However, B. musae 

is recorded as attacking green bananas. 

Trapping to demonstrate an area of low 

pest prevalence would therefore be an 

appropriate mitigation for fruit flies. 

Beginning at least 3 months before 

harvest begins and continuing through 

the end of the harvest, trapping would 

have to be conducted in registered 

places of production with at least 1 trap 

per 0.2 square kilometers to demonstrate 

that the places of production have a low 

prevalence of the Bactrocera spp. fruit 

flies. APHIS-approved traps baited with 

APHIS-approved plugs would have to 

be used and serviced at least once every 

2 weeks. 

During the trapping, when traps are 

serviced, if the Bactrocera spp. fruit flies 

are trapped at a registered place of 

production at cumulative levels above 2 

flies per trap per day, pesticide bait 

treatments would have to be applied in 

the affected place of production in order 

for the place of production to remain 

eligible to export bananas to the United 

States. The NPPO of the Philippines 

would have to keep records of fruit fly 

detections for each trap, update the 

records each time the traps are checked, 

and make the records available to 

APHIS inspectors upon request. 

Although the Bactrocera spp. fruit 

flies have been identified as pests of 

banana in the Philippines, we do not 

want to impose trapping requirements if 

they are not justified by the presence of 

fruit fly larvae in Philippine bananas; as 

noted earlier, bananas are poor hosts of 

fruit flies in general, especially when 

harvested green. Under the heading 


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‘‘NPPO of the Philippines Inspection’’ 

later in this document, we describe 

requirements for cutting bananas to 

inspect for internal feeders such as fruit 

fly larvae. We are proposing to provide 

that the fruit fly trapping requirements 

described in proposed paragraph (c) 

would no longer apply if, after 2 years 

from the effective date of a final rule 

following this proposed rule, such 

inspections do not find any larvae of the 

Bactrocera spp. fruit flies. In general, we 

consider 2 years’ worth of data on how 

fruit flies affect a commodity to be 

sufficient to make determinations on 

how to regulate for these pests. 

The date on which trapping would no 

longer be required would be included in 

the regulations. If no fruit fly larvae are 

found, we would publish a notice in the 

Federal Register to confirm that fruit fly 

trapping would no longer be required. If 

fruit fly larvae are found, we would 

amend the regulations to address the 

demonstrated risk. 

Bagging Requirements 

Paragraph (d) would provide that 

plastic bags impregnated with pesticides 

must cover the bananas during the 

growing period. If a pesticide bag falls 

off or is torn, that fruit would no longer 

be eligible for export to the United 

States. This growing requirement would 

prevent quarantine pests from attacking 

bananas. 

Harvesting Requirements 

Paragraph (e) of § 319.56–57 sets out 

requirements for harvesting bananas. 

Under paragraph (e)(1), bananas would 

have to be harvested at a hard green 

stage. Harvesting bananas at a hard 

green stage (i.e., bananas with no yellow 

or green color break) is a standard 

industry practice for banana production 

in Central and South America, Hawaii, 

and most of the world because ripe 

bananas are more likely to be infested 

by fruit flies. Inspectors at the port of 

entry would determine that: 

• Bananas shipped by air are still 

green upon arrival in the United States; 

• Bananas shipped by sea are either 

green upon arrival in the United States 

or yellow but firm. 

Under paragraph (e)(2), harvested 

bananas would have to be placed in 

field cartons or containers that are 

marked with the official registration 

number of the place of production. The 

fruit would have to be safeguarded from 

exposure to fruit flies from harvest to 

export, including being packaged so as 

to prevent access by fruit flies and other 

injurious insect pests. These 

requirements would ensure that APHIS 

and the NPPO of the Philippines could 

identify the place of production where 

the bananas were produced if inspectors 

find quarantine pests in the fruit either 

before export or at the port of entry. 

Places of production with quarantine 

pests would be removed from the 

program. 

Post-Harvesting Processing 

Paragraph (f) of proposed § 319.56–57 

would provide that all damaged fruit 

would have to be culled at the 

packinghouse. Fruit with broken or 

bruised skin is more susceptible to 

infestation by pests than undamaged 

fruit. In addition, the fruit would have 

to be washed with a high pressure water 

spray and with soap and water. This 

requirement would remove mealy bugs 

and other quarantine pests from the fruit 

prior to export. 

Packinghouse Requirements 

We are proposing several 

requirements for packinghouse 

activities, which would be contained in 

paragraph (g) of proposed § 319.56–57. 

Paragraph (g)(1) would provide that the 

packinghouse would have to have 

double doors at the entrance to the 

facility and at the interior entrance to 

the area where the bananas are packed. 

This proposed requirement is designed 

to exclude fruit flies from the 

packinghouse. 

Paragraph (g)(2) would require that 

bananas for export be packed into new, 

clean boxes, crates, or other packing 

material. We would also require 

bananas intended for export to the 

United States to be labeled with the 

name and location of the packinghouse 

marked on the boxes, and segregated 

from bananas intended for other 

markets. These requirements would 

ensure that APHIS and the NPPO of the 

Philippines could identify the 

packinghouse at which the fruit was 

packed if inspectors find quarantine 

pests in the fruit either before export or 

at the port of entry. 

Paragraph (g)(3) would require that 

shipping documents accompanying 

consignments of bananas from the 

Philippines that are exported to the 

United States include the official 

registration number of the place of 

production at which the bananas were 

grown and must identify the 

packinghouse in which the fruit was 

processed and packed. This 

identification must be maintained until 

the fruit is released for entry into the 

United States. 

Paragraph (g)(4) would require that 

the packinghouse operations for export 

of bananas be monitored by the NPPO 

of the Philippines. This requirement 

would ensure that the packinghouses 

remain compliant with the regulations. 

NPPO of the Philippines Inspection 

To ensure that the mitigations 

required in the systems approach are 

effective at producing fruit free of the 

targeted quarantine pests, we would 

require the NPPO of the Philippines to 

inspect the fruit after harvest. Paragraph 

(h)(1) of proposed § 319.56–57 would 

require inspectors from the NPPO of the 

Philippines to certify that bananas were 

harvested at the hard green stage. 

Under paragraph (h)(2), the NPPO of 

the Philippines would be required to 

inspect a biometric sample of the fruit 

from each place of production at a rate 

to be determined by APHIS. The 

inspectors would have to visually 

inspect fruit from each place of 

production for all the quarantine pests. 

The inspectors would also have to cut 

fruit to inspect for quarantine pests that 

are internal feeders, which include 

larvae of the three Bactrocera fruit fly 

species (B. musae, B. occipitalis, B. 

philippinensis) and the beetle Sybra 

alternans. We have determined that 

inspection can serve as an effective 

mitigation for the risk associated with 

these pests in bananas exported from 

the Philippines. 

If any Bactrocera spp. fruit flies are 

detected in this inspection, the place of 

production where the infested bananas 

were grown would immediately be 

suspended from the export program 

until an investigation has been 

conducted by APHIS and the NPPO of 

the Philippines and appropriate 

mitigations have been implemented. If 

other quarantine pests are detected in 

this inspection, the consignment will be 

rejected from the export program. 

Phytosanitary Certificate 

To certify that the bananas from the 

Philippines have been grown and 

packed in accordance with the 

requirements of proposed § 319.56–57, 

proposed paragraph (i) would require 

each consignment of bananas imported 

from the Philippines into the United 

States to be accompanied by a 

phytosanitary certificate issued by the 

NPPO of the Philippines with an 

additional declaration stating that the 

bananas in the consignment were 

grown, packed, and inspected in 

accordance with the systems approach 

in proposed § 319.56–57. 

Executive Order 12866 and Regulatory 

Flexibility Act 

This proposed rule has been 

determined to be not significant for the 

purposes of Executive Order 12866 and, 

therefore, has not been reviewed by the 

Office of Management and Budget. 

In accordance with the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act, we have analyzed the 


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potential economic effects of this action 

on small entities. The analysis is 

summarized below. Copies of the full 

analysis are available by contacting the 

person listed under FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT or on the 

Regulations.gov Web site (see 

ADDRESSES above for instructions for 

accessing Regulations.gov). 

The United States is a minor producer 

but a major importer of bananas. Banana 

imports from the Philippines would 

compete against existing U.S. banana 

imports from other countries. The 

volume of bananas expected to be 

imported from the Philippines is not 

more than 100 containers per year at 

most, or approximately 1,814 metric 

tons annually. This quantity is 

equivalent to about 0.05 percent of U.S. 

imports. Compared to the volume of 

current imports, the quantity of bananas 

expected to be imported from the 

Philippines is negligible. Moreover, 

bananas from the Philippines will be 

allowed only into the continental 

United States, not into Hawaii. For these 

reasons, any impact of the rule for U.S. 

banana producers in Hawaii would be 

small. 

Under these circumstances, the 

Administrator of the Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service has 

determined that this action would not 

have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities. 

Executive Order 12988 

This proposed rule would allow 

bananas to be imported into the United 

States from the Philippines. If this 

proposed rule is adopted, State and 

local laws and regulations regarding 

bananas imported under this rule would 

be preempted while the fruit is in 

foreign commerce. Fresh fruits are 

generally imported for immediate 

distribution and sale to the consuming 

public and would remain in foreign 

commerce until sold to the ultimate 

consumer. The question of when foreign 

commerce ceases in other cases must be 

addressed on a case-by-case basis. If this 

proposed rule is adopted, no retroactive 

effect will be given to this rule, and this 

rule will not require administrative 

proceedings before parties may file suit 

in court challenging this rule. 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

In accordance with section 3507(d) of 

the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the information 

collection or recordkeeping 

requirements included in this proposed 

rule have been submitted for approval to 

the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB). Please send written comments 

to the Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Attention: 

Desk Officer for APHIS, Washington, DC 

20503. Please state that your comments 

refer to Docket No. APHIS–2011–0028. 

Please send a copy of your comments to: 

(1) Docket No. APHIS–2011–0028, 

Regulatory Analysis and Development, 

PPD, APHIS, Station 3A–03.8, 4700 

River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 

20737–1238, and (2) Clearance Officer, 

OCIO, USDA, room 404–W, 14th Street 

and Independence Avenue SW., 

Washington, DC 20250. A comment to 

OMB is best assured of having its full 

effect if OMB receives it within 30 days 

of publication of this proposed rule. 

Allowing the importation of fresh 

bananas from the Philippines into the 

continental United States will require 

the completion of the following 

information: A bilateral workplan, 

registration of production sites, 

monitoring and oversight of production 

sites, maintenance of records, forms, 

and documents, marking of production 

sites with registration numbers, and a 

phytosanitary certificate. 

We are soliciting comments from the 

public (as well as affected agencies) 

concerning our proposed information 

collection and recordkeeping 

requirements. These comments will 

help us: 

(1) Evaluate whether the proposed 

information collection is necessary for 

the proper performance of our agency s 

functions, including whether the 

information will have practical utility; 

(2) Evaluate the accuracy of our 

estimate of the burden of the proposed 

information collection, including the 

validity of the methodology and 

assumptions used; 

(3) Enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and 

(4) Minimize the burden of the 

information collection on those who are 

to respond (such as through the use of 

appropriate automated, electronic, 

mechanical, or other technological 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology; e.g., permitting 

electronic submission of responses). 

Estimate of Burden: Public reporting 

burden for this collection of information 

is estimated to average 0.76892 hours 

per response. 

Respondents: Foreign government, 

importers and growers of bananas from 

the Philippines. 

Estimated Annual Number of 

Respondents: 46. 

Estimated Annual Number of 

Responses per Respondent: 5,456. 

Estimated Annual Number of 

Responses: 251. 

Estimated total annual burden on 

respondents: 193 hours. (Due to 

averaging, the total annual burden hours 

may not equal the product of the annual 

number of responses multiplied by the 

reporting burden per response.) 

Copies of this information collection 

can be obtained from Mrs. Celeste 

Sickles, APHIS’ Information Collection 

Coordinator, at (301) 851–2908. 

E-Government Act Compliance 

The Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service is committed to 

compliance with the E-Government Act 

to promote the use of the Internet and 

other information technologies, to 

provide increased opportunities for 

citizen access to Government 

information and services, and for other 

purposes. For information pertinent to 

E-Government Act compliance related 

to this proposed rule, please contact 

Mrs. Celeste Sickles, APHIS’ 

Information Collection Coordinator, at 

(301) 851–2908. 

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 319 

Coffee, Cotton, Fruits, Imports, Logs, 

Nursery stock, Plant diseases and pests, 

Quarantine, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements, Rice, 

Vegetables. 

Accordingly, we propose to amend 7 

CFR part 319 as follows: 

PART 319—FOREIGN QUARANTINE 

NOTICES 

1. The authority citation for part 319 

continues to read as follows: 

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. 

2. A new § 319.56–57 is added to read 

as follows: 

§ 319.56–57 Bananas from the Philippines. 

Bananas (Musa spp., which include 

M. acuminate cultivars and M. 

acuminate x M. balbisiana hybrids) may 

be imported into the continental United 

States from the Philippines only under 

the conditions described in this section. 

These conditions are designed to 

prevent the introduction of the 

following quarantine pests: Bactrocera 

musae (Tryon), Bactrocera occipitalis 

(Bezzi), and Bactrocera philippinensis 

(Drew and Hancock) fruit flies; 

Ceroplastes rubens (Maskell), the red 

wax scale; Coccus viridis (Green), the 

green scale; Sybra alternans 

(Wiedemann), a longhorned beetle; 

Dymicoccus neobrevipes (Beardsley), 

the gray pineapple mealybug; 

Geococcus coffeae (Green), the coffee 

root mealybug; Maconellicoccus 

hirsutus (Green), the hibiscus mealybug; 

Planococcus lilacinus (Cockerell), the 

coffee mealybug; Planococcus minor 


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(Maskell), the pacific mealybug; 

Pseudococcus cryptus (Hempel), the 

cryptic mealybug; Rastrococcus 

invadens (Williams), the mango 

mealybug; and Rastrococcus spinosus 

(Robinson), the Philippine mango 

mealybug. 

(a) General requirements. (1) The 

national plant protection organization 

(NPPO) of the Philippines must provide 

an operational workplan to APHIS that 

details the activities that the NPPO of 

the Philippines will, subject to APHIS’ 

approval of the workplan, carry out to 

meet the requirements of this section. 

(2) Bananas must be grown at places 

of production that are registered with 

the NPPO of the Philippines and that 

meet the requirements of this section. 

Registration must be renewed annually. 

(3) Bananas must be packed for export 

to the United States in packinghouses 

that meet the requirements of this 

section. 

(4) Bananas from the Philippines may 

be imported in commercial 

consignments only. 

(b) Monitoring and oversight. (1) The 

NPPO of the Philippines must visit and 

inspect registered places of production 

monthly, starting at least 3 months 

before harvest begins and continuing 

through the end of the shipping season, 

to verify that the growers are complying 

with the requirements of this section 

and follow pest control guidelines, 

when necessary, to reduce quarantine 

pest populations. When trapping is 

required under paragraph (c) of this 

section, the NPPO of the Philippines 

must also verify that the growers are 

complying with the requirements in that 

paragraph and must certify that each 

place of production has an effective fruit 

fly trapping program. Any personnel 

conducting trapping under paragraph (c) 

of this section must be trained and 

supervised by the NPPO of the 

Philippines. APHIS may monitor the 

places of production as necessary to 

ensure compliance. 

(2) If the NPPO of the Philippines 

finds that a place of production or 

packinghouse is not complying with the 

requirements of this section, no fruit 

from the place of production or 

packinghouse will be eligible for export 

to the United States until APHIS and the 

NPPO of the Philippines conduct an 

investigation and appropriate remedial 

actions have been implemented. 

(3) The NPPO of the Philippines must 

retain all forms and documents related 

to export program activities in places of 

production and packinghouses for at 

least 1 year and, as requested, provide 

them to APHIS for review. 

(c) Fruit fly trapping to establish 

places of production with low pest 

prevalence. Beginning at least 3 months 

before harvest begins and continuing 

through the end of the harvest, trapping 

must be conducted in registered places 

of production with at least 1 trap per 0.2 

square kilometers to demonstrate that 

the places of production have a low 

prevalence of Bactrocera spp. fruit flies. 

APHIS-approved traps baited with 

APHIS-approved plugs must be used 

and serviced at least once every 2 

weeks. During the trapping, when traps 

are serviced, if fruit flies are trapped at 

a particular place of production at 

cumulative levels above 2 flies per trap 

per day, pesticide bait treatments must 

be applied in the affected place of 

production in order for the place of 

production to remain eligible to export 

bananas to the United States. The NPPO 

of the Philippines must keep records of 

fruit fly detections for each trap, update 

the records each time the traps are 

checked, and make the records available 

to APHIS inspectors upon request. If no 

Bactrocera spp. larvae have been found 

in the inspections required in paragraph 

(h) of this section by [Insert date 2 years 

after the effective date of final rule], the 

activities described in this paragraph are 

no longer required. 

(d) Bagging requirements. Plastic bags 

impregnated with pesticides must cover 

the bananas. During the growing period, 

if a pesticide bag falls off or is torn, the 

fruit in that bag may not be exported to 

the United States. 

(e) Harvesting requirements. (1) 

Bananas must be harvested at a hard 

green stage and inspected at the port of 

entry to determine that: 

(i) Bananas shipped by air are still 

green upon arrival in the United States; 

(ii) Bananas shipped by sea are either 

green upon arrival in the United States 

or yellow but firm. 

(2) Harvested bananas must be placed 

in field cartons or containers that are 

marked to show the official registration 

number of the production site. The 

identification of the place of production 

must be maintained from the time when 

the fruit leaves the place of production 

until the fruit is released for entry into 

the United States. 

(f) Post-harvest processing. After 

harvest, all damaged or diseased fruit 

must be culled at the packinghouse. 

Fruit must be washed with a high 

pressure water spray, and washed with 

soap and water. 

(g) Packinghouse requirements. (1) 

Packinghouses must prevent the entry of 

pests with a double-door entry system 

designed to exclude quarantine pests of 

concern. 

(2) Bananas for export must be packed 

into new, clean boxes, crates or other 

packing materials. Bananas intended for 

export to the United States must be 

labeled with the name and location for 

the packinghouse, and segregated from 

bananas intended for other markets. 

(3) The shipping documents 

accompanying the consignment of 

bananas from the Philippines that are 

exported to the United States must 

include the official registration number 

of the place of production at which the 

bananas were grown and must identify 

the packinghouse in which the fruit was 

processed and packed. This 

identification must be maintained until 

the fruit is release for entry into the 

United States. 

(4) The packinghouse operations for 

export of bananas must be monitored by 

the NPPO of the Philippines. 

(h) NPPO of the Philippines 

inspection. (1) Following any postharvest processing, inspectors from the 

NPPO of the Philippines must certify 

that bananas were harvested at the hard 

green stage. 

(2) Inspectors from the NPPO of the 

Philippines must inspect a biometric 

sample of the fruit from each place of 

production at a rate to be determined by 

APHIS. The inspectors must visually 

inspect for quarantine pests listed in the 

introductory text of this section and 

must cut fruit to inspect for quarantine 

pests that are internal feeders. If 

Bactrocera spp. fruit flies are found 

upon inspection, the export program 

will be suspended until an investigation 

has been conducted by APHIS and the 

NPPO of the Philippines and 

appropriate mitigations have been 

implemented. If other quarantine pests 

are detected in this inspection, the 

consignment will be destroyed and the 

registered place of production will be 

rejected from the export program. 

(i) Phytosanitary certificate. Each 

consignment of fruit must be 

accompanied by a phytosanitary 

certificate issued by the NPPO of the 

Philippines that contains an additional 

declaration stating that the bananas in 

the consignment were grown, packed, 

and inspected in accordance with the 

systems approach in 7 CFR 319.56–55. 

Done in Washington, DC, this 9th day of 

April 2012. 

Kevin Shea, 

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2012–9063 Filed 4–13–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 


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