United States 

Department of 

Agriculture

Animal and 

Plant Health 

Inspection 

Service

June, 2011

Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

Final Rule

2009-0086

RIN 0579-0366

Importation of Shepherd’s Purse from Korea

Policy & Program Development

Policy Analysis & Development
i

Table of Contents

Introduction......................................................................................................................... 2

Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis................................................................................. 2

Need for and Objectives of the Rule............................................................................ 3

Significant Issues raised by Public Comment in response to the Initial Regulatory

Flexibility Analysis ........................................................................................................ 3

Significant Issues raised by the Small Business Administration in response to the 

Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis........................................................................... 3

Potentially Affected Small Entities................................................................................. 3

Projected Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Other Compliance Requirements................. 4

Steps taken by APHIS to minimize Significant Economic Impacts on Small Entities .. 4
ii

Introduction

APHIS, in response to a request from the Republic of Korea to export fresh shepherd’s 

purse with roots into the United States, has conducted a pest risk analysis and determined that 

this commodity can be safely imported with minimal pest risk. Currently, APHIS regulations 

allow for the importation of shepherd’s purse leaves and stems from Korea without roots. 

APHIS is amending the regulations to allow the importation of commercial shipments of fresh 

shepherd’s purse with roots into the United States under a combination of mitigations to address 

the pest risk presented by various pests (a systems approach). These measures are more 

extensive because the importation of the plant with its roots intact increases plant pest risk. The 

Republic of Korea expects to export initially one 40-foot shipping container of fresh shepherd’s 

purse with roots into the United States per year, or the equivalent of about 24 metric tons (MT). 

Shepherd’s purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) is an herbaceous plant of the mustard family

(Brassicaceae) that is widely distributed in North America. It inhabits agronomic and vegetable 

crop fields, orchards, vineyards, nurseries, gardens, turf, landscaped areas, roadsides, and other 

disturbed places. Shepherd’s purse colonizes open ground and may inhibit the establishment of 

native species. The plant is considered an invasive weed in some States, including Arizona, 

California, Hawaii, Maryland, Nevada, Utah, and Virginia.1 The plant’s fruit has a peppery

flavor and is sometimes added as a spice to salad greens. 

 

1

Source: USDA Forest Service, Forest Health Staff, Newtown Square, PA. Invasive Plants website: 

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/fhp/invasive_plants
2

The Republic of Korea does not keep official statistics on minor agricultural commodities 

such as shepherd’s purse. However, production and export data have been gathered from 

farmers and wholesalers at Garak-tong market, one of the biggest wholesale agricultural markets 

in Seoul.2 Based on these data, yearly sales of shepherd’s purse at Garak-tong market have 

averaged 1,422 MT over the past five years (table 1). Most of the shepherd’s purse production in 

the Republic of Korea is consumed domestically. During the same five-year period, an average 

of only 298 kilograms per year were exported, i.e., 0.02 percent of reported production. 

Expected initial exports to the United States under the proposed rule, 24 MT, dwarf the reported 

2005-2009 export levels.

Table 1: Republic of Korea’s production and exportation of Shepherd’s purse, 2005-2009, 

based on Garak-tong market data, kilograms 

Year 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Production 1,401,000 1,324,000 1,325,000 1,361,000 1,700,000

Exports 90 310 40 330 690

Source: Transaction Chronology of Agricultural and Fisheries Products of Garak Market, Seoul.

Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires agencies to evaluate the potential effects of their 

proposed and final rules on small businesses, small organizations and small governmental 

jurisdictions. Section 604 of the Act requires agencies to prepare and make available for public 

comment a final regulatory flexibility analysis that describes expected impacts of a rule on small 

entities. 

 

2Yunhee Kim, Agricultural Specialist, USDA/APHIS, American Embassy, Seoul, South Korea. The Garak-tong 

market has 131 acres of covered space.
3

Need for and Objectives of the Rule

APHIS has determined that fresh shepherd’s purse with roots can be safely imported 

from Korea into the United States under certain conditions. The legal basis for this action is the 

Plant Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 7701-7772), which authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to 

prohibit or restrict the importation of any plant product if the Secretary determines that the 

prohibition or restriction is necessary to prevent the introduction of a plant pest or noxious weed 

into the United States. The final rule is part of a continuing program to allow the importation of 

foreign agricultural products that APHIS has determined are without significant risk of 

introducing pests or diseases into the United States.

Significant Issues raised by Public Comment in response to the Initial 

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

There were no significant issues raised by public comment in response to the initial 

regulatory flexibility analysis.

Significant Issues raised by the Small Business Administration in 

response to the Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

There were no significant issues raised by the Small Business Administration in response 

to the initial regulatory flexibility analysis.

Potentially Affected Small Entities

U.S. entities that could be affected by the final rule are domestic producers of shepherd’s 

purse, and wholesalers that import fresh shepherd’s purse. Businesses producing shepherd’s 

purse are classified in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) within the 

category of Other Vegetable (except Potato) and Melon Farming (NAICS code 111219). The 

Small Business Administration’s small-entity standard for these producers is annual receipts of 

not more than $750,000. Firms that would import fresh shepherd’s purse with roots from Korea 
4

are considered small if they have 100 or fewer employees (NAICS code 424480, Fresh Fruit and 

Vegetable Merchant Wholesalers).3

Firms that engage in the production or importation of agricultural commodities are 

predominantly small, and we expect the same would be true for producers and importers of 

shepherd’s purse with roots.4 However, we do not have information on the quantity of 

shepherd’s purse that is produced for commercial sale or the location, number or size of the 

commercial operations. We did not receive information from the public during the review period 

of the proposed rule to help us better understand potential effects of the rule for small entities. 

Projected Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Other Compliance 

Requirements

Reporting and recordkeeping requirements associated with the final rule are discussed in 

the rule under the heading "Paperwork Reduction Act.”

Steps taken by APHIS to minimize Significant Economic Impacts on 

Small Entities

Based on our review of available information, APHIS does not expect the rule to have a 

significant economic impact on small entities. In the absence of significant economic impacts, 

we have not identified alternatives that would minimize such impacts.

 

3 The wholesale sector comprises two types of wholesalers: those that sell goods on their own account and those that 

arrange sales and purchases for others for a commission or fee. Importers are included in both cases. 

4 The average market value of crops sold by operations engaged in other vegetable (except potato) and melon 

farming in 2007 was about $312,000 (2007 Census of Agriculture, Table 46). About 95 percent of fruit and 

vegetable wholesalers that operated for the entire year had fewer than 100 employees in 2007 (U.S. Census Bureau, 

2007 Economic Census. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IBQTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=&-

fds_name=EC0700A1&-_skip=2900&-ds_name=EC0742SSSZ2&-_lang=en)