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

87999 

Vol. 89, No. 215 

Wednesday, November 6, 2024 

1https://acir.aphis.usda.gov/s/acir-globalsearch?category=Plants-for-Planting-andPropagation. 

2The basic requirements are listed in full under 

‘‘Plants in Growing Media Program’’ in chapter 7 of 

the Plants for Planting Manual: https://acir.aphis.

usda.gov/s/plants-for-planting-hub. 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

[Docket No. APHIS–2024–0001] 

Importation of Phalaenopsis Spp. 

Orchid Plants for Planting in Approved 

Growing Media From Germany and the 

Netherlands Into the United States 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: We are proposing to authorize 

the importation of Phalaenopsis spp. 

orchid plants from Germany and the 

Netherlands in approved growing media 

into the United States. As a condition of 

entry, Phalaenopsis spp. orchid plants 

in approved growing media from 

Germany and the Netherlands would 

have to meet all relevant requirements 

included in the U.S. Department of 

Agriculture Plants for Planting Manual 

and detailed in a bilateral workplan. 

This proposed action would allow for 

the importation of Phalaenopsis spp. 

orchid plants for planting from Germany 

and the Netherlands in approved 

growing media while providing 

protection against the introduction of 

plant pests. 

DATES: We will consider all comments 

that we receive on or before January 6, 

2025. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by either of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

www.regulations.gov. Enter APHIS– 

2024–0001 in the Search field. Select 

the Documents tab, then select the 

Comment button in the list of 

documents. 

• Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: 

Send your comment to Docket No. 

APHIS–2024–0001, Regulatory Analysis 

and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 

2C–10.16, 4700 River Road, Unit 25, 

Riverdale, MD 20737–1238. 

Supporting documents and any 

comments we receive on this docket 

may be viewed at http://

www.regulations.gov or in our reading 

room, which is located in room 1620 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. 

Narasimha Chary Samboju, Senior 

Regulatory Policy Specialist, PPQ, 

APHIS, 4700 River Road, Unit 133, 

Riverdale, MD 20737–1236; (301) 851– 

2038; Narasimha.C.Samboju@

aphis.usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Under the regulations in ‘‘Subpart H– 

Plants for Planting’’ (7 CFR 319.37–1 

through 319.37–23, referred to below as 

the regulations), the Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of 

the U.S. Department of Agriculture 

(USDA) prohibits or restricts the 

importation of plants for planting 

(including living plants, plant parts, 

seeds, and plant cuttings) to prevent the 

introduction of quarantine pests into the 

United States. 

Section 319.37–10 restricts the 

importation of plants for planting in 

approved growing media, with 

exceptions. Paragraph (d) of § 319.37–10 

states that certain types of plants for 

planting, as listed in the USDA Plants 

for Planting Manual, may be imported 

when they are established in a growing 

medium approved by the Administrator 

and produced in accordance with 

additional requirements specified in the 

manual. 

Section 319.37–20 contains 

provisions for making changes to the list 

of plants for planting that may be 

imported in approved growing media, as 

well as restrictions for the importation 

of those types of plants for planting 

beyond the general restrictions in 

§§ 319.37–5 through 319.37–11. To 

initiate a change to the list, APHIS will 

publish in the Federal Register a notice 

for public comment announcing our 

proposal to add, change, or remove 

restrictions on the importation of a 

specific type of plants for planting. After 

close of the comment period, we will 

review comments and issue a second 

notice announcing the specific 

restrictions, if any, that APHIS has 

determined to be necessary to mitigate 

pest risk. Any changes to the list of 

types of plants for planting whose 

importation is subject to additional 

restrictions, and the specific restrictions 

applicable to them, will be made to the 

USDA Plants for Planting Manual and 

the Agricultural Commodity Import 

Requirements database (ACIR).1

Currently, the entry of Phalaenopsis 

spp. orchid plants in approved growing 

media from Germany and the 

Netherlands into the United States is 

not authorized. Germany and the 

Netherlands have requested that 

importation into the United States of 

Phalaenopsis spp. orchid plants in 

approved growing media be allowed 

pursuant to § 319.37–10(d). 

To be eligible for importation, plants 

for planting in approved growing media 

must be of approved plant taxa and 

come from a facility that is part of an 

approved growing media program 

approved by APHIS. Basic 

requirements 2 applicable to all plant 

taxa in approved growing media are 

listed in chapter 7 of the USDA Plants 

for Planting Manual and ACIR. Among 

these basic requirements, taxa imported 

in approved growing media from 

approved facilities must: 

• Be accompanied by a phytosanitary 

certificate issued by the national plant 

protection organization (NPPO) of the 

country in which the plants were 

grown; 

• Be only in approved growing 

media; 

• Be grown in compliance with a 

written agreement (bilateral work plan); 

• Be developed from mother stock 

that was inspected and found free from 

evidence of quarantine pests; 

• Be grown solely in a greenhouse in 

which sanitary procedures adequate to 

exclude quarantine pests are always 

employed; 

• Be rooted and grown in an active 

state of foliar growth for at least 4 

consecutive months immediately prior 

to importation into the United States; 


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88000 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 215 / Wednesday, November 6, 2024 / Notices 

3The RMDs can be viewed on the Regulations.gov 

website (see the link under ADDRESSES) or by 

contacting the person listed under FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT. 

• Be grown from seeds germinated in 

the greenhouse unit; or descended from 

a mother plant that was grown for at 

least 9 months in the exporting country 

prior to importation into the United 

States of the descendant plants; 

• Be watered only with rainwater that 

has been boiled or pasteurized, with 

clean well water, or with potable water; 

• Be rooted and grown in approved 

growing media; 

• Be stored and packaged only in 

areas free of sand, soil, earth, and 

quarantine pests; and 

• Be inspected in the greenhouse and 

found free from evidence of quarantine 

pests by an APHIS inspector or an 

inspector of the NPPO of the exporting 

country. 

In addition, the grower is required to 

comply with the provisions of the 

program and to allow inspectors, and 

representatives of the NPPO of the 

exporting country, access to where the 

plants are grown. These requirements 

have been used successfully to mitigate 

the risk of pest introduction associated 

with the importation into the United 

States of approved plants established in 

approved growing media. 

Beyond the basic requirements for 

import eligibility applicable to all taxa 

in approved growing media, the Plants 

for Planting Manual and ACIR contain 

approved growing media program 

requirements specific to plant taxa and 

the country in which they are grown. 

Programs for importation of 

Phalaenopsis spp. orchid plants in 

approved growing media from approved 

facilities have been established for four 

countries: China, Costa Rica, South 

Korea, and Taiwan. 

In response to the request by Germany 

and the Netherlands, we conducted pest 

risk assessments to evaluate the risk to 

the United States, including territories, 

of importation of Phalaenopsis spp. 

orchid plants in approved growing 

media from Germany and the 

Netherlands. After a review of the 

scientific literature, port-of-entry pest 

interception data, and information from 

the NPPO of Germany and the 

Netherlands, we conducted pest risk 

assessments listing all potential pests 

with actionable regulatory status for the 

United States and its territories that 

occur in Germany and the Netherlands 

and are associated with Phalaenopsis 

spp. orchid plants anywhere in the 

world. We analyzed the pest risk 

potential of these organisms and 

determined that no organism in 

Germany of quarantine concern had a 

reasonable likelihood of following the 

pathway of Phalaenopsis spp. plants in 

growing media from Germany into the 

United States. Nonetheless, the general 

plants in growing media regulations 

outlined in the Plants for Planting 

Manual and ACIR will still apply for 

this pathway. This will ensure that 

Phalaenopsis spp. imported into the 

United States from Germany have been 

produced under the conditions 

evaluated by the pest risk assessment. 

For the pest risk assessment of the 

Netherlands, we found three pests, the 

arthropods Lyprauta cambria and L. 

chacoensis, and the fungus 

Colletotrichum orchidearum, are 

candidates for risk management 

measures because they meet the 

threshold to likely cause unacceptable 

consequences if introduced into the 

United States. 

Based on the findings in the pest risk 

assessments, we prepared risk 

management documents (RMDs) 3 to 

determine mitigations that will be 

required of Germany, and that will 

adequately prevent the introduction of 

Lyprauta cambria, L. chacoensis, and 

Colletotrichum orchidearum from the 

Netherlands into the United States, for 

Phalaenopsis spp. orchid plants in 

approved growing media. In order for 

Phalaenopsis spp. orchid plants to be 

safely imported into the United States 

from Germany and the Netherlands, the 

RMDs specify that the plants must be 

grown in approved growing media and 

meet the requirements outlined in the 

USDA Plants for Planting Manual. The 

RMD for the Netherlands additionally 

provides mitigations required to prevent 

the introduction of Lyprauta cambria, L. 

chacoensis, and Colletotrichum 

orchidearum, into the United States via 

Phalaenopsis spp. orchid plants in 

approved growing media from the 

Netherlands. These requirements for 

each country are detailed in written 

agreements between APHIS and 

Germany and the Netherlands regarding 

risk management measures to prevent 

the entry of quarantine plant pests. 

Therefore, in accordance with 

§ 319.37–20(c), we are announcing the 

availability of our pest risk assessments 

and RMDs for public review and 

comment. These documents may be 

viewed on the Regulations.gov website 

or in our reading room (see ADDRESSES

above for a link to Regulations.gov and 

information on the location and hours of 

the reading room). You may request 

paper copies of these documents by 

calling or writing to the person listed 

under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT. Please refer to the subject of 

the analyses you wish to review when 

requesting copies. 

After we review any comments that 

we receive on our proposed changes to 

the USDA Plants for Planting Manual 

and ACIR, we will publish a second 

notice. The second notice will inform 

the public of any changes to the list of 

countries approved for the importation 

into the United States of Phalaenopsis 

spp. orchid plants in approved growing 

media. 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1633, 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 22nd day of 

October 2024. 

Michael Watson, 

Administrator, Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2024–25740 Filed 11–5–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

[Docket No. APHIS–2021–0071] 

Privacy Act of 1974; System of 

Records 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, U.S. Department of 

Agriculture (USDA). 

ACTION: Rescindment of a system of 

records notice. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Agriculture is issuing a public notice of 

its intent to rescind an Animal and 

Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) 

Privacy Act system of records notice, 

Brucellosis Information System and 

Brucellosis Recording and Reporting 

System, USDA/APHIS–6. This system 

was created to maintain information on 

herds and individual animals tested, 

studied, or restricted under the 

brucellosis program; epidemiologic 

studies; State and Federal personnel; 

contractual personnel; livestock 

markets; slaughtering establishments; 

milk processing plants; livestock dealers 

(including agents and brokers); and 

laboratories engaged in or affected by 

brucellosis program activities. This 

system of records notice is rescinded 

because it has been superseded by 

another system of records published by 

the Department. 

DATES: The rescindment will become 

applicable by December 6, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by either of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov. Enter 


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