[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 215 (Wednesday, November 6, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 87999-88000]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-25740]


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Notices
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

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.

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

[[Page 87999]]



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.

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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:
    <bullet> 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.
    <bullet> 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; 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#5618372437253f3b3e3778157805373b34393c231637263e3f25782325323778313920"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="2e604f5c4f5d4743464f006d007d4f434c41445b6e4f5e46475d005b5d4a4f00494158">[email protected]</span></a>.

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 Sec.  
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 Sec. Sec.  
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\
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    \1\ https://acir.aphis.usda.gov/s/acir-global-search?category=Plants-for-Planting-and-Propagation.
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    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 Sec.  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:
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    \2\ The 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.
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    <bullet> Be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by 
the national plant protection organization (NPPO) of the country in 
which the plants were grown;
    <bullet> Be only in approved growing media;
    <bullet> Be grown in compliance with a written agreement (bilateral 
work plan);
    <bullet> Be developed from mother stock that was inspected and 
found free from evidence of quarantine pests;
    <bullet> Be grown solely in a greenhouse in which sanitary 
procedures adequate to exclude quarantine pests are always employed;
    <bullet> 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;

[[Page 88000]]

    <bullet> 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;
    <bullet> Be watered only with rainwater that has been boiled or 
pasteurized, with clean well water, or with potable water;
    <bullet> Be rooted and grown in approved growing media;
    <bullet> Be stored and packaged only in areas free of sand, soil, 
earth, and quarantine pests; and
    <bullet> 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.
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    \3\ The 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.
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    Therefore, in accordance with Sec.  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


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