16622 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 60 / Monday, March 30, 2015 / Notices 

1To view the notice, the PRA, and the comments 

we received, go to http://www.regulations.gov/#

!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2011-0077. 

Plants for Planting’’ (7 CFR 319.37–1 

through 319.37–14) prohibit or restrict, 

among other things, the importation of 

living plants, plant parts, and seed for 

propagation. 

These regulations allow small lots of 

seed to be imported into the United 

States under an import permit with 

specific conditions, including seed 

packet labeling, as an alternative to a 

phytosanitary certificate requirement. 

We are asking the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) to 

approve our use of these information 

collection activities for an additional 3 

years. 

The purpose of this notice is to solicit 

comments from the public (as well as 

affected agencies) concerning our 

information collection. These comments 

will help us: 

(1) Evaluate whether the collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

Agency, including whether the 

information will have practical utility; 

(2) Evaluate the accuracy of our 

estimate of the burden of the collection 

of information, 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 

collection of information on those who 

are to respond, through use, as 

appropriate, of automated, electronic, 

mechanical, and other collection 

technologies; e.g., permitting electronic 

submission of responses. 

Estimate of burden: The public 

reporting burden for this collection of 

information is estimated to average 

0.0356 hours per response. 

Respondents: Importers, horticultural 

societies, arboreta, and small 

businesses. 

Estimated annual number of 

respondents: 400. 

Estimated annual number of 

responses per respondent: 26. 

Estimated annual number of 

responses: 10,400. 

Estimated total annual burden on 

respondents: 370 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.) 

All responses to this notice will be 

summarized and included in the request 

for OMB approval. All comments will 

also become a matter of public record. 

Done in Washington, DC, this 24th day of 

March 2015. 

Jere L. Dick, 

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2015–07224 Filed 3–27–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

[Docket No. APHIS–2011–0077] 

Notice of Decision To Authorize the 

Importation of Fresh Tejocote Fruit 

From Mexico Into the Continental 

United States 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: We are advising the public of 

our decision to authorize the 

importation into the continental United 

States of fresh tejocote fruit from 

Mexico. Based on the findings of a pest 

risk analysis, which we made available 

to the public for review and comment 

through a previous notice, we have 

determined that the application of one 

or more designated phytosanitary 

measures will be sufficient to mitigate 

the risks of introducing or disseminating 

plant pests or noxious weeds via the 

importation of fresh tejocote fruit from 

Mexico. 

DATES: Effective March 30, 2015. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

David B. Lamb, Senior Regulatory 

Policy Specialist, PHP, PPQ, APHIS, 

4700 River Road Unit 133, Riverdale, 

MD 20737; (301) 851–2103. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the 

regulations in ‘‘Subpart—Fruits and 

Vegetables’’ (7 CFR 319.56–1 through 

319.56–71, referred to below as the 

regulations), the Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of 

the U.S. Department of Agriculture 

prohibits or restricts the importation of 

fruits and vegetables into the United 

States from certain parts of the world to 

prevent plant pests from being 

introduced into and spread within the 

United States. 

Section 319.56–4 of the regulations 

contains a performance-based process 

for approving the importation of 

commodities that, based on the findings 

of a pest risk analysis (PRA), can be 

safely imported subject to one or more 

of the designated phytosanitary 

measures listed in paragraph (b) of that 

section. Under that process, APHIS 

publishes a notice in the Federal 

Register announcing the availability of 

the PRA that evaluates the risks 

associated with the importation of a 

particular fruit or vegetable. Following 

the close of the 60-day comment period, 

APHIS may begin issuing permits for 

importation of the fruit or vegetable 

subject to the identified designated 

measures if: (1) No comments were 

received on the PRA; (2) the comments 

on the PRA revealed that no changes to 

the PRA were necessary; or (3) changes 

to the PRA were made in response to 

public comments, but the changes did 

not affect the overall conclusions of the 

analysis and the Administrator’s 

determination of risk. 

In accordance with that process, we 

published a notice 1 in the Federal 

Register on September 29, 2011 (76 FR 

60449–60450, Docket No. APHIS–2011– 

0077), in which we announced the 

availability, for review and comment, of 

a PRA that evaluated the risks 

associated with the importation into the 

continental United States of fresh 

tejocote fruit (Crataegus pubescens) 

from Mexico. The PRA consisted of a 

risk assessment identifying pests of 

quarantine significance that could 

follow the pathway of importation of 

fresh tejocote fruit from Mexico into the 

continental United States and a risk 

management document identifying 

phytosanitary measures to be applied to 

that commodity to mitigate the pest risk. 

We solicited comments on the notice for 

60 days ending on November 28, 2011. 

We received five comments by that date. 

They were from a State agricultural 

official, a foreign national plant 

protection organization (NPPO), two 

domestic tejocote growers, and a 

domestic fruit and vegetable distributor. 

Four of these commenters opposed the 

importation of fresh tejocote fruit from 

Mexico into the United States. 

Two commenters expressed a general 

concern about the phytosanitary risk of 

importing tejocote fruit from Mexico but 

did not mention a specific pest. 

The PRA did not identify any pests of 

quarantine significance as following the 

pathway of commercial shipments of 

tejocote from Mexico into the United 

States. We concluded that the required 

phytosanitary measures listed in the 

PRA will result in the effective removal 

of any potential quarantine pests 

associated with the importation of 

tejocote from Mexico. 

Another commenter opposed the 

importation of fresh tejocote fruit from 

Mexico on grounds that it has been 

demonstrated to be a host for 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 60 / Monday, March 30, 2015 / Notices 16623 

2CABI Invasive Species Compendium 2015: 

http://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/12367. 

Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis 

capitata), or Medfly. The commenter 

stated that the Mexican State of Chiapas 

has had recurring outbreaks of Medfly 

and requested that imports of fresh 

tejocote fruit from Mexico not be 

permitted into the commenter’s State 

until the shipping protocol described in 

the PRA has had sufficient time to 

demonstrate that Medfly outbreaks in 

Chiapas do not result in an introduction 

of Medfly into the United States. 

Another commenter opposed to the 

importation of tejocote fruit cited Web 

sites and unspecified articles and stated 

that they contain information about 

tejocote crop damage caused by fruit 

flies in parts of Mexico, including 

Chiapas, where tejocote is grown 

commercially. 

We were unable to find information 

about tejocote crop damage in Mexico 

on the Web sites listed by the 

commenter. APHIS recognizes Mexico 

as having eradicated Medfly, a 

determination that has been 

corroborated by CABI, an 

internationally recognized pest 

monitoring resource.2 While there have 

been occasional introductions of Medfly 

along the border between the Mexican 

State of Chiapas and Guatemala, APHIS 

has determined that no established 

populations of Medfly exist in any part 

of Mexico. Furthermore, APHIS operates 

the Moscamed program in cooperation 

with Guatemala and Mexico to detect 

and eradicate introductions into Mexico 

through surveillance trapping, fruit 

sampling, biological and mechanical 

controls, release of sterile Medflies, 

public education efforts, and the 

establishment of fruit fly-free areas. We 

have determined that the Moscamed 

program possesses the capability to 

detect, contain, and eradicate Medfly 

outbreaks within commercial tejocote 

growing areas of Mexico. If an outbreak 

of Medfly were to occur and APHIS 

determined that it posed an 

unacceptable phytosanitary risk to the 

United States, we would immediately 

prohibit the importation of fresh 

tejocote fruit from Mexico. This practice 

is consistent with actions we have taken 

toward imports of commodities from 

other countries considered free of 

certain quarantine pests when such 

pests appear in those countries and pose 

an unacceptable import risk to the 

United States. 

The PRA identified three designated 

measures as necessary to ensure the safe 

importation of tejocote fruit from 

Mexico: 

• The tejocote fruit must be imported 

in commercial consignments only. 

• Each consignment of tejocote fruit 

must be accompanied by a 

phytosanitary certificate issued by the 

NPPO of Mexico stating the following: 

‘‘Tejocote fruit in this consignment were 

inspected and are free of pests.’’ 

• Each shipment of tejocote fruit is 

subject to inspection upon arrival at 

port of entry to the United States. 

One commenter noted that the PRA 

identified no quarantine pests likely to 

follow the pathway of commercial 

consignments. As a result, the 

commenter suggested that port-of-entry 

inspection be the only required 

measure. 

APHIS has concluded that the 

measures indicated in the PRA are 

necessary to effectively mitigate the pest 

risk associated with fresh tejocote fruit 

imported from Mexico. 

Only commercial consignments of 

tejocote fruit will be allowed to be 

imported from Mexico for sale and 

distribution. Commercial consignments, 

as defined in § 319.56–2, are 

consignments that an inspector 

identifies as having been imported for 

sale and distribution. 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, could be of a 

variety with unknown susceptibility to 

pests, and is often grown with little or 

no pest control. 

Consignments of fresh tejocote fruit 

from Mexico will also be required to be 

accompanied by a phytosanitary 

certificate. The phytosanitary certificate 

provides additional assurance that the 

NPPO of Mexico has inspected the 

commodity and determined that it 

meets the requirements for importation 

into the United States and is free of 

pests. 

Three commenters opposed the 

importation of tejocote fruit from 

Mexico on grounds that U.S. growers 

could suffer economically as a result of 

competition with imported tejocote 

fruit. 

Under the Plant Protection Act (7 

U.S.C. 7701 et seq.), we have the 

authority to prohibit or restrict the 

importation of plants and plant 

products only when necessary to 

prevent the introduction into or 

dissemination of plant pests or noxious 

weeds within the United States. We do 

not have the authority to restrict imports 

solely on the grounds of potential 

economic effects on domestic entities 

that could result from increased 

imports. 

Therefore, in accordance with the 

regulations in § 319.56–4(c)(2)(ii), we 

are announcing our decision to 

authorize the importation into the 

continental United States of fresh 

tejocote fruit from Mexico subject to the 

following phytosanitary measures: 

• The tejocote fruit must be imported 

in commercial consignments only. 

• Each consignment of tejocote fruit 

must be accompanied by a 

phytosanitary certificate issued by the 

NPPO of Mexico stating the following: 

‘‘Tejocote fruit in this consignment were 

inspected and are free of pests.’’ 

• Each shipment of tejocote fruit is 

subject to inspection upon arrival at 

port of entry to the United States. 

These conditions will be listed in the 

Fruits and Vegetables Import 

Requirements database (available at 

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/favir). In 

addition to these specific measures, 

fresh tejocote fruit from Mexico will be 

subject to the general requirements 

listed in § 319.56–3 that are applicable 

to the importation of all fruits and 

vegetables. 

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 25th day of 

March 2015. 

Michael C. Gregoire, 

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2015–07234 Filed 3–27–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

March 24, 2015. 

The Department of Agriculture has 

submitted the following information 

collection requirement(s) to OMB for 

review and clearance under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 

Public Law 104–13. Comments 

regarding (a) whether the collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

agency, including whether the 

information will have practical utility; 

(b) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate 

of burden including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; (c) 

ways to enhance the quality, utility and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; (d) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on those who are to respond, including 

through the use of appropriate 

automated, electronic, mechanical, or 

other technological collection 

techniques or other forms of information 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES