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

57864 

Vol. 75, No. 184 

Thursday, September 23, 2010 

1To view the proposed rule, supporting 

documents, or the comments we received, go to 

(http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/ 

home.html#docketDetail?R=APHIS-2007-0117). 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

7 CFR Part 319 

[Docket No. APHIS-2007-0117] 

RIN 0579-AC90 

Importation of Wooden Handicrafts 

from China 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; supplemental. 

SUMMARY: We are proposing a change 

related to our proposed rule published 

in the Federal Register on April 9, 2009, 

that would amend the regulations to 

provide for the importation of wooden 

handicrafts from China under certain 

conditions. One of those conditions 

would have required that, unless the 

handicrafts are under 6 inches in 

diameter and treated with methyl 

bromide, they must be treated with heat 

treatment or heat treatment with 

moisture reduction that raises the 

temperature at the center of the 

handicraft to at least 71.1 °C and 

maintains the handicraft at that center 

temperature for at least 75 minutes. 

Based on a recently published article, in 

this supplemental proposed rule we are 

proposing measures that would modify 

this requirement to a temperature at the 

center of at least 60 °C for a duration of 

at least 60 minutes. 

DATES: We will consider all comments 

that we receive on or before November 

22, 2010. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by either of the following methods: 

∑ Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

(http://www.regulations.gov/ 

fdmspublic/component/ 

main?main=DocketDetail&d=APHIS2007-0117) to submit or view comments 

and to view supporting and related 

materials available electronically. 

∑ Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: 

Please send one copy of your comment 

to Docket No. APHIS-2007-0117, 

Regulatory Analysis and Development, 

PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 

River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 

20737-1238. Please state that your 

comment refers to Docket No. APHIS2007-0117. 

Reading Room: You may read any 

comments that we receive on this 

docket in our reading room. The reading 

room 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) 690-2817 before 

coming. 

Other Information: Additional 

information about APHIS and its 

programs is available on the Internet at 

(http://www.aphis.usda.gov). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

John Tyrone Jones, Trade Director 

(Forestry Products), Phytosanitary 

Issues Management, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 

River Road Unit 140, Riverdale, MD 

20737-1231; (301) 734-8860. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The regulations in ‘‘Subpart-Logs, 

Lumber, and Other Unmanufactured 

Wood Articles’’ (7 CFR 319.40-1 through 

319.40-11, referred to below as the 

regulations) govern the importation of 

various logs, lumber, and other 

unmanufactured wood products into the 

United States. Under § 319.40-9 of the 

regulations, all regulated articles must 

be inspected at the port of first arrival. 

If a regulated article shows any signs of 

pest infestation, the inspector may 

require treatment, if an approved 

treatment exists, or refuse entry of the 

consignment. 

Prior to 2005, wood decorative items 

and craft products (wooden handicrafts) 

from China had been entering the 

United States in increasing quantities. 

However, between 2002 and 2005, the 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service (APHIS) issued more than 300 

emergency action notices for wooden 

handicrafts from China, including 

artificial trees manufactured from a 

composite of natural and synthetic 

materials, garden trellis towers, home 

and garden wood de ́cor, and craft items. 

Moreover, in 2004, the United States 

Department of Agriculture (USDA) 

intercepted live wood boring beetles, 

Callidiellum villosulum (Coleoptera: 

Cerambycidae), on artificial trees 

manufactured from wood components 

and on other craft products imported 

from China. Subsequent to these 

interceptions, shipments of the articles 

were recalled from retail stores. Based 

on these pest interceptions, in 2005, we 

suspended the importation of most 

wooden handicrafts (i.e., all handicrafts 

made from wooden logs, limbs, 

branches, or twigs greater than 1 

centimeter in diameter) from China 

until a more thorough evaluation of the 

pest risks associated with those articles 

could be conducted. 

APHIS prepared a pest risk 

assessment, titled ‘‘Pests and mitigations 

for manufactured wood de ́cor and craft 

products from China for importation 

into the United States,’’ to evaluate the 

risks associated with the importation of 

such wooden handicrafts into the 

United States from China. We also 

prepared a risk management document, 

titled ‘‘Pests and mitigations for 

manufactured wood de ́cor and craft 

products from China for importation 

into the United States,’’ to determine 

mitigations necessary to prevent pest 

entry, introduction, or establishment 

associated with imported wooden 

handicrafts from China. Based on the 

conclusions in the pest risk assessment 

and the accompanying risk management 

document, we determined that wooden 

handicrafts could be imported from 

China provided they met certain 

requirements for treatment, issuance of 

a phytosanitary certificate, inspection, 

and box identification. 

Accordingly, on April 9, 2009, we 

published in the Federal Register (74 

FR 16146-16151, Docket No. APHIS2007-0117) a proposal1 to authorize the 

importation of wooden handicrafts from 

China under those conditions. We 

solicited comments concerning the 

proposed rule for 60 days ending June 

8, 2009. We received eight comments by 

that date. They were from the national 

plant protection organization (NPPO) of 

China, a State department of agriculture, 

manufacturers of Chinese wooden 

handicrafts, a public advocacy 

organization, and private citizens. 

One of the commenters urged us to 

finalize the proposed rule without 


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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 184 / Thursday, September 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 57865 

2To view ISPM 15, go to: (https://www.ippc.int/ 

index.php?id=13399&tx_publication_pi1 

[showUid]=133703&frompage=13399&type= 

publication&subtype=&L=0#item). 

3Myers, Scott, Ivich Fraser, and Victor Mastro, 

‘‘Evaluation of Heat Treatment Schedules for 

Emerald Ash Borer (Coloeptera: Buprestidae)’’, 

Journal of Economic Entomology, 102:6 (December 

2009), 2048-2055. 

4The Treatment Manual is available on the 

Internet at (http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ 

import_export/plants/manuals/ports/ 

treatment.shtml). 

change. The remaining commenters 

provided comments on the rule in 

general, and requested modifications to 

certain of its provisions. 

One commenter disagreed with our 

proposed requirement that would have 

required that, unless the wooden 

handicraft is 6 inches or less and treated 

with methyl bromide, it must be treated 

with heat treatment in accordance with 

§ 319.40-7(c) or heat treatment with 

moisture reduction in accordance with 

§ 319.40-7(d). At the time our proposed 

rule was published, paragraph (c) of 

§ 319.40-7 provided that, if heat 

treatment is required for a regulated 

article, any heat treatment procedure 

may be employed that raises the 

temperature at the center of the 

regulated article to at least 71.1 °C and 

maintains the regulated article at that 

center temperature for at least 75 

minutes. Similarly, paragraph (d) 

provided that, if heat treatment with 

moisture reduction is required for a 

regulated article, unless the article is 

treated with kiln drying conducted in 

accordance with the schedules 

prescribed for the article in the Dry Kin 

Operator’s Manual, Agriculture 

Handbook 188, it must be treated with 

a method that raises the temperature at 

the center of the article to at least 71.1 

°C and maintains the regulated article at 

that center temperature for at least 75 

minutes. 

The commenter stated that the two 

paragraphs require regulated articles to 

be treated at a significantly higher 

temperature and for a longer duration 

than the temperature and duration 

recommended by International Standard 

for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) 15, 

which recommends that wood 

packaging material (WPM) be treated 

according to a heat treatment schedule 

that raises the temperature at the center 

of the WPM to at least 56 °C and 

maintains the WPM at that center 

temperature for at least 30 minutes.2

The commenter suggested that we 

should modify the proposed heat 

treatment requirement for Chinese 

wooden handicrafts to make it 

consistent with ISPM 15. 

Because the composition of WPM 

often differs from that of wooden 

handicrafts—for example, WPM is 

almost always debarked, while wooden 

handicrafts often are not—the plant pest 

risks associated with these classes of 

articles also often differ, and we 

therefore determined that we could not 

summarily modify the heat treatment 

requirement in the manner suggested by 

the commenter. Rather, we reexamined 

the findings of the pest risk assessment 

that accompanied the proposed rule to 

determine whether treatment in 

accordance with ISPM 15 would 

neutralize the pests of greatest concern 

identified in the pest risk assessment as 

likely to follow the pathway on 

imported wooden handicrafts from 

China. 

These pests were wood-boring beetles 

in the families Buprestidae, 

Cerambycidae, and Scolytidae. Based on 

a review of the relevant scientific 

literature and on efficacy studies 

conducted by the Center for Plant 

Health Science and Technology of 

APHIS’ Plant Protection and Quarantine 

division, we determined that heat 

treatment of Chinese wooden 

handicrafts at the temperature and 

duration recommended by ISPM 15 

would be effective in neutralizing all 

pests in these families except Emerald 

Ash Borer (EAB). EAB is an extremely 

destructive pest; the mortality rate for 

infested trees is 100 percent, and EAB 

has already killed more than 20 million 

ash trees in the United States since it 

was first discovered in Michigan in the 

summer of 2002. It was therefore our 

intent to retain the heat treatment 

requirements of the proposed rule in 

issuing a follow-up regulatory action. 

However, in the December 2009 issue 

of Journal of Economic Entomology, an 

article titled ‘‘Evaluation of Heat 

Treatment Schedules for Emerald Ash 

Borer (Coloeptera: Buprestidae)’’ 

documents four recent independent 

experiments to determine the minimum 

core temperature and time duration 

necessary to neutralize EAB on firewood 

via heat treatment or heat treatment 

with moisture reduction. As part of the 

experiments, researchers obtained ash 

wood from trees showing visible signs 

of EAB infestation, split the wood, and 

stored it. They then heat-treated the 

articles in laboratory facilities (a drying 

oven and an environmental chamber) at 

temperatures and durations ranging 

from 45 to 65 °C and 15 to 60 minutes, 

respectively. 

The experiments suggested that ‘‘a 

minimum heat treatment of 60 °C for 60 

minutes...would provide >99.9% 

control (for EAB) based on probit 

estimates.’’3

Based on this article, we have reason 

to believe that heat treatment or heat 

treatment with moisture reduction 

methods that raise the center of wooden 

handicrafts from China to at least 60 °C 

and maintain the handicrafts at that 

center temperature for at least 60 

minutes will neutralize all the pests of 

greatest concern identified in the pest 

risk assessment as likely to follow the 

pathway on imported Chinese wooden 

handicrafts. 

On January 26, 2010, we published in 

the Federal Register a final rule (75 FR 

4228-4253, Docket No. APHIS-2008- 

0022) that, among other things, removed 

all treatment schedules found in 7 CFR 

chapter III, including those in § 319.40- 

7(c) and (d). It replaced all such 

schedules with a reference to 7 CFR part 

305, which contains our regulations 

governing phytosanitary treatments. 

Finally, it amended 7 CFR part 305 itself 

to state that all approved treatment 

schedules for regulated articles are now 

found, not in the regulations, but in the 

PPQ Treatment Manual, and to establish 

a process for adding new treatment 

schedules for regulated articles to the 

Treatment Manual.4

Under this process, when we are 

proposing to add a new treatment 

schedule to the Treatment Manual, we 

will publish a notice in the Federal 

Register describing the reasons we have 

determined that it is necessary to add 

the treatment schedule to the manual 

and providing for a public comment 

period on the new treatment schedule. 

If we prepare documentation to support 

the proposed change to the Treatment 

Manual, we will also announce its 

availability via this notice. 

Consistent with this process, we have 

prepared a treatment evaluation 

document (TED) to accompany this 

proposed rule. The TED provides 

information regarding why the findings 

of the December 2009 article, which 

pertain to firewood, also apply to 

Chinese wooden handicrafts, and why 

we believe that heat treatment methods 

that raise the center of the wooden 

handicrafts to at least 60 °C and 

maintain the handicrafts at that center 

temperature for at least 60 minutes will 

neutralize all the pests of greatest 

concern likely to follow the pathway on 

those handicrafts. The TED is available 

from the person listed under FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT or on the 

Regulations.gov Web site (see 

ADDRESSES above for a link to 

Regulations.gov). 

In our proposed rule, proposed 

paragraph (o)(1)(i) of § 319.40-5 would 

have required that wooden handicrafts 

from China be treated with heat 


wwoods2 on DSK1DXX6B1PROD with PROPOSALS_PART 1
57866 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 184 / Thursday, September 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

treatment in accordance with § 319.40- 

7(c) or with heat treatment with 

moisture reduction in accordance with 

§ 319.40-7(d). However, as we 

mentioned above, these paragraphs no 

longer contain heat treatment schedules; 

all approved schedules now are listed 

only in the PPQ Treatment Manual. 

Accordingly, under this supplemental 

proposal, paragraph (o)(1)(i) would now 

require that wooden handicrafts be 

treated with heat treatment or heat 

treatment with moisture reduction as 

specified in the PPQ Treatment Manual, 

in accordance with 7 CFR part 305. If 

we finalize our April 2009 proposed 

rule and this supplemental proposal, we 

would add heat treatment that raises the 

center of Chinese wooden handicrafts to 

at least 60 °C and maintains the 

handicrafts at that center temperature 

for at least 60 minutes to the PPQ 

Treatment Manual as an approved 

treatment for these handicrafts, and 

modified paragraph (o)(1)(i) would 

require such a treatment. 

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. 

This action supplements a proposed 

rule published in the Federal Register 

on April 9, 2009. We prepared an initial 

regulatory flexibility analysis for the 

proposed rule that considered the 

potential effects of the rule on small 

entities. The analysis identified 

individuals engaged in wood product 

manufacturing, importing of the 

regulated articles, or furniture and 

related products manufacturing as the 

entities most likely to be affected by the 

proposed rule. 

The analysis took into consideration 

that the cost of treating Chinese 

handicrafts could be passed on to 

certain of these entities. However, it also 

noted that China already has in place 

the heat treatment facilities necessary to 

conduct treatment, and expected that, 

because of this, any increase in prices 

due to individual treatments would not 

be significant. 

In assessing the possible cost of heat 

treatment, we determined that, because 

China already has heat treatment 

facilities at their disposal, a range of 

treatment schedules and durations 

would cost approximately the same 

amount per treatment, and would 

accordingly result in the same cost passthrough. The treatment schedule that we 

would authorize in this supplemental 

proposal—one that raises the center of 

Chinese wooden handicrafts to at least 

60 °C and maintains the handicrafts at 

that center temperature for at least 60 

minutes—falls within this range. 

Therefore, we believe that the 

findings of the initial regulatory 

flexibility analysis prepared for the 

proposed rule are still accurate and 

appropriate. 

That analysis was included in the 

proposed rule in its entirety, and is 

available on the Internet at the 

Regulations.gov Web site (see 

ADDRESSES at the beginning of this 

document for a link to Regulations.gov). 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

This action supplements a proposed 

rule published in the Federal Register 

on April 9, 2009, that would amend the 

regulations to provide for the 

importation of wooden handicrafts from 

China under certain conditions. That 

proposed rule would necessitate the use 

of certain information collection 

activities, including the completion of 

phytosanitary certificates and 

identification tags of packages of 

wooden handicrafts. 

This supplemental proposed rule 

contains no new information collection 

or recordkeeping requirements under 

the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). 

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. 

■ For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, we propose to amend 7 CFR 

part 319 as set out in the proposed rule 

published on April 9, 2009 (74 FR 

16146-16151, Docket No. APHIS-2007- 

0117), 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. In § 319.40-5, paragraph (o)(1)(i) is 

revised to read as follows: 

§ 319.40-5 Importation and entry 

requirements for specified articles. 

* * * * * 

(o) * * * 

(1) * * * 

(i) Wooden handicrafts must be 

treated with heat treatment or heat 

treatment with moisture reduction as 

specified in the PPQ Treatment Manual 

in accordance with part 305 of this 

chapter. 

* * * * * 

Done in Washington, DC, this 17th 

day of September 2010. 

Kevin Shea, 

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2010–23817 Filed 9–22–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–S 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Farm Service Agency 

7 CFR Parts 761, 763, and 764 

RIN 0560–AI03 

Farm Loan Programs Loan Making 

Activities 

AGENCY: Farm Service Agency, USDA. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Farm Service Agency 

(FSA) is proposing to amend the Farm 

Loan Programs (FLP) loan making 

regulations to implement four 

provisions of the Food, Conservation, 

and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm 

Bill). The first proposed amendment 

renames, expands, and makes the 

Beginning Farmer and Rancher Land 

Contract Guarantee Pilot Program 

permanent. The next two proposed 

amendments change the farm 

experience requirements in the 

regulations for direct Farm Operating 

Loans (OL) and direct Farm Ownership 

Loans (FO). The fourth proposed 

amendment makes some equine farmers 

and certain equine losses eligible for 

Emergency Loans (EM). 

DATES: We will consider comments on 

the rule that we receive by November 

22, 2010. 

ADDRESSES: We invite you to submit 

written comments to this proposed rule 

and information collection. In your 

comment, include the volume, date, and 

page number of this issue of the Federal 

Register. You may also send comments 

about the information collection to the 

Desk Officer for Agriculture, Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs, 

Office of Management and Budget, 

Washington, DC 20503. You may submit 

comments by any of the following 

methods: 

• E-mail: 

connie.holman@wdc.usda.gov. 

• Fax: (202) 720–6797. 

• Mail: Director, Loan Making 

Division (LMD), FSA, USDA, 1400 

Independence Avenue, SW., Stop 0522, 

Washington, DC 20250–0522. 

• Hand Delivery or Courier: Deliver 

comments to FSA, LMD, 1280 Maryland 

Avenue, SW., Suite 240, Washington, 

DC 20024. 


wwoods2 on DSK1DXX6B1PROD with PROPOSALS_PART 1