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

2131 

Vol. 83, No. 10 

Tuesday, January 16, 2018 

1To view the 2013 risk evaluation, the proposed 

rule, and the comments we received, go to http:// 

www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS2013-0061. 

2To view the notice, the addendum, and the 

comment we received, go to http://

www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS2016-0038. 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

[Docket No. APHIS–2016–0038] 

Notice of Determination of the 

Classical Swine Fever Status of Mexico 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: We are advising the public of 

our determination that Mexico is free of 

classical swine fever (CSF). Based on 

our evaluation of the animal health 

status of Mexico, which we made 

available to the public for review and 

comment through a previous notice, the 

Administrator has determined that CSF 

is not present in Mexico and that live 

swine, pork, and pork products may 

safely be imported into the United 

States from Mexico subject to conditions 

in the regulations. 

DATES: This change in disease status 

will be recognized on January 16, 2018. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

Chip Wells, Senior Staff Veterinarian, 

Regionalization Evaluation Services, 

National Import Export Services, VS, 

APHIS, USDA, 4700 River Road, Unit 

38, Riverdale, MD 20737–1231; 

Chip.J.Wells@aphis.usda.gov; (301) 851– 

3317. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service (APHIS) of the United States 

Department of Agriculture (USDA) 

regulates the importation of animals and 

animal products into the United States 

to guard against the introduction of 

animal diseases not currently present or 

prevalent in this country. The 

regulations in 9 CFR part 94 (referred to 

below as the regulations) prohibit or 

restrict the importation of specified 

animals and animal products to prevent 

the introduction into the United States 

of various animal diseases, including 

classical swine fever (CSF), foot-andmouth disease, swine vesicular disease, 

and rinderpest. These are dangerous and 

communicable diseases of ruminants 

and swine. 

The regulations in § 94.32 specify 

conditions for the importation of live 

swine, pork, and pork products from 

certain regions that APHIS currently 

recognizes as CSF-free but whose 

products may be at risk of commingling 

with products from CSF-affected regions 

due to common land borders or other 

factors. The conditions for such imports 

include, among others, a requirement 

for certification by a full-time salaried 

veterinary officer of the national 

government of the region of export that 

the pork or pork products originated in 

a CSF-free region, requirements that the 

pork or pork products be derived only 

from swine that were born and raised in 

such a region and never lived in a CSFaffected region, a prohibition against the 

comingling of the pork or pork products 

with pork or pork products that have 

been in an affected region, and a 

requirement that any processing of the 

pork or pork products be done in a 

federally inspected processing plant in 

a CSF-free region. 

The regulations in 9 CFR part 92 

contain requirements for requesting the 

recognition of the animal health status 

of a region or for the approval of the 

export of a particular type of animal or 

animal product to the United States 

from a foreign region. If, after review 

and evaluation of the information 

submitted in support of the request 

APHIS believes the request can be safely 

granted, APHIS will make its evaluation 

available for public comment through a 

notice published in the Federal 

Register. Following the close of the 

comment period, APHIS will review all 

comments received and will make a 

final determination regarding the 

request that will be detailed in another 

notice published in the Federal 

Register. 

In response to a series of requests 

submitted by the Government of Mexico 

between 2007 and 2009, we conducted 

a qualitative risk evaluation to evaluate 

the CSF status of Mexican States other 

than the nine States already recognized 

at that time as CSF-free. The resulting 

risk evaluation document, ‘‘APHIS 

Evaluation of the CSF Status of a Region 

in Mexico’’ (referred to below as the 

‘‘2013 risk evaluation’’), did not support 

CSF-free recognition of all of Mexico; 

however, it did support access to the 

U.S. domestic market under certain riskmitigating conditions. Based on the 

findings of the 2013 risk evaluation, on 

July 29, 2014, we published in the 

Federal Register (79 FR 43974–43980, 

Docket No. APHIS–2013–0061) a 

proposal 1 to amend the regulations by 

recognizing a new APHIS-defined lowrisk CSF region consisting of all 

Mexican States except the nine CSF-free 

States and the State of Chiapas, which 

we did not recognize as CSF-free. 

In February 2015, Mexico received 

notice that the World Organization for 

Animal Health (OIE) recognized the 

country as CSF-free. Citing the OIE 

decision, the Government of Mexico 

then requested that APHIS suspend its 

rulemaking and instead continue 

evaluating Mexico for CSF-free status. 

In response to this request, APHIS 

reopened its evaluation of the CSF 

status of Mexico. This reevaluation 

incorporated findings from a 2015 

APHIS site visit report, along with 

updated surveillance data and other 

information submitted by Mexico. These 

findings are documented in an April 

2016 addendum to the 2013 risk 

evaluation. 

On August 8, 2017, we published in 

the Federal Register (82 FR 37043– 

37044, Docket No. APHIS–2016–0038) a 

notice 2 in which we announced the 

availability for review and comment of 

the April 2016 addendum to the 2013 

risk evaluation. In the addendum, we 

presented the results of our updated 

evaluation of the risk of introducing 

CSF into the United States via the 

importation of live swine, pork, and 

pork products from Mexico. 

We solicited comments on the notice 

for 60 days ending on October 10, 2017. 

We received one comment by that date, 

from a domestic pork industry group. 

The commenter supported our 

conclusion, as stated in the addendum, 

that the risk of introduction of CSF into 

the United States via the importation of 

live swine, pork, and pork products 

from Mexico is very low. Referencing a 

recommendation by our site visit team 


daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with NOTICES
2132 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 10 / Tuesday, January 16, 2018 / Notices 

1The PPQ Treatment Manual is available at 

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/plants/ 

manuals/index.shtml or by contacting the Animal 

and Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant 

Protection and Quarantine, Manuals Unit, 92 

Thomas Johnson Drive, Suite 200, Frederick, MD 

21702. 

2To view the notice, the TED, and the comments 

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

#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2016-0035. 

that certain improvements should be 

made to slaughterhouse surveillance in 

Mexico, however, the commenter urged 

APHIS to ensure that those 

improvements were implemented before 

authorizing pork imports from Mexico. 

In the April 2016 risk evaluation 

addendum, we indicated that our 

recommended improvements 

notwithstanding, the design of Mexico’s 

active surveillance system for CSF is 

adequate. We made no statement 

suggesting that recognition of Mexico as 

CSF-free or trade with Mexico would be 

contingent upon any action by the 

Mexican Government to improve 

slaughter surveillance. 

Based on the addendum and the 

reasons given in this document in 

response to comments, we are 

recognizing Mexico as free of CSF and 

adding it to the list of regions found on 

the APHIS website at http://

www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/ 

animals/animal_disease_status.shtml 

that are considered to be free of CSF but 

from which live swine, pork, and pork 

products may only be imported into the 

United States under certain conditions. 

Copies of the list are also available via 

postal mail, fax, or email from the 

person listed under FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT. 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 450, 7701–7772, 7781– 

7786, and 8301–8317; 21 U.S.C. 136 and 

136a; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 

371.4. 

Done in Washington, DC, on January 10, 

2018. 

Kevin Shea, 

Administrator, Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–00576 Filed 1–12–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

[Docket No. APHIS–2016–0035] 

Notice of Affirmation of Addition of 

Treatments for Aircraft for Certain 

Hitchhiking Pests 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: We are affirming our earlier 

determination that is was necessary to 

immediately add two new treatment 

schedules for aircraft for regulated pests 

to the Plant Protection and Quarantine 

(PPQ) Treatment Manual. In a previous 

notice, we made available to the public 

for review and comment a treatment 

evaluation document that discussed the 

existing treatment schedules, described 

the new treatment schedules, and 

explained why these changes were 

immediately added to the PPQ 

Treatment Manual. Based on the 

treatment evaluation document and the 

comments we received, we are affirming 

the addition of those new treatments to 

the PPQ Treatment Manual. 

DATES: The addition of the treatments is 

affirmed as of January 16, 2018. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

George Balady, Senior Regulatory Policy 

Specialist, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River 

Road Unit 133, Riverdale, MD 20737– 

1231; (301) 851–2240. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

regulations in 7 CFR chapter III are 

intended, among other things, to 

prevent the introduction or 

dissemination of plant pests and 

noxious weeds into or within the United 

States. Under the regulations, certain 

plants, fruits, vegetables, and other 

articles must be treated before they may 

be moved into the United States or 

interstate. The phytosanitary treatments 

regulations contained in part 305 of 7 

CFR chapter III (referred to below as the 

regulations) set out standards for 

treatments required in parts 301, 318, 

and 319 of 7 CFR chapter III for fruits, 

vegetables, and other articles. 

In § 305.2, paragraph (b) states that 

approved treatment schedules are set 

out in the Plant Protection and 

Quarantine (PPQ) Treatment Manual.1

Section 305.3 sets out the processes for 

adding, revising, or removing treatment 

schedules in the PPQ Treatment 

Manual. In that section, paragraph (b) 

sets out the process for adding, revising, 

or removing treatment schedules when 

there is an immediate need to make a 

change. The circumstances in which an 

immediate need exists are described in 

§ 305.3(b)(1). They are: 

• PPQ has determined that an 

approved treatment schedule is 

ineffective at neutralizing the targeted 

plant pest(s). 

• PPQ has determined that, in order 

to neutralize the targeted plant pest(s), 

the treatment schedule must be 

administered using a different process 

than was previously used. 

• PPQ has determined that a new 

treatment schedule is effective, based on 

efficacy data, and that ongoing trade in 

a commodity or commodities may be 

adversely impacted unless the new 

treatment schedule is approved for use. 

• The use of a treatment schedule is 

no longer authorized by the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency or by 

any other Federal entity. 

In accordance with § 305.3(b)(2), we 

published a notice 2 in the Federal 

Register on August 8, 2017 (82 FR 

37042–37043, Docket No. APHIS–2016– 

0035), in which we announced the 

availability, for review and comment, of 

a treatment evaluation document (TED) 

we prepared to discuss the existing 

treatment schedules, describe the new 

treatment schedules, and explain why 

certain changes were immediately 

necessary. 

We solicited comments on the notice 

for 60 days ending on October 10, 2017. 

We received two comments by that date, 

from private citizens. Both commenters 

supported the addition of the treatment 

schedules. 

Therefore, in accordance with the 

regulations in § 305.3(b)(3), we are 

affirming our addition of the two new 

treatment schedules (T409–a and T409– 

b–3) for aircraft for regulated pests to 

the PPQ Treatment Manual. The 

treatment schedules will be listed in the 

PPQ Treatment Manual, which is 

available as described in footnote 1. 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 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, on January 10, 

2018. 

Kevin Shea, 

Administrator, Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–00569 Filed 1–12–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS 

Notice of Public Meeting of the 

Alabama Advisory Committee To 

Discuss Proposed Panelists for a 

Hearing on Access To Voting in the 

State of Alabama 

AGENCY: U.S. Commission on Civil 

Rights. 

ACTION: Announcement of meeting. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given, 

pursuant to the provisions of the rules 

and regulations of the U.S. Commission 

on Civil Rights (Commission) and the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act that 

the Alabama Advisory Committee 

(Committee) will hold a meeting on 

Tuesday, January 16, 2018, at 11:00 a.m. 

(Central) for the purpose of a discussion 


daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with NOTICES