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Notices Federal Register

20942

Vol. 65, No. 76

Wednesday, April 19, 2000

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection

Service

[Docket No. 00–025–1]

Commodity Pest Risk Analysis

Process; Public Meeting

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health

Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

SUMMARY: This is to notify importers

and exporters of fruits and vegetables, as

well as other interested persons, that the

Plant Protection and Quarantine

program of the Animal and Plant Health

Inspection Service will be hosting a

symposium to discuss issues related to

its commodity pest risk analysis

process. The symposium will include

presentations to exchange information

with the public on the current ‘‘state of

the art’’ in risk assessment methodology,

the Agency’s obligations under

international trade agreements, and the

status of our ongoing process

improvement efforts, and will provide

opportunities for interested persons to

offer comments and suggestions for

improving our current commodity pest

risk analysis process.

DATES: The symposium will be held on

Thursday, May 18, 2000, from 8:30 a.m.

to 4:30 p.m., and Friday, May 19, 2000,

from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The symposium will be

held in the USDA Center at Riverside,

4700 River Road, Riverdale, MD. Travel

directions to the USDA Center at

Riverside are available on the Internet at

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/mb/mrphr/

aphismap.html. Picture identification is

required to gain access to the building.

Parking is available next to the building

for a $2 fee (please have quarters or $1

bills available). The nearest Metro

station is the College Park station on the

Green Line, which is within walking

distance.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms.

Meredith C. Jones, Regulatory

Coordination Specialist, PPQ, APHIS,

4700 River Road Unit 141, Riverdale,

MD 20737–1236; telephone (301) 734–

7467, fax (301) 734–8693, or e-mail

Meredith C. Jones@usda.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On October 8, 1999, we published a

notice in the Federal Register (64 FR

54859–54860, Docket No. 99–079–1) in

which we solicited comments from the

public regarding several

recommendations made in a report on

the Animal and Plant Health Inspection

Service’s (APHIS’) Plant Protection and

Quarantine safeguarding system.

Specifically, we sought comments on

several issues related to the commodity

pest risk analysis process used by the

Plant Protection and Quarantine

programs and stated that we would use

the information provided in the

comments as we considered options to

improve public involvement in the

process and public access to

information about new and pending

pest risk analyses. In our October 1999

notice, we also stated that we were

considering convening a symposium to

review and discuss the existing

international standards for pest risk

analysis and the current ‘‘state of the

art’’ relative to conducting pest risk

analyses. We are publishing this notice

to inform the public as to the dates and

location, as well as a draft agenda, for

the symposium.

The symposium will be held on May

18 and 19, 2000, at the USDA Center at

Riverside in Riverdale, MD (see the

DATES and ADDRESSES sections at the

beginning of this notice for more

specific information regarding the

location of the symposium and each

day’s start and finish times). While we

are still working to finalize the agenda

for the symposium, we have identified

the following areas that we expect to

cover during the two days:

Day One—May 18, 2000

• Introductory remarks; purpose and

objectives of the symposium.

• Overview of risk analysis within APHIS.

• Legal issues; risk analysis under the

Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreements

(obligations, challenges, international

standards, risk analysis in other countries).

• Present use of qualitative and

quantitative methods (probabilistic risk

assessments, qualitative risk assessments,

uncertainty).

• External perspectives (industry views,

transparency, stakeholder input).

• Breakout sessions to allow for open

dialog between APHIS and the public.

Day Two—May 19, 2000

• Safeguard report recommendations.

• Report from APHIS Process

Improvement Team (pest risk assessment

process update and addressing the backlog of

assessments, including electronic access

initiatives).

• Three discussion groups (stakeholder

input, levels and types of risk assessments,

and public access), each led by an APHIS

facilitator.

• Reports from discussion groups and

open discussion period.

• Conclusion (summary of information

gathered and closing remarks).

We will use the information gathered

during the presentations, breakout

sessions, and group discussions as we

consider options for increasing the level

of public involvement in our

commodity pest risk analysis process

and providing the public with access to

information on new and pending pest

risk analyses.

Registration Information

There is no fee to register for the

symposium. On-site registration will be

available at the symposium, but we

recommend that you register in

advance, as attendance may be limited

due to space considerations. An

advance registration form is available on

the Internet at http://

www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq. You may also

register in advance for the symposium

by providing your name, address,

telephone number, and organization to

the person listed under FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT. If you are

registering in advance, we ask that you

submit your registration by May 12,

2000.

Done in Washington, DC, this 14th day of

April 2000.

Bobby R. Acord,

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant

Health Inspection Service.

[FR Doc. 00–9792 Filed 4–18–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–34–U