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DC Court Vacates USDA Rule Easing Fumigation Mandate for Chilean Grapes

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Sept. 30 vacated a decision from USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to "switch to a new system for mitigating the risk of a pest outbreak caused by imported Chilean table grapes." Judge Amir Ali held that the action was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act (California Table Grape Commission v. U.S. Dep't of Ag., D.D.C. # 24-02645).

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Since the 1960s, APHIS has required all table grapes from Chile to be fumigated with methyl bromide before distribution in the U.S. After years of pressure from the Chilean government to relax this requirement, in 2022, APHIS released a proposed notice to replace the fumigation requirement with a "systems approach for certain regions of Chile." After receiving comments on the proposal, APHIS released a final notice in 2024 adopting the systems approach.

Three entities -- the California Table Grape Commission, the California Table Grape Export Association and the National Grape Research Alliance -- filed suit, claiming the final notice violates the APA and National Environmental Policy Act. The three groups argued the notice violated the APA, since it was a "legislative rule, not an adjudication, issued without full notice-and-comment procedures" and "was arbitrary and capricious."

Ali said the notice is "arbitrary and capricious because APHIS limited its consideration to only the systems approach requested by Chile rather than also considering other responsible alternatives, did not adequately consider the impact of eliminating the methyl bromide fumigation mandate on domestic growers, and did not disclose key materials."