The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued a final rule creating a single “controlled import permit” for authorization to import prohibited or restricted plant material for experimental, therapeutic, or developmental purposes. Effective May 31, the new permit will replace requirements for departmental permits in some cases, but APHIS-specified administrative instructions or conditions in others. The final rule adopts an October 2012 proposed rule with changes (see 11102453). According to APHIS, the new permit system “will consolidate and harmonize the conditions for obtaining authorization for the importation of otherwise prohibited or restricted plant material for scientific or certain other purposes.”
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes April 29 to Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
CBP’s delay in funding future border surveillance technology and the agency’s clarification of unobligated user fee account balances helped the Department of Homeland Security’s progress to streamline programs, reduce waste and cut costs, but much more work remains to be done, according to a Government Accountability Office report released April 26. Since 2011, GAO has recommended 42 steps DHS should take to eliminate fragmentation, overlap and high costs. The April 26 report said that five of those steps have been addressed, 24 have been “partially addressed,” meaning at least one action needed in that area showed some progress, but not all actions were addressed. Thirteen of the steps have not been addressed at all.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes April 25 to Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is revising its regulations on importation of plants for planting to remove entries for plant inspection stations in New Orleans and Baltimore, and add an entry for a station in Beltsville, Md. The final rule also updates the addresses in the regulations for plant inspection stations in Florida, Guam, and Hawaii. The rule is effective April 26.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes April 23 to Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued a proposed rule that would overhaul its plants for planting regulations by moving plant-specific requirements to the Plants for Planting Manual. The removal of the requirements from the regulations would allow for a quicker notice-based process for changing conditions on importation, as opposed to the cumbersome formal rulemaking process currently used, APHIS said. The move would also make it easier to find importation requirements for importers and inspectors, by organizing conditions by the affected plant, rather than by the requirement itself. Comments on the proposed rule are due by June 24.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes April 22 to Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes April 19 to Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is deregulating seven more pests at the port of entry, after the National Plant Board agreed with its proposals to change their status to non-actionable. The eight deregulated pests include (pests marked by an asterisk are still quarantine pests in Hawaii and/or territories):