Notice2024-17428
Notice of Availability of an Evaluation of the Classical Swine Fever Disease Status of Costa Rica
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
August 7, 2024
Issuing agencies
Agriculture DepartmentAnimal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Abstract
We are advising the public that we are proposing to recognize Costa Rica as being free of classical swine fever. This proposed recognition is based on a risk evaluation we have prepared in connection with this action, which we are making available for review and comment.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 152 (Wednesday, August 7, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 152 (Wednesday, August 7, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64401-64402]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-17428]
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Notices
Federal Register
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Federal Register / Vol. 89 , No. 152 / Wednesday, August 7, 2024 /
Notices
[[Page 64401]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. APHIS-2023-0048]
Notice of Availability of an Evaluation of the Classical Swine
Fever Disease Status of Costa Rica
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that we are proposing to recognize
Costa Rica as being free of classical swine fever. This proposed
recognition is based on a risk evaluation we have prepared in
connection with this action, which we are making available for review
and comment.
DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before
September 6, 2024.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>.
Enter APHIS-2023-0048 in the Search field. Select the Documents tab,
then select the Comment button in the list of documents.
<bullet> Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to
Docket No. APHIS-2023-0048, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD,
APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-
1238.
Supporting documents and any comments we receive on this docket may
be viewed at <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a> or in our reading room, which is located
in Room 1620 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) 799-7039 before coming.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Rebecca Gordon, Senior Staff
Officer, Regionalization Evaluation Services, Veterinary Services,
APHIS, USDA, 920 Main Campus Drive, Venture II, 3rd Floor, Raleigh, NC
27606; email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#3d7c4e566f585a5452535c5154475c495452537d484e595c135a524b"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="2b6a5840794e4c4244454a4742514a5f4244456b5e584f4a054c445d">[email protected]</span></a>; (919) 855-7741.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The regulations in 9 CFR part 94 (referred
to below as the regulations) govern the importation of certain animals
and animal products into the United States in order to prevent the
introduction of various animal diseases, including classical swine
fever (CSF), a dangerous and communicable disease of swine. In part 94,
Sec. 94.9 contains requirements governing the importation of pork or
pork products from regions where CSF exists. Section 94.10 contains
importation requirements for swine from regions where CSF is considered
to exist.
In accordance with Sec. Sec. 94.9(a)(1) and 94.10(a)(1), the
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) maintains a web-
based list of regions that the Agency considers free of CSF. Sections
94.9(a)(2) and 94.10(a)(2) state that APHIS will add a region to this
list after it conducts an evaluation of the region and finds that CSF
is not present.
Finally, under Sec. 94.32, the importation into the United States
of swine, pork, and pork products from certain regions that are
considered free of CSF in accordance with Sec. Sec. 94.9 and 94.10 is
still subject to mitigations for CSF, because the exporting region
either supplements their pork supplies with fresh (chilled or frozen)
pork imported from regions considered to be affected by CSF, or
supplements their pork supplies with pork from CSF-affected regions
that is not processed in accordance with the regulations, or shares a
common land border with CSF-affected regions, or imports live swine
from CSF-affected regions under conditions less restrictive than would
be acceptable for importation into the United States. The section
specifies that there is a web-based list of such regions.
In the regulations in 9 CFR part 92, Sec. 92.2 contains
requirements for requesting the recognition of the animal health status
of a region (as well as 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 document 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 document published in the Federal Register.
In September 2020, the Government of the Republic of Costa Rica
requested that APHIS evaluate the CSF disease status of the country. In
response to Costa Rica's request, APHIS prepared an evaluation, titled
``APHIS Evaluation of the Classical Swine Fever Status of the Republic
of Costa Rica'' (May 2023). Based on the evaluation, APHIS has
determined that CSF is not known to exist in Costa Rica. APHIS has also
determined that the surveillance, prevention, and control measures
implemented by Costa Rica are sufficient to minimize the likelihood of
introducing CSF into the United States via imports of species or
products susceptible to this disease. However, because Costa Rica
shares a common land border with regions in which CSF exists, we have
also determined that requirements of Sec. 94.32 should be operative,
if Costa Rica is considered free of CSF. Our determination supports
adding Costa Rica to the web-based list of regions that APHIS considers
free of CSF.
Therefore, in accordance with the regulations in Sec. 92.2, we are
announcing the availability of our evaluation of the CSF status of
Costa Rica for public review and comment. We are also announcing the
availability of an environmental assessment (EA), which has been
prepared in accordance with: (1) The National Environmental Policy Act
of 1969 (NEPA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), (2) regulations of
the Council on Environmental Quality for implementing the procedural
provision of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), (3) USDA regulations
implementing NEPA (7 CFR part 1b), and (4) APHIS' NEPA Implementing
Procedures (7 CFR part 372). The evaluation and EA may be viewed on the
Regulations.gov website or in our reading room. (Instructions for
accessing Regulations.gov and information on the location and hours of
the reading room
[[Page 64402]]
are provided under the heading ADDRESSES at the beginning of this
notice.) The documents are also available by contacting the person
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Information submitted in support of Costa Rica's request is
available by contacting the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT.
After reviewing any comments we receive, we will announce our
decision regarding the disease status of Costa Rica with respect to CSF
in a subsequent notice.
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1633, 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, this 1st day of August 2024.
Michael Watson,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-17428 Filed 8-6-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P
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