Notice2025-09443
Deregulation of Chrysanthemum White Rust and the Importation of Chrysanthemum spp. Cuttings, and In Vitro Plantlets, and Synonymous Genera From Certain Countries Into the Continental United States
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
May 27, 2025
Issuing agencies
Agriculture DepartmentAnimal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Abstract
We are reopening the comment period on a notice making available an economic evaluation relative to regulating chrysanthemum white rust as a quarantine pest, as well as a pest risk analysis regarding the importation of Chrysanthemum spp. and synonymous genera cuttings and in vitro plantlets into the United States. Based on comments received on an initial notice, we have revised the pest risk analysis. This action will allow interested persons time to review the revised documents and submit comments.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 100 (Tuesday, May 27, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 100 (Tuesday, May 27, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22225-22226]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-09443]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. APHIS-2021-0081]
Deregulation of Chrysanthemum White Rust and the Importation of
Chrysanthemum spp. Cuttings, and In Vitro Plantlets, and Synonymous
Genera From Certain Countries Into the Continental United States
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of availability; reopening of comment period.
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SUMMARY: We are reopening the comment period on a notice making
available an economic evaluation relative to regulating chrysanthemum
white rust as a quarantine pest, as well as a pest risk analysis
regarding the importation of Chrysanthemum spp. and synonymous genera
cuttings and in vitro plantlets into the United States. Based on
comments received on an initial notice, we have revised the pest risk
analysis. This action will allow interested persons time to review the
revised documents and submit comments.
DATES: The comment period for the notice published on April 17, 2023
(88 FR 23390-23391) is reopened. We will consider all comments that we
receive on or before June 26, 2025.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>. Enter APHIS-2021-0081 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-2021-0081, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD,
APHIS, Station 2C-10.16, 4700 River Road, Unit 25, 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: Ms. Heather Coady and Ms. Shannon
Jarman, Regulatory Policy Specialists, Plants for Planting Policy,
Plant Protection and Quarantine, Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service, 5607 Sunnyside Ave., Beltsville, MD 20705; phone: (240) 935-
1598; email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6b3b3b3a45252a3b3b392a2b1e180f0a450c041d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="411111106f0f001111130001343225206f262e37">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Chrysanthemum white rust (CWR) is a fungal
disease caused by the basidiomycete Puccinia horiana, Henn. The Animal
and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) considers CWR a quarantine
pest. Under international standards, a quarantine pest is defined as
``a pest of potential economic importance to the area endangered by it
and not yet present there, or present but not widely distributed there
and being officially controlled.'' \1\
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\1\ See International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures No.
5, ``Glossary of Phytosanitary Terms'' found at <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/mc891e/mc891e.pdf">https://www.fao.org/3/mc891e/mc891e.pdf</a>.
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Because CWR is considered a quarantine pest, APHIS' policy \2\ has
provided that any CWR detection domestically triggers an eradication
protocol requiring complete destruction of symptomatic plants and those
nearby. The policy also has required fungicidal treatments be applied
to asymptomatic plants. Affected growers or entities have borne the
eradication expense for CWR.
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\2\ See <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/cwr/downloads/cwrplan.pdf">https://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/cwr/downloads/cwrplan.pdf</a>.
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APHIS has also placed regulatory restrictions and prohibitions on
the importation of host material for CWR to prevent its introduction
into the United States through such importation. The regulations in 7
CFR 319.37-1 through 319.37-23 govern the importation of plants for
planting into the United States. Section 319.37-4 of the regulations
provides that certain taxa of plants for planting are not authorized
for importation into the United States pending pest risk analysis
(NAPPRA) to prevent the introduction of quarantine pests into the
United States.
Accordingly, unrooted cuttings and in vitro plantlets of
Chrysanthemum spp., Leucanthemella serotina, and Nipponanthemum
nipponicum and synonymous taxa (Dendranthema spp.,) from Belgium,
Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Germany,
Guatemala, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, Spain,
Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam have been
NAPPRA or required post entry quarantine and additional entry
requirements. These restrictions are in place due to the risk that such
importation may pose of introducing CWR. Additionally, unrooted
cuttings, in vitro plantlets, and plants with roots of the same taxa
from Canada have had
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additional entry requirements due to CWR.
Paragraph (e) of Sec. 319.37-4 describes the process for removing
taxa from the NAPPRA list. After receiving a request to remove taxa
from the NAPPRA list, APHIS will conduct a pest risk analysis in
response to such a request and make the pest risk analysis available
for public review and comment. Following the close of the comment
period, we will review all comments received and announce our decision
regarding the request in a subsequent notice.
In accordance with that process, on April 17, 2023, we published in
the Federal Register (88 FR 23390-23391, Docket No. APHIS-2021-0081) a
notice \3\ of availability in which we announced the availability, for
review and comment, of a pest risk analysis that evaluated the risks
associated with the importation of unrooted cuttings and in vitro
plantlets of Chrysanthemum spp. and synonymous genera under a systems
approach from Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El
Salvador, Ethiopia, Germany, Guatemala, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands,
Nicaragua, Panama, Spain, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, the United
Kingdom, and Vietnam into the continental United States. We also made
available a pest list and commodity import evaluation document (CIED)
regarding the importation of unrooted cuttings, in vitro plantlets, and
plants with roots of the same Chrysanthemum spp. and synonymous genera
from Canada under a separate protocol. Additionally, we made available
to the public an economic evaluation (EE) relative to deregulating CWR
fungus as a quarantine pest. Related to this notice and based on the
recommendations of APHIS' EE, we proposed to change APHIS' policy so
that CWR would no longer be considered of quarantine significance if
detected domestically or on imported plants for planting.
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\3\ To view the notice and the supporting documents, go to
<a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>. Enter APHIS-2021-0081 in the Search field.
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We solicited comments on the notice for 60 days, ending on June 16,
2023. We received 13 comments by that date. They were from businesses,
industry trade groups, and government agencies.
Several commenters noted that we did not delineate ``synonymous
genera'' in the initial notice and asked us what taxa were intended to
be included by that term.
In consideration of the validity of these questions and after
careful review, APHIS is modifying and updating the pest lists to
clarify and refine references to regulatory taxa, consolidating into
the pest list a separate pest list for Canada, and revising the CIED.
We are also updating the list of affected nations and genera referenced
in these documents to ensure all descriptions are clear and accurate in
alignment with Sec. 319.37-4 (which provides that certain taxa of
plants for planting are not authorized for importation into the United
States pending pest risk analysis); the USDA Agricultural Research
Service's Germplasm Resource Information Network (GRIN) taxonomic data;
the APHIS Plants for Planting Manual; and the Agricultural Commodity
Import Requirements (ACIR) database.
We are reopening the comment period on Docket No. APHIS-2021-0081
for an additional 30 days. This action will allow interested persons
time to review the updates and revisions to the pest risk analysis and
to submit comments. The documents may be viewed on the Regulations.gov
website or in our reading room (see ADDRESSES above for a link to
Regulations.gov and information on the location and hours of the
reading room). You may request paper copies of these documents by
calling or writing to the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT. Please refer to the subject of the analysis you wish to review
when requesting copies.
We will also consider all comments received between June 17, 2023
(the day after the close of the original comment period) and the date
of this notice.
Done in Washington, DC, this 20th day of May 2025.
Michael Watson,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2025-09443 Filed 5-23-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P
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