Federal agencies outline expected regulatory actions over next six months
December 2, 2008
World Trade\Interactive
The Nov. 24 issue of the Federal Register included the semiannual regulatory agendas of various federal agencies. Highlights of expected actions affecting international trade include the following.
Department of Agriculture
• The Agricultural Marketing Service expects to soon issue an interim final rule establishing a dairy import assessment program. The 2008 Farm Bill mandates that the Dairy Promotion and Research Order be amended to implement an assessment on imported dairy products to fund promotion and research and to allow for importer representation on the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board.
• In March the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service plans to withdraw an August 2004 proposed rule and issue a new proposal that would amend the animal importation regulations to require additional tuberculosis testing of steers and spayed heifers that may be used as rodeo cattle. The current regulations do not distinguish between steers and spayed heifers imported as feeders from those to be used as rodeo cattle, which are often maintained longer than feeder cattle and generally come into contact with other cattle in more locations.
• APHIS expects to issue in March a final rule that will require phytosanitary certificates to accompany non-commercial consignments of fresh fruits and vegetables imported into the U.S. by air passengers.
• A final rule to be issued by APHIS next March will increase the fees charged for export certification of plants and plant products through fiscal year 2012. This rule will also add a new user fee for federal export certificates for plants and plant products that an exporter obtains from a state or county cooperator.
• APHIS is moving ahead with a rulemaking that will prohibit or restrict the importation of birds, poultry, and bird and poultry products from regions that have reported the presence in commercial birds or poultry of highly pathogenic avian influenza other than subtype H5N1. The new restrictions will be almost identical to those imposed on articles from regions with exotic Newcastle disease. An interim final rule is expected in March and a final rule in May.
• In March APHIS plans to issue a final rule increasing the user fees for import- and export-related services for animals, animal products, birds, germplasm, organisms and vectors for fiscal years 2009 through 2013.
• A final rule adding San Luis, Ariz., as a port through which cattle that have been infested with fever ticks or exposed to fever ticks or tick-borne diseases may be imported into the U.S. will be issued soon by APHIS.
• APHIS is working on a proposed rule that would amend the animal import regulations to establish several levels of risk classifications to be applied to foreign regions with regard to tuberculosis and to establish requirements governing the importation of cattle and captive bison based on each risk classification.
• A final rule to be issued at an as-yet-undetermined time will amend the regulations on imports from regions that present a minimal risk of introducing bovine spongiform encephalopathy into the U.S. via live ruminants and ruminant products and byproducts. This rule will broaden who is authorized to break seals on means of conveyances carrying certain ruminants of Canadian origin. It will also amend the regulations regarding the transiting through the U.S. of certain ruminant products from Canada to allow for direct transloading of the products from one means of conveyance to another in the U.S. under federal supervision.
• APHIS plans to issue in February a proposed rule that would establish a new category in the regulations governing the importation of nursery stock, also known as plants for planting. Foreign governments would be able to request that a pest risk assessment be conducted for a taxon whose importation is not authorized pending risk evaluation. The rule would also expand the scope of the plants regulated in the plants for planting regulations to include non-vascular plants.
• An APHIS proposed rule scheduled for publication in February would amend the regulations regarding the importation of bovines and bovine products. Under this rulemaking countries would be classified as either negligible risk, controlled risk or undetermined risk for bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Some commodities would be allowed importation regardless of the BSE classification of the country of export. Other commodities would be subject to importation restrictions or prohibitions based on the type of commodity and the BSE classification of the country.
Department of Commerce
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration plans to publish in July 2009 a final rule that will revise and simplify criteria and procedures specific to permits for taking, transporting, importing and exporting protected species for public display and provide convenient formats for reporting marine mammal captive holdings and transports.
Department of Health and Human Services
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects to issue in February 2009 a proposed rule that would amend its regulations related to the importation of live non-human primates by (a) extending existing requirements for the importation of cynomolgus, African green and rhesus monkeys to all NHPs, (b) reducing from every 180 days to every two years the frequency at which importers of the three species are required to renew their registrations, (c) adding new provisions to address NHPs imported as part of a circus or trained animal act, NHPs imported by zoological societies, the transfer of NHPs from approved laboratories and non-live imported NHP products, and (d) requiring all NHPs to be imported only through ports of entry where a CDC quarantine station is located.
• The FDA plans to issue within the next six months a final rule requiring owners or consignees to label imported food that is refused entry into the U.S. with a label reading “UNITED STATES: REFUSED ENTRY.”
• An FDA proposed rule slated for next April would amend the post-market medical device reporting regulations to require that manufacturers, importers and user facilities submit mandatory reports of medical device adverse events to the FDA in an electronic format that it can process, review and archive.
• The FDA is planning to issue in April a proposed rule that would require domestic and foreign medical device establishments to submit registration and listing data electronically via the Internet using the FDA’s Unified Registration and Listing System. For those companies that do not have access to the Web, the FDA would offer an avenue by which they can register, list and update information with a paper submission.
Department of Homeland Security
• The DHS plans to issue in April a final rule that will require aliens subject to U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program biometric requirements upon entering the U.S. to also provide biometric identifiers prior to departing the U.S. from air or sea ports of departure.
• An advance notice of proposed rulemaking concerning the Coast Guard’s effort to establish electronic card reader requirements for maritime facilities and vessels to be used in combination with the Transportation Worker Identification Credential is expected to be published this month.
• The Coast Guard plans to publish soon a proposed rule that would expand the applicability of Notice of Arrival and Departure and Automatic Identification System requirements in order to capture vessel, crew, passenger and specific cargo information for vessels less than or equal to 300 gross tons that intend to arrive at or depart from U.S. ports.
• The Transportation Security Administration plans to publish this month an interim final rule establishing the Certified Cargo Screening Program, which will certify shippers, manufacturers and other entities to screen air cargo intended for transport on passenger aircraft. This will be the primary means through which the TSA will meet the statutory requirement that 100 percent of air cargo transported on passenger aircraft, operated by an air carrier or foreign air carrier in air transportation or intrastate air transportation, must be screened by August 2010.
Department of Transportation
• The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration plans to publish this month a final rule requiring entities that offer intermodal container chassis for transportation in interstate commerce to (a) file a Motor Carrier Identification Report (form MCS-150), (b) display a DOT identification number on each chassis offered for such transportation, (c) establish a systematic inspection, repair and maintenance program to ensure the safe operating condition of each chassis offered for transportation and maintain documentation of the program, and (d) provide a means for effectively responding to driver and motor carrier complaints about the condition of intermodal container chassis.
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