§ 93.522 - Importation of swine through the Harry S Truman Animal Import Center (HSTAIC).

(a) Exclusive right to use HSTAIC. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will enter into a cooperative-service agreement with only one importer for each importation through the Harry S Truman Animal Import Center (HSTAIC). Applications for the HSTAIC lottery will not be accepted from, and a cooperative-service agreement to use HSTAIC will not be offered to or entered into with, any person who has debts owing to APHIS that have not been paid by the date specified in APHIS's original billing notification to the person. Any person who has debts owing to APHIS that have not been paid by the date specified in APHIS's original billing notification to that person will be removed from the current priority list. An importer granted the exclusive right to use HSTAIC may include in his or her allotted number, animals of the same species belonging to other persons interested in importing animals through HSTAIC, except that llamas and alpacas may be included in the same importation. However, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will deal exclusively with the importer in whose name the application for use of HSTAIC was submitted. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will hold this importer solely responsible for all costs (excepting capital expenditures at HSTAIC) incurred during the animal qualification process. The animal qualification process begins on the date the cooperative-service agreement is delivered to the address listed on the importer's HSTAIC application, for the importer's signature, if HSTAIC is not available to other importers, up to a maximum of 30 days. A cooperative-service agreement will be deemed to have been delivered when the importer signs the U.S. Postal Service domestic return receipt, or the importer refuses delivery of the cooperative-service agreement by the U.S. Postal Service, or the cooperative-service agreement is returned by the U.S. Postal Service as either unclaimed or undeliverable. HSTAIC can accommodate a finite number of animals at one time, but the maximum allowed for a particular importation will vary, depending on the size of the species. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will specify this figure in the cooperative- service agreement, reproduced in paragraph (d) of this section.

(b) Scheduling. Applications from prospective users of HSTAIC are processed according to the following system:

(1)(i) All applications for use of HSTAIC. To qualify to use HSTAIC, an importer must submit a completed application,10 providing estimates when exact information as required on the application form is unavailable.

(ii) Each applicant for the importation of animals through HSTAIC must make a deposit of $32,000 in the form of a certified check or money order, payable in U.S. funds. The deposit of each applicant who is not given the opportunity to use HSTAIC will be returned to the applicant at the end of the calendar year of the prospective importation, or whenever the applicant removes his or her name from the priority list described in paragraph (b)(4) of this section. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will draw on the deposit of the applicant whose application is selected, to pay for the costs of preparing and maintaining HSTAIC in readiness for the applicant's animals. A charge of $1,067 will be made for each day HSTAIC is not available to another importer, starting on the date the cooperative-service agreement is delivered to the address listed on the HSTAIC application, and ending either with the day that APHIS receives a signed cooperative-service agreement from the applicant or the day the applicant notifies APHIS in writing that he or she does not intend to sign the cooperative-service agreement, up to a maximum of 30 days. A cooperative-service agreement will be deemed to have been delivered when the importer signs the U.S. Postal Service domestic return receipt, or refuses delivery of the cooperative-service agreement by the U.S. Postal Service, or the cooperative-service agreement is returned by the U.S. Postal Service as either unclaimed or undeliverable.

(2)(i) During the first seven days of December,11 the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will hold a lottery, randomly drawing the names of applicants in an order that will determine the order in which they will be offered use of HSTAIC for an importation during the next calendar year. To be included in the annual December lottery, applications must reach the Import-Export Animals Staff, Veterinary Services, no earlier than October 1 and no later than October 15 of that year.

(ii) One application is required for each importation proposed. Deposits required by paragraph (b)(1)(ii) of this section must be received by APHIS at least 7 calendar days prior to the date of the lottery.

(3) The priority list established by the annual December lottery will remain effective from January 1 through December 31 of the next calendar year, superseding all previous lists. Which year's list is used is governed by the date exclusive use of HSTAIC is offered, and not by the date the applicant's animals are scheduled to arrive at HSTAIC.

(4) The names of all applicants whose applications have reached the Import-Export Animals Staff, Veterinary Services, no earlier than October 1 and no later than October 15 (see paragraphs (b)(1) and (2) of this section), and whose deposits have reached APHIS at least 7 days prior to the date of the lottery, will be drawn during the December lottery. The order in which names appear on the priority list will correspond to that established by the lottery. If the person first offered the right to use HSTAIC does not ensure receipt of the cooperative-service agreement by the Import-Export Animals Staff, Veterinary Services, within 30 days of receiving the cooperative-service agreement, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will void that offer, and make an offer to the applicant next on the priority list. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will limit importations to one per importer for the period encompassing the calendar year for which the lottery is held and the following two calendar years, except when no other lottery participants are prepared to use HSTAIC during the time it would be available in those years. The priority list established during the December lottery will remain in effect during the calendar year following the lottery, and will take precedence over any applications received after October 15th. Applications received after October 15th will be added to the priority list, with precedence established by the order in which the Import-Export Animals Staff, Veterinary Services, receives them.

(5) If the Import-Export Animals Staff, Veterinary Services, does not receive more than one application between October 1st and October 15th for the December lottery, the December lottery for that year will be cancelled, and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will grant the exclusive right to use HSTAIC for an importation during the next calendar year in the order applications are received.

(6) The Secretary of Agriculture may grant priority over other applications to an application from an agency of the United States Government, if for an importation potentially of value to the general public, and if received before July 15 of the year preceding the proposed importation.12 However, an agency of the United States Government must submit its application in accordance with this section, except that an agency of the United States Government must enter into an interagency agreement with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service for a deposit of $32,000 by certified check or money order, payable in U.S. funds. HSTAIC importations by agencies of the United States government will be limited to one per year, except when HSTAIC is available and the Import-Export Animals Staff, Veterinary Services, has received no other applications for its use during that year.

(c) Responsibilities of the Applicant Selected. By certified mail, return receipt requested, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will send a cooperative-service agreement to the applicant being offered the exclusive right to use HSTAIC, as provided in paragraph (d) of this section. The applicant must, within 30 days of receipt, sign and ensure that the Import-Export Animals Staff, Veterinary Services, receives the cooperative- service agreement. The cooperative-service agreement must be accompanied by a certified check, a money order, or an irrevocable letter of credit (the letter of credit having an effective date 90 days after the animals’ scheduled release date from HSTAIC), payable in U.S. funds, for the amount specified in the cooperative-service agreement. Any funds remaining from the $32,000 deposit will be applied to the quarantine costs, and will be deducted from the balance due with the cooperative-service agreement. For importations requiring use of an embarkation quarantine facility, including site-specific blueprints and location, must be included when the cooperative-service agreement is returned to the Import-Export Animals Staff, Veterinary Services.

(1) An importer interested in animals ineligible for importation because officials in the exporting region will not allow the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to provide the services prescribed in the cooperative-service agreement, may, upon notification of this ineligibility from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, propose to substitute animals available from another location. If this importer has not returned the signed cooperative-service agreement within the 30 days specified in the cooperative-service agreement, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will return any portion of the importer's deposit that has not been expended. In that case, the applicant next in priority will be offered the exclusive right to use HSTAIC, in accordance with the procedures in this section.

(2) The importer may not abrogate his/her responsibility for costs incurred after the signing of the cooperative-service agreement, regardless of any occurrences that prevent the importation from proceeding as planned.

(3) The importer signing the cooperative-service agreement returned to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is responsible for paying all costs, excluding capital expenditures at HSTAIC, incurred in qualifying the specified animals for importation through HSTAIC. A partial list of costs for which the importer must assume responsibility includes: Expenses for preparing and maintaining HSTAIC in readiness for the importation; expenses for sentinel animals in the United States, when required, and for tested animals prevented, for any reason, from moving from HSTAIC elsewhere within the United States; laboratory tests; medical treatment; official travel by Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service personnel, including per diem expenses in the region from which animals are being exported, when required; courier services to transport test samples to the Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, when required; salaries of HSTAIC personnel; all supplies for animal care, maintenance, and testing during the quarantine and in the post-quarantine cleaning and disinfection of HSTAIC; utilities and overhead, including support staff, during the quarantine and post-quarantine cleanup.

(4) Capital expenditures at HSTAIC constitute the only costs for which the importer will not be held responsible.

(5) For costs incurred during any stage of the importation through HSTAIC—that is, costs not calculated into the amount collected from the importer in accordance with the cooperative-service agreement—the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will bill the importer at a later date. Payment will be due upon receipt of the bill.

(6) The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will return to the importer any part of the money remitted with the cooperative-service agreement set forth in paragraph (d) of this section that is not used to cover the non-capital costs of the importation through HSTAIC.

(d) Cooperative-Service Agreement. Each importer being granted the right to use HSTAIC must sign, and comply with, the cooperative-service agreement with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. A sample cooperative-service agreement for importers other than agencies of the United States government is reproduced in this paragraph. (Agencies of the United States government being granted the right to use HSTAIC must enter into an interagency agreement with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.) The amount of money the importer must advance, left blank in the following sample, will depend on figures unique to a particular importation. This amount will be specified in the cooperative-service agreement the importer receives.