E6-2502. Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

February 16, 2006.

The Department of Agriculture has submitted the following information collection requirement(s) to OMB for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13. Comments regarding: (a) Whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of burden including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology should be addressed to: Desk Officer for Agriculture, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), [e-mail] or fax [phone] and to Departmental Clearance Office, USDA, OCIO, Mail Stop 7602, Washington, DC 20250-7602. Comments regarding these information collections are best assured of having their full effect if received within 30 days of this notification. Copies of the submission(s) may be obtained by calling [phone].

An agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless the collection of information displays a currently valid OMB control number and the agency informs potential persons who are to respond to the collection of information that such persons are not required to respond to the collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service

Title: Foreign Quarantine Notices.

OMB Control Number: 0579-0049.

Summary of Collection: The United States Department of Agriculture is responsible for preventing plant disease or insect pests from entering the United States, preventing the spread of pests and noxious weeds not widely distributed in the United States, and eradicating those imported pests when eradication is feasible. Under the Plant Protection Act (Title IV, Pub. L. 106-224, 114 Stat. 438, 7 U.S.C. 7701-7772), the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to prohibit or restrict the importation, entry, exportation, or movement in interstate commerce of plant pests and other articles to prevent the introduction of plant pests into the United States. Implementing the laws is necessary to prevent injurious plant and insect pest from entering the United States, a situation that could produce serious consequences for U.S. agriculture. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is required to collect information from a variety of individuals, both within and outside the United States, who are involved in growing, packing, handling, transporting, and importing foreign plants, roots, bulbs, seeds, importing foreign logs, lumber, other unmanufactured wood articles, and other plant products. APHIS will collect this information using a number of forms.

Need and Use of the Information: APHIS will collect information to ensure that plants, fruits, vegetables, roots, bulbs, seeds, foreign logs, lumber, other unmanufactured wood articles, and other plant products imported into the United States do not harbor plant diseases or insect pests that could cause serious harm to U.S. agriculture.

Description of Respondents: Business or other for-profit; individuals or households; not-for-profit institutions; farms; State, Local or Tribal Government.

Number of Respondents: 90,781.

Frequency of Responses: Recordkeeping; reporting: On occasion.

Total Burden Hours: 95,641.

Ruth Brown,

Departmental Information Collection Clearance Officer.