2021-18788. Concurrence With OIE Risk Designations for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

AGENCY:

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

We are advising the public of our decision to concur with the World Organization for Animal Health's (OIE) bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) risk designations for Ecuador and Serbia. The OIE recognizes Ecuador as being of controlled risk for BSE and Serbia as being of negligible risk for BSE. We are taking this action based on our review of information supporting the OIE's risk designations for these regions.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Dr. Kari Coulson, Senior Staff Veterinarian, Strategy and Policy, VS, APHIS, 920 Main Campus Drive, Suite 200, Raleigh, NC 27606; [phone]; email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The regulations in 9 CFR part 92 subpart B, “Importation of Animals and Animal Products; Procedures for Requesting BSE Risk Status Classification With Regard To Bovines” (referred to below as the regulations), set forth the process by which the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) classifies regions for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) risk. Section 92.5 of the regulations provides that all countries of the world are considered by APHIS to be in one of three BSE risk categories: Negligible risk, controlled risk, or undetermined risk. These risk categories are defined in § 92.1. Any region that is not classified by APHIS as presenting either negligible risk or controlled risk for BSE is considered to present an undetermined risk. The list of those regions classified by APHIS as having either negligible risk or controlled risk can be accessed on the APHIS website at https://www.aphis.usda.gov/​aphis/​ourfocus/​animalhealth/​animal-and-animal-product-import-information/​animal-health-status-of-regions. The list can also be obtained by writing to APHIS at Regionalization Evaluation Services, 4700 River Road, Unit 38, Riverdale, MD 20737.

Under the regulations, APHIS may classify a region for BSE in one of two ways. One way is for regions that have not received a risk classification from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) to request classification by APHIS. The other way is for APHIS to concur with the classification given to a country or region by the OIE.

If the OIE has classified a region as either BSE negligible risk or BSE controlled risk, APHIS will seek information to support concurrence with the OIE classification. This information may be publicly available information, or APHIS may request that regions supply the same information given to the OIE. APHIS will announce in the Federal Register, subject to public comment, its intent to concur with an OIE classification.

In accordance with this process, we published a notice ^[1] in the Federal Register on October 25, 2019 (84 FR 57384-57385, Docket No. APHIS 2019-0053), in which we announced our intent to concur with the OIE risk classifications of the following regions:

• Regions of negligible risk for BSE: Serbia.
• Regions of controlled risk for BSE: Ecuador.

We solicited comments on the notice for 60 days ending on December 24, 2019. We did not receive any comments by this date.

Therefore, in accordance with the regulations in § 92.5, we are announcing our decision to concur with the OIE risk classifications for Ecuador and Serbia.

Pursuant to the Congressional Review Act (5 U.S.C. 801 et seq.), the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs designated this action as not a major rule, as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1622 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 25th day of August 2021.

Michael Watson,

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Footnotes

1.  To view the notice, go to www.regulations.gov and enter APHIS-2019-0053 in the Search field.