We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the Oriental fruit fly regulations by removing portions of San Bernardino and San Diego Counties, CA, from the list of quarantined areas and by removing restrictions on the interstate movement of regulated articles from those areas. The quarantine was necessary to

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the pink bollworm regulations by removing the State of Oklahoma from the lists of quarantined States and regulated areas. Statewide trapping surveys conducted over the last 2 years have shown Oklahoma to be free of pink bollworm. The interim rule relieved restrictions on

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App. II), we are giving notice of a meeting of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Foreign Animal and Poultry Diseases.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

We are amending the user fee regulations to ensure that fiscal year 2002 user fee rates remain in effect beyond fiscal year 2002 until the fees are revised. In a final rule published in the Federal Register on November 16, 1999, we amended the regulations by adjusting the fees charged for certain agricultural quarantine and inspection services we

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

We are reopening and extending the comment period for our proposed rule amending the regulations pertaining to cargo entering the United States. The proposed rule would provide that inspectors from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) may require that cargo that has entered the United States and been moved from the port of first

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

In accordance with legislation implementing the results of the Uruguay Round of negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, we are informing the public of international standard setting activities of the Office International des Epizooties, the Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention, and the North American

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

In a notice published in the Federal Register on July 16, 2002 (Docket No. 010182), we announced the availability for review and comment of a document that assesses the footandmouth disease status of Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales, and the Isle of Man) and the related disease risks associated with importing animals and animal products

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

We are amending the regulations for importing plants and plant products by requiring artificially dwarfed plants that are imported into the United States to have been grown under certain conditions in greenhouses or screenhouses within nurseries registered with the government of the country where the plants were grown. This action is necessary to

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service intends to prepare an environmental impact statement in connection with regulations we are considering regarding the importation of wood packaging material. This notice identifies potential alternatives and issues that we plan to examine in the environmental impact

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

We are amending the regulations to allow the use of microchip implants as an acceptable form of identification for pet birds of U.S. origin returning to this country after being outside the United States. The regulations have previously provided only for the use of leg bands or tattoos to identify such birds, but microchips have become the

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the citrus canker regulations by removing a portion of Manatee County, FL, from the list of quarantined areas. The regulations require that an area be free from citrus canker for a period of at least 2 years before it may be removed from the list of quarantined areas.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

In accordance with the Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2002, we are establishing, by regulation, an initial list of biological agents and toxins determined to have the potential to pose a severe threat to animal or plant health, or to animal or plant products. The Act requires that all persons in possession of any listed biological

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

On July 14, 2000, a notice of availability and request for comments was published in the Federal Register (65 FR 43748) for a draft environmental impact statement titled ``Proposed Rule for the Importation of Unmanufactured Wood Articles From Mexico, With Consideration for Cumulative Impact of Methyl Bromide Use.'' The draft environmental impact

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the citrus canker regulations by removing a portion of Hillsborough County, FL, from the list of quarantined areas. The regulations require that an area be free from citrus canker for a period of at least 2 years before it may be removed from the list of quarantined

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

We are reopening and extending the comment period for an interim rule that amended the bovine tuberculosis regulations regarding State and zone classifications by removing the splitState status of Texas and classifying the entire State as modified accredited advanced. The interim rule also solicited comments on the current regulatory provisions of

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

We are proposing to amend the Virus-Serum-Toxin Act regulations for the determination of moisture content in desiccated biological products to specify that such determinations be made using the harmonized gravimetric method adopted by the International Cooperation on Harmonization of Technical Requirements for the Registration of Veterinary

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

We are reopening and extending the comment period for a proposed rule to amend the VirusSerumToxin Act regulations concerning Standard Requirements for veterinary biologics by adding a Standard Requirement for Equine Influenza Vaccine, Killed Virus. This action will allow interested persons additional time to prepare and submit comments.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

We are amending the regulations regarding payments made in connection with animals and other property disposed of because of bovine tuberculosis to provide that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will make payments to owners of dairy cattle and other property used in connection with a dairy business, and a dairy processing plant in the

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

We are changing our hourly rates for Sunday, holiday, or other overtime work performed by employees of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for any person, firm, or corporation having ownership, custody, or control of animals, poultry, animal byproducts, germ plasm, organisms, vectors, plants, plant products, or other regulated

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

We are advising the public that an environmental assessment has been prepared by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service relative to the control of rush skeletonweed, Chondrilla juncea (Asteraceae). The environmental assessment considers the effects of, and alternatives to, the release of a nonindigenous organism, Bradyrrhoa gilveolella

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

We are advising the public that an environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact have been prepared by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service relative to the control of Siam weed, Chromolaena odorata, in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. The environmental assessment considers the effects of, and alternatives to, the

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

We are amending the regulations by adding Israel to the list of regions where bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) exists because the disease has been detected in a nativeborn animal in that region. The effect of this action is a restriction on the importation of ruminants that have been in Israel and meat, meat products, and certain other

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

We are amending the plant quarantine safeguard regulations to remove Brownsville and Hidalgo, TX, as ports of entry for untreated Mexican oranges, tangerines, and grapefruit transiting the United States for export to another country. We are also removing Brownsville, TX, as an authorized port for the exportation by water of shipments of untreated

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

We are advising the public that an evaluation has been prepared by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service concerning the footandmouth disease status of Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales, and the Isle of Man) and the related disease risks associated with importing animals and animal products into the United States from Great Britain.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the regulations by adding Austria to the list of regions where bovine spongiform encephalopathy exists because the disease had been detected in a nativeborn animal in that region. Austria had already been listed among the regions that present an undue risk of introducing

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service