[Federal Register: June 12, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 113)]
[Notices]
[Page 40264-40265]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr12jn02-33]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. 02-047-1]
Notice of Request for Reinstatement of an Information Collection
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Reinstatement of approval of an information collection; comment
request.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this
notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's
intention to request reinstatement of an information collection in
support of regulations intended to prevent the introduction of foreign
plant pests into the United States.
DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before
August 12, 2002.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by postal mail/commercial delivery
or by e-mail. If you use postal mail/commercial delivery, please send
four copies of your comment (an original and three copies) to: Docket
No. 02-047-1, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station
3C71, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. Please state
that your comment refers to Docket No. 02-047-1. If you use e-mail,
address your comment to
[[Page 40265]]
regulations@aphis.usda.gov. Your comment must be contained in the body
of your message; do not send attached files. Please include your name
and address in your message and ``Docket No. 02-047-1'' on the subject
line.
You may read any comments that we receive on this docket in our
reading room. The reading room is located in room 1141 of the USDA
South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue SW., Washington,
DC. Normal reading room hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except holidays. To be sure someone is there to help you,
please call (202) 690-2817 before coming.
APHIS documents published in the Federal Register, and related
information, including the names of organizations and individuals who
have commented on APHIS dockets, are available on the Internet at
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/webrepor.html.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information regarding foreign
quarantine notices, contact Ms. Deborah Knott, Permits Branch Chief,
PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 133, Riverdale, MD 20737-1236; (301)
734-5055. For copies of more detailed information on the information
collection, contact Mrs. Celeste Sickles, APHIS' Information Collection
Coordinator, at (301) 734-7477.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Foreign Quarantine Notices.
OMB Number: 0579-0049.
Type of Request: Reinstatement of an information collection.
Abstract: The United States Department of Agriculture is
responsible for preventing the introduction of foreign plant pests into
the United States. Implementing this mission often requires us to
collect information from a variety of individuals, both within and
outside of the United States, who are involved in growing, packing,
handling, transporting, and importing foreign plants, fruits,
vegetables, roots, bulbs, seeds, and other plant products. Our
regulations governing the importation of these articles are contained
in 7 CFR part 319, ``Foreign Quarantine Notices.''
For example, many plants or plant products may not be imported
until the person wishing to import them receives a permit from us. The
person wishing to import these items must first fill out a permit
application.
We consider the permit application process extremely important,
since the information on the application enables us to determine
whether the items for import represent a potential pest threat to U.S.
agriculture.
Under certain circumstances we also require importers to supply us
with other types of information. We require, for example, that
containers used to import various plants or plant products be marked in
a certain way so that our inspectors can accurately identify them and
match them to their accompanying documentation.
We require that certain shipments be accompanied by a phytosanitary
inspection certificate, which is a document completed by plant health
officials in the originating country.
This certificate attests to the plant pest condition of the
shipment at the time it was inspected in the originating country. We
use this important information as a guide in determining the intensity
of the inspection we must conduct when the shipment arrives in the
United States.
This and other information we collect is vital to helping us ensure
that imported plants and plant products do not harbor plant pests that,
if introduced into the United States, could cause millions of dollars
in damage to U.S. agriculture.
We are asking the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve
our use of these information collection activities for 3 years.
The purpose of this notice is to solicit comments from the public
(as well as affected agencies) concerning our information collection.
These comments will help us:
(1) Evaluate 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;
(2) Evaluate the accuracy of our estimate of the burden of the
collection of information, including the validity of the methodology
and assumptions used;
(3) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; and
(4) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those
who are to respond, through use, as appropriate, of automated,
electronic, mechanical, and other collection technologies; e.g.,
permitting electronic submission of responses.
Estimate of burden: The public reporting burden for this collection
of information is estimated to average 0.314877 hours per response.
Respondents: Foreign plant health protection authorities.
Estimated annual number of respondents: 92,457.
Estimated annual number of responses per respondent: 3.1305.
Estimated annual number of responses: 289,440.
Estimated total annual burden on respondents: 91,138 hours. (Due to
averaging, the total annual burden hours may not equal the product of
the annual number of responses multiplied by the reporting burden per
response.)
All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the
request for OMB approval. All comments will also become a matter of
public record.
Done in Washington, DC, this 6th day of June, 2002.
Peter Fernandez,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 02-14737 Filed 6-11-02; 8:45 am]
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