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Animal and Animal Product Import

Regionalization

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Evaluation Services

APHIS has altered its traditional country-based import restrictions, approaching import decisions using a science-based evaluation of the risk presented by imported animals and animal products. In this regard, APHIS recognizes that risk may be tied to climatological, geographical, and biological factors that are not always defined by national political boundaries. This approach is consistent with our obligations under international trade agreements. To help ensure that our standards for (1) regulating imports on a regional basis and (2) assessing that disease risk within defined regions are clearly defined and applied on a consistent and scientific basis, APHIS formed the Regionalization Evaluation Services Staff to coordinate the evaluations.

The Regionalization Evaluation Services Staff:

  • Reviews information submitted in support of requests from foreign governments for an evaluation of the animal health status of regions and identifies appropriate steps necessary to control risk of importing animals and animal products into the United States
  • Publishes the supporting documentation provided by the region/country on the Internet
  • Recommends site visits as appropriate to the evaluation
  • Coordinates the risk assessment process
  • Makes the site visit and risk assessment results available to the public
  • Coordinates rulemaking actions relevant to regionalization decisions for Veterinary Services
  • Assists in the coordination of data to support zoning of the United States for export purposes.

To ensure that standards for regulating imports on a regional basis and assessing disease risk within defined regions are applied on a consistent and scientific basis, we use 11 factors (defined in Title 9, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 92.2) as a framework for evaluating requests to export animals or animal products to the United States from distinct or definable regions. These factors are:

  • The authority, organization, and infrastructure of the veterinary services organization in the region
  • The type and extent of disease surveillance in the region
  • Diagnostic laboratory capabilities
  • Disease status
  • The existence of an active disease control program
  • The vaccination status of the region
  • Disease status of adjacent regions
  • The degree to which the region is separated from regions of higher risk through physical or other barriers
  • The control of the movement of animals and animal products from regions of higher risk, and the level of bio-security regarding such movements
  • Livestock demographics and marketing practices within the region
  • Policies and infrastructure for animal disease control in the region.

If you wish to submit a request for recognition, please follow the format described in the document:

Additional guidance is available in the form of example submissions at this site:

The documentation supporting the request to evaluate the animal health status of a country or region is presented in Portable Document Format (PDF).  Viewing these files requires a PDF file reader, such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader.

*Please note that the APHIS mail server is no longer accepting executable file attachments, such as .exe, .pif, .cmd, .scr, .com, .bat, .zip, .vbs, .dll, .chm, .js, .jse, .vb, .vbe.

 

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Last Modified: November 8, 2007