• Imports & Exports

Imports and Exports

APHIS plays a vital role in ensuring the free flow of agricultural trade by keeping U.S. agricultural industries free from pests and diseases and certifying that the millions of U.S. agricultural and food products shipped to markets abroad meet the importing countries' entry requirements. APHIS makes sure that all imported agricultural products shipped to the United States from abroad meet the Agency's entry requirements to exclude pests and diseases of agriculture.

APHIS also keeps export markets open for American agricultural products by working to eliminate unjustified sanitary or phytosanitary (SPS) barriers - that is, concerns involving plant and animal health - raised by U.S. trading partners. APHIS' team of technical experts, based in the United States and abroad, includes scientists, veterinarians, pathologists, and entomologists that advocate on behalf of U.S. agriculture. They build relationships with their agricultural health and regulatory counterparts in other countries and use scientific principles to make the case for American agricultural exports, explaining to foreign officials why U.S. commodities are safe to import. APHIS played a direct role in opening new markets and retaining and expanding existing market access for U.S. agricultural products worth billions of dollars annually.

What are you IMPORTING INTO the United States?

• Plants or Plant Products
  • View Electronic Manuals
    This web site contains an alphabetized list of Plant Protection and Quarantine manuals in electronic format and the Fruits and Vegetables Import Requirements (FAVIR) Online Database
• Organisms and Soil

• Animal or Animal Products
  • State Regulations and Import Requirements
    
• Organisms and Vectors 
  
• Veterinary Service Forms
  
• Importing Dogs into the United States for Resale (including Adoption) Regulations

What are you EXPORTING FROM the United States?

• Plants or Plant Products 
  
• Animal or Animal Products
  • International Animal Export Regulations (IREGs)
  • International Products Export Regulations (IREGs)
    

Related Topics

Biotechnology Import and Export Information
APHIS' Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS) requires a permit or notification for the import of certain genetically engineered organisms.

Phytosanitary Issues Management
The Phytosanitary Issues Management (PIM) unit facilitates and negotiates, through the use of scientifically based processes, the safe export and import of agricultural commodities.

APHIS Regulated Garbage Website
APHIS collaborates with officials in U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Plant Protection and Quarantine personnel to ensure appropriate and consistent handling of regulated garbage at U.S. ports of entry and elsewhere.  

Trade
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) plays a vital role in ensuring the free flow of agricultural trade.