[Federal Register: October 8, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 195)]
[Notices]
[Page 60347-60348]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr08oc04-22]
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Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
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[[Page 60347]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. 04-048-2]
Notice of Request for Emergency Approval of an Information
Collection
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: New information collection; reopening of comment period.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced in the Federal
Register that it had submitted to the Office of Management and Budget a
request for emergency review and approval of an information collection
associated with a national animal identification system. That notice
was published on September 23, 2004 (69 FR 56990-56991), and comments
were due by October 4, 2004. This notice announces our intention to
reopen that comment period for an additional 20 days beyond the date of
this notice.
DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before
October 28, 2004.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Please send four copies
of your comment (an original and three copies) to Docket No. 04-048-1
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. 04-048-1.
E-mail: Address your comment to
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. 04-048-1'' on the subject
line. Agency Web site: Go to http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/cominst.html
for a form you can use to submit an e-mail comment through
the APHIS Web site.
Reading Room: 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.
Other Information: You may view APHIS documents published in the
Federal Register and related information, including the names of groups
and individuals who have commented on APHIS dockets, on the Internet at
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/webrepor.html.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the national animal
identification system, contact Mr. Neil Hammerschmidt, Animal
Identification Coordinator, Eradication and Surveillance Team, National
Center for Animal Health Programs, VS, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 43,
Riverdale, MD 20737; (301) 734-5571, or Dr. John Wiemers, National
Animal Identification Coordinator, Eradication and Surveillance Team,
National Center for Animal Health Programs, VS, APHIS, 2100 S. Lake
Storey Road, Galesburg, IL 61401; (309) 344-1942. 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: National Animal Identification System.
OMB Number: 0579-XXXX.
Type of Request: Emergency approval of a new information
collection.
Abstract: The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulates the importation and
interstate movement of animals and animal products and conducts various
other activities to protect the health of our Nation's livestock and
poultry.
Animal disease outbreaks around the globe over the past decade, and
the detection of an imported cow infected with bovine spongiform
encephalopathy in Washington State in December 2003, have intensified
the public interest in developing a national animal identification
program for the purpose of protecting animal health.
Fundamental to controlling any disease threat, foreign or domestic,
to the Nation's animal resources is to have a system that can identify
individual animals or groups, the premises where they are located, and
the date of entry to each premises. Further, in order to achieve
optimal success in controlling or eradicating an animal health threat,
the timely retrieval of this information and implementation of
intervention strategies after confirmation of a disease outbreak is
necessary.
While there is currently no nationwide animal identification system
in the United States for all animals of a given species, some segments
of certain species are required to be identified as part of current
program disease eradication activities. In addition, some significant
regional voluntary identification programs are in place, and others are
currently being developed and tested.
As a first stage of implementing a national animal identification
system (NAIS), USDA has funded 29 State and tribal projects that will
be conducted under cooperative agreements. States and tribes can use
the funds to register premises, establish data transfer procedures, and
conduct field trials or research in order to test and fine-tune
identification technologies and collect animal movement data.
Additional nonfederally funded projects may also be conducted. The
pilot projects will help inform USDA's decisions about how to proceed
with the animal identification initiative. USDA has also solicited
public comment on this initiative through an advance notice of proposed
rulemaking published in the Federal Register on July 14, 2004 (69 FR
42288-42300) and has conducted a series of listening sessions across
the country to discuss the development, structure, and implementation
of the NAIS with livestock producers and other interested persons.
USDA's ultimate goal for the NAIS is to gain the ability to
identify all animals and premises that have had direct contact with a
foreign animal disease or disease of concern within 48 hours of
discovery. A functioning system will
[[Page 60348]]
also be crucial as USDA works to complete disease eradication programs
in which States, industry, and the Federal Government have invested
many years and millions of dollars. USDA is committed to developing a
program that is tested both on the farm and in the livestock markets to
ensure it is both practical and effective. USDA's technology-neutral
position will allow industry to determine which animal identification
method or methods are the most practical and effective for each
species.
APHIS has submitted a request to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for emergency approval of the information collection and
recordkeeping activities that will be conducted under the State and
tribal pilot projects discussed above. We have amended the estimate of
burden shown in our initial notice to reflect only the time period that
will be covered by the emergency approval.
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
information collection, 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 information collection 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: Public reporting burden for this collection of
information is estimated to average 0.1404691 hours per response.
Respondents: State animal health authorities; federally recognized
tribal governments; owner/operators of feedlots, markets, buying
stations, and slaughter plants; producers; and nonproducer
participants, such as accredited veterinarians, animal identification
(ID) number managers (individuals or firms responsible for assigning
animal ID numbers to producers), animal identification ID companies
(companies that manufacture animal identification tags, microchips, or
other animal ID devices), third party service providers (companies that
provide herd management, dairy herd improvement, genetic evaluation,
and other services to producers), and diagnostic laboratories and
livestock buyers/dealers who submit data to the national database.
Estimated annual number of respondents: 189,963.
Estimated annual number of responses per respondent: 1.2055189.
Estimated annual number of responses: 229,004.
Estimated total annual burden on respondents: 32,168 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.)
APHIS will provide the Office of Management and Budget with a copy
of all comments received on this notice. All comments will become a
matter of public record.
Done in Washington, DC, this 6th day of October 2004.
Elizabeth E. Gaston,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 04-22788 Filed 10-7-04; 8:45 am]
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