[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 107 (Friday, June 5, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27006-27007]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-13154]
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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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Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 107 / Friday, June 5, 2009 /
Notices
[[Page 27006]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. APHIS-2008-0121]
Notice of Determination of the High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza
Subtype H5N1 Status of Germany and Poland
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: We are advising the public of our determination regarding the
high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) subtype H5N1 status of
Germany and Poland following outbreaks in 2006 and 2007. Based on
assessments of the animal health status of the two countries, which we
made available to the public for review and comment through a previous
notice, the Administrator has determined that the importation of live
birds, poultry carcasses, parts or products of poultry carcasses, and
eggs (other than hatching eggs) of poultry, game birds, and other birds
from either Germany (except Saxony, Germany) or Poland presents a low
risk of introducing HPAI H5N1 into the United States.
DATES: Effective Date: This determination will be effective on June 22,
2009.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Javier Vargas, Regionalization
Evaluation Services Staff, National Center for Import and Export, VS,
APHIS, 4700 River Road, Unit 38, Riverdale, MD 20737-1231; (301) 734-
0756.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On January 2, 2009, we published in the Federal Register (74 FR 69-
70) a notice \1\ in which we announced the availability for review and
comment of assessments of the animal health status of Germany and
Poland relative to high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) subtype
H5N1. In the assessments, titled ``APHIS' Evaluation of the Status of
High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza H5N1 (HPAI H5N1) in Germany''
(October 2008) and ``APHIS' Evaluation of the Status of High
Pathogenicity Avian Influenza H5N1 virus in Poland'' (October 2008), we
presented the results of our evaluation of the prevalence of HPAI H5N1
in domestic poultry in the two countries in light of the actions taken
by German and Polish animal health authorities during and since the
outbreaks of HPAI H5N1 that occurred in those two regions in 2006 and
2007.
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\1\ To view the notice, the assessments, and the comment we
received, go to http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocketDetail&d=APHIS-2008-0121.
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Our assessments concluded that both Germany and Poland had adequate
detection and control measures in place at the time of the outbreaks,
that they have been able to effectively control and eradicate HPAI H5N1
in their domestic poultry populations since that time, and that both
German and Polish animal health authorities have control measures in
place to rapidly identify, control, and eradicate the disease should it
be reintroduced into Germany or Poland in either wild birds or domestic
poultry.
In our January 2009 notice we stated that, if we could identify no
additional risk factors that would indicate that domestic poultry in
either Germany or Poland continue to be affected with HPAI H5N1 by the
end of the comment period, we would conclude that the importation of
live birds, poultry carcasses, parts of carcasses, and eggs (other than
hatching eggs) of poultry, game birds, or other birds from regions of
Germany and Poland presents a low risk of introducing HPAI H5N1 into
the United States.
We solicited comments on the notice for 30 days ending on February
2, 2009. We received one comment on our assessments, from the Ministry
of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Republic of Poland. The
commenter agreed with our findings. Based on the comment we received,
no changes were made to the evaluations.
Therefore we are removing our prohibition on the importation of
these products from Germany (except Saxony, Germany) and Poland into
the United States. Specifically:
We are no longer requiring that processed poultry products
from Germany (except Saxony, Germany) and Poland be accompanied by a
Veterinary Service import permit and government certification
confirming that the products have been treated according to APHIS
requirements;
We are allowing unprocessed poultry products from Germany
(except Saxony, Germany) and Poland to enter the United States in
passenger luggage; and
We are removing restrictions regarding the regions in
Germany (except Saxony, Germany) and Poland from which processed
poultry products may originate in order to be allowed entry into the
United States in passenger luggage.
However, live birds from Germany and Poland are still subject to
the inspections at ports of entry and post-importation quarantines set
forth in 9 CFR part 93, unless granted an exemption by the
Administrator or destined for diagnostic purposes and accompanied by a
limited permit.
Additionally, in our January 2009 notice, we stated that for
Germany, we would maintain the restrictions we imposed in response to a
subsequent October 2008 outbreak until the European Commission lifted
the restrictions it had imposed in response to that outbreak, at which
point we would reevaluate the HPAI H5N1 status of the district of
G[ouml]rlitz in Saxony.
The restrictions put in place by the European Commission on October
9, 2008, in response to the presence of HPAI H5N1 in a single flock of
mixed species of domestic poultry in the district of G[ouml]rlitz in
Saxony, were lifted on November 13, 2008, following extensive
surveillance and epidemiologic investigations. Accordingly, we are
publishing a notice in today's issue of the Federal Register, in which
we make available, for review and comment, our assessment of the HPAI
H5N1 status of Saxony, Germany.
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 450, 7701-7772, 7781-7786, and 8301-8317;
21 U.S.C. 136 and 136a; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.4.
[[Page 27007]]
Done in Washington, DC, this 1st day of June 2009.
Kevin Shea,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. E9-13154 Filed 6-4-09; 8:45 am]
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