[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 9, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2006]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 9CFR79.6]

[Page 316-318]
 
                  TITLE 9--ANIMALS AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS
 
  CHAPTER I--ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF 
                               AGRICULTURE
 
PART 79_SCRAPIE IN SHEEP AND GOATS--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 79.6  Standards for States to qualify as Consistent States.

    (a) In reviewing a State for Consistent State status, the 
Administrator will evaluate the State statutes, regulations, and 
directives pertaining to animal health activities; reports and 
publications of the State animal health agency; and a written statement 
from the State animal health agency describing State scrapie control 
activities and certifying that these activities meet the requirements of 
this section. In determining whether a State is a Consistent State, the 
Administrator will determine whether the State:
    (1) Has the authority, based on State law or regulation, to restrict 
the movement of all scrapie-infected and source flocks.
    (2) Has the authority, based on State law or regulation, to require 
the reporting of any animal suspected of having scrapie and test results 
for any animals tested for scrapie to State or Federal animal health 
authorities.
    (3) Has, in cooperation with APHIS personnel, drafted and signed a 
memorandum of understanding between APHIS and the State that delineates 
the respective roles of each in the National Scrapie Program 
implementation.
    (4) Has placed all known scrapie-infected and source flocks under 
movement restrictions, with movement of animals only to slaughter, to 
feedlots under permit and movement restrictions that ensure later 
movement to slaughter, for destruction, or for research. Scrapie-
positive and suspect animals may be moved only for transport to an 
approved research facility or for purposes of destruction.
    (5) Has effectively implemented policies to:
    (i) Investigate all animals reported as scrapie suspect animals 
within 7 days of notification;
    (ii) Designate a flock's status, within 15 days of notification that 
the flock contains a scrapie-positive animal, based on an investigation 
by State or Federal animal health authorities and in accordance with 
this part;

[[Page 317]]

    (iii) Restrict the movement, in accordance with paragraph (a)(4) of 
this section, of newly designated scrapie-infected and source flocks 
within 7 days after they are designated in accordance with Sec. 79.4;
    (iv) Relieve infected and source flock movement restrictions only 
after completion of a flock plan created in accordance with Sec. 54.14 
of this chapter or a flock plan created in accordance with an approved 
scrapie control pilot project, or as permitted by the conditions of such 
a flock plan, and after agreement by the owner to comply with a 5-year 
post-exposure management and monitoring plan;
    (v) Conduct an epidemiologic investigation of source and infected 
flocks that includes the designation of high-risk and exposed animals 
and that identifies animals to be traced;
    (vi) Conduct tracebacks of scrapie-positive animals and traceouts of 
high-risk and exposed animals and report any out-of-State traces to the 
appropriate State within 45 days of receipt of notification of a 
scrapie-positive animal; and
    (vii) Conduct tracebacks based on slaughter sampling within 15 days 
of receipt of notification of a scrapie-positive animal at slaughter.
    (6) Effectively monitors and enforces quarantines.
    (7) Effectively enforces State reporting laws and regulations for 
scrapie.
    (8) Has designated at least one APHIS or State animal health 
official to coordinate scrapie program activities in the State and to 
serve as the designated scrapie epidemiologist in the State.
    (9) Has educated those engaged in the interstate movement of sheep 
and goats regarding the identification and recordkeeping requirements of 
this part.
    (10) Has provided APHIS with a plan and timeline for complying with 
the following additional requirements, which must be met within 2 years 
of designation of the State as a Consistent State \5\:
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    \5\ This provision would apply until January 1, 2003. Any State 
designated as a Consistent State after that date would have to meet all 
requirements prior to designation.
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    (i) Requires, based on State law or regulation, and effectively 
enforces official identification upon change of ownership of all animals 
of any age not in slaughter channels and any sheep over 18 months of age 
as evidenced by eruption of the second incisor such that the animal may 
be traced to its flock of birth; provided that:
    (A) A State may exempt commercial goats in intrastate commerce that 
have not been in contact with sheep from this identification requirement 
if there has been in that State no case of scrapie in a commercial goat 
in the past 10 years that originated in that State and cannot be 
attributed to exposure to infected sheep, and there are no exposed 
commercial goat herds in that State; and
    (B) A State may exempt commercial whitefaced sheep or commercial 
hair sheep under 18 months of age in intrastate commerce from this 
identification requirement if there has been in that State no case of 
scrapie in the exempted class that originated from that State, and there 
are no exposed commercial whitefaced or hair sheep flocks in that State 
that have been exposed by a female animal.
    (C) States that exempt these types of commercial animals must put in 
place the regulations necessary to require identification of these 
animals within 90 days of these conditions no longer existing.
    (ii) Maintains in the National Scrapie Database administered by 
APHIS, or in a State database approved by the Administrator as 
compatible with the National Scrapie Database, the State's:
    (A) Premises information and assigned premises numbers and 
individual identification number sequences assigned for use as premises 
identification;
    (B) Individual animal information on all scrapie-positive, suspect, 
high-risk, and exposed animals in the State;
    (C) Individual animal information on all out-of-State animals to be 
traced; and
    (D) Accurate flock status data.
    (iii) Requires official individual identification of any live 
scrapie-positive, suspect, or high-risk animal of any age

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and of any sexually intact exposed animal of more than 1 year of age or 
any sexually intact exposed animal of less than 1 year of age upon 
change of ownership (except for exposed animals moving in slaughter 
channels at less than 1 year of age), whether or not the animal resides 
in a source or infected flock.
    (iv) Effectively enforces movement restrictions on all scrapie-
positive, suspect, and high-risk animals throughout their lives unless 
they are moved in accordance with Sec. 79.3.
    (v) Requires that tissues from all scrapie-positive or suspect 
animals and female high-risk animals that have lambed (when they have 
died or have been destroyed) be submitted to a laboratory authorized by 
the Administrator to conduct scrapie tests and requires complete 
destruction of the carcasses of scrapie-positive and suspect animals.
    (vi) Prohibits any animal from being removed from slaughter channels 
unless it is identified to the flock of birth, is not from an 
Inconsistent State, and is not scrapie-exposed or from an infected or 
source flock.
    (b) If the Administrator determines that statutory changes are 
needed to bring a State into full compliance, the Administrator may 
grant up to a 2-year extension to allow a State to acquire additional 
authorities before removing a State's Consistent Status. The decision to 
grant an extension will be based on the State's ability to prevent the 
movement of scrapie-infected animals out of the State and on the 
progress being made in making the needed statutory changes.