Horses From Morocco; Change in Disease Status

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

9 CFR Part 93

[Docket No. 98-055-1]

Horses From Morocco; Change in Disease Status

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: We are proposing to amend the regulations concerning the

importation of horses to remove Morocco from the list of regions the

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service considers affected with

African horse sickness. This proposed action is based on information

received from Morocco and is in accordance with standards set by the

Office International des Epizooties for recognizing a country as free

of African horse sickness. This proposed action would relieve

restrictions on the importation of horses into the United States from

Morocco.

DATES: Consideration will be given only to comments received on or

before June 7, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Please send an original and three copies of your comments to

Docket No. 98-055-1, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS,

suite 3C03, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. Please

state that your comments refer to Docket No. 98-055-1. Comments

received may be inspected at USDA, room 1141, South Building, 14th

Street and Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC, between 8 a.m. and

4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. Persons wishing to

inspect comments are requested to call ahead on (202) 690-2817 to

facilitate entry into the comment reading room.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. John Cougill, Senior Staff

Veterinarian, Products Program, National Center for Import and Export,

VS, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 40, Riverdale, MD 20737-1231, (301)

734-3399; or e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The regulations in 9 CFR part 93 (referred to below as the

regulations) prescribe the conditions for the importation into the

United States of specified animals to prevent the introduction of

various animal diseases, including African horse sickness (AHS). AHS is

a fatal viral equine disease that is not known to exist in the United

States.

Section 93.308(a)(2) of the regulations lists regions that the

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) considers affected

with AHS and sets forth specific quarantine requirements for horses

that are imported from those regions. APHIS requires horses intended

for importation from any of the regions listed, including horses that

have stopped in or transited those regions, to enter the United States

only at the port of New York and be quarantined at the New York Animal

Import Center in Newburgh, NY, for at least 60 days. This precaution is

necessary to help ensure that the horses are not affected with AHS.

We are proposing to recognize Morocco as free of AHS. We are

proposing this action based on information given to APHIS by Morocco

and standards set by the Office International des Epizooties (OIE).

In order for a country to be recognized as free of AHS, the OIE

requires the disease to be mandatorily reportable. In addition, the

country must not have vaccinated domestic horses or other equines

against the disease during the past 12 months. The OIE also requires

that the country have no clinical, serological (in nonvaccinated

animals), or epidemiological evidence of AHS for the past 2 years.

Morocco has not had a recorded case of AHS in over 6 years, and

vaccination against AHS has not been permitted for over 3 years.

With its request to be considered free of AHS, Morocco provided

APHIS with information about its veterinary infrastructure, animal

health monitoring system, trading practices with other regions, and

other pertinent information that we require in order to determine

whether Morocco should be recognized as free of AHS.

APHIS has reviewed the information provided by Morocco in support

of declaring it free of AHS. Based on that information, and in

accordance with OIE standards for recognizing a country as free of AHS,

we are proposing to consider Morocco as free of AHS. Therefore, we are

proposing to amend Sec. 93.308(a)(2) by removing Morocco from the list

of regions declared affected with AHS. This proposed action would allow

horses from Morocco to be shipped to and quarantined at ports

designated in Sec. 93.303, and would reduce the quarantine period to an

average of 3 days to meet the quarantine and testing requirements

specified in Sec. 93.308.

On October 28, 1997, we published a final rule and policy statement

in the Federal Register that established procedures for recognizing

regions, rather than only countries, for the purpose of importing

animals and animal products into the United States, and that

established procedures by which regions may request permission to

export animals and animal products to the United States under specified

conditions, based on the regions' disease status (see 62 FR 56000-

56033, Dockets Nos. 94-106-8 and 94-106-9). The final rule was

effective on November 28, 1997. The request from Morocco addressed by

this proposed rule is not a request to be recognized as a region,

rather than a country, nor a request to establish new import conditions

based on the disease status of regions. Therefore, we have handled and

evaluated this request in the traditional framework of recognizing a

country as affected or not affected with a specified disease. If this

proposed rule is adopted, the current regulations regarding importation

of horses from regions free of AHS will apply.

We are also proposing to revise 93.308(a)(2) to make it easier to

read.

Executive Order 12866 and Regulatory Flexibility Act

This proposed rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12866.

The rule has been determined to be not significant for the purposes of

Executive Order 12866 and, therefore, has not been reviewed by the

Office of Management and Budget.

This proposed rule would recognize Morocco as free of AHS. This

action would allow horses from Morocco to be shipped to and quarantined

at ports

[[Page 16656]]

designated in 93.303 and would reduce the quarantine and testing period

to an average of 3 days to meet quarantine requirements specified in

93.308.

U.S. importers of competition and breeding horses from Morocco

would be affected by this rule if it is adopted. These importers would

no longer be required to quarantine horses from Morocco for 60 days at

the New York Animal Import Center in Newburgh, NY, at a cost of

approximately $5,296 per horse.

In 1996, the United States imported 31,633 horses, valued at

$7,523,000; none of these horses were imported into the United States

from Morocco. Removing the requirement for a 60-day quarantine for

horses from Morocco would make the importation of horses less expensive

and logistically easier. As a result, we anticipate that U.S. importers

of competition and breeding horses might begin importing horses from

Morocco. Since the value of Morocco's exports of purebred horses in

1996 was approximately $39,000, we do not expect that the number of

horses exported to the United States would be significant. Furthermore,

most horses imported from Morocco would probably be in the United

States on a temporary basis for particular events, such as for races,

or for breeding, and then transported back to Morocco. For these

reasons, we anticipate the overall economic impact on U.S. entities

would be minimal.

Under these circumstances, the Administrator of the Animal and

Plant Health Inspection Service has determined that this action would

not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small

entities.

Executive Order 12988

This rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12988, Civil

Justice Reform. If this proposed rule is adopted: (1) All State and

local laws and regulations that are inconsistent with this rule will be

preempted; (2) no retroactive effect will be given to this rule; and

(3) administrative proceedings will not be required before parties may

file suit in court challenging this rule.

Paperwork Reduction Act

This proposed rule contains no information collection or

recordkeeping requirements under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

List of Subjects in 9 CFR Part 93

Animal diseases, Imports, Livestock, Poultry and poultry products,

Quarantine, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

Accordingly, we propose to amend 9 CFR part 93 as follows:

PART 93--IMPORTATION OF CERTAIN ANIMALS, BIRDS, AND POULTRY, AND

CERTAIN ANIMAL, BIRD, AND POULTRY PRODUCTS; REQUIREMENTS FOR MEANS

OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS

1. The authority citation for part 93 would continue to read as

follows:

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1622; 19 U.S.C. 1306; 21 U.S.C. 102-105,

111, 114a, 134a, 134b, 134c, 134d, 134f, 136, and 136a; 31 U.S.C.

9701; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.2(d).

2. In 93.308, paragraph (a)(2) would be revised to read as follows:

Sec. 93.308 Quarantine requirements.

(a) * * *

(2) Horses intended for importation from regions APHIS considers to

be affected with African horse sickness may enter the United States

only at the port of New York, and must be quarantined at the New York

Animal Import Center in Newburgh, New York, for at least 60 days. This

restriction also applies to horses that have stopped in or transited a

region considered affected with African horse sickness. APHIS considers

the following regions to be affected with African horse sickness: All

the regions on the continent of Africa, except Morocco; Oman, Qatar,

Saudi Arabia, and the Yemen Arab Republic.

* * * * *

Done in Washington, DC, this 31st day of March 1999.

Joan M. Arnoldi,

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

[FR Doc. 99-8456 Filed 4-5-99; 8:45 am]

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