SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: Foreign Quarantine Notices.

OMB Control Number: 0579-0049.

Type of Request: Revision to and extension of approval of an information collection.

Abstract: The Plant Protection Act (PPA, 7 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.) authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to restrict the importation, entry, or interstate movement of plants, plant products, and other articles to prevent the introduction of plant pests and diseases into the United States or their dissemination within the United States. This authority has been delegated to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which administers regulations to implement the PPA. Regulations governing the importation of plants, fruits, vegetables, roots, bulbs, seeds, unmanufactured wood articles, and other plant products are contained in 7 CFR part 319, “Foreign Quarantine Notices.” Regulations governing the transit of certain products or articles that are classified as prohibited or restricted products or articles are contained in 7 CFR part 352, “Plant Quarantine Safeguard Regulations.”

The movement of plants and plant products requires various information collection activities, including operational workplans; audits; pest risk assessments; cooperative service agreements; and trust funds. Additional information collection activities include production or processing site/facility registrations; foreign site certification of inspection and/or treatment; applications for permits; appeals of denial or revocation of permits; requests for additional mailing labels; compliance agreements; phytosanitary certificates; labeling; importer documents; agreements for post entry quarantine State screening notices; 30-day article notifications; requests for emergency transshipment or division; notices of arrival; emergency action notifications; and monitoring/recordkeeping from entities responsible for growing, packing, handling, transporting, and importing foreign plant parts (roots, bulbs, seeds, fruit, leaves, etc.), plant products, timber, and timber products. In addition, APHIS collects required information from national plant protection organizations (NPPOs) as part of the commodity import approval process.

The information collected is vital to helping APHIS ensure that plants and plant products do not harbor plant pests or diseases that, if introduced into the United States, could cause extensive economic damage to U.S. agriculture.

We are asking the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve our use of these information collection activities, as described, for an additional 3 years. APHIS has amended this information collection by reducing the number of business Respondents, which decreased Annual Responses and Total Burden Hours. In addition, APHIS has amended this information collection by removing PPQ Form 368, PPQ Form 519, PPQ Form 523 and PPQ Form 586 and moving these information collection activities to the new Common Form Information Collection.

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 collection of information, 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 collection of information 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: The public burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 0.530 hours per response.

Respondents: Facilities; growers; producers; production, processing, and packing sites; importers; individuals; businesses; brokers; shippers; NPPOs; and foreign plant protection authorities.

Estimated annual number of respondents: 1,315.

Estimated annual number of responses per respondent: 205.

Estimated annual number of responses: 269,602.

Estimated total annual burden on respondents: 142,788 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.)

All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the request for OMB approval. All comments will also become a matter of public record.

91 FR 35175