Tuesday, June 26, 2012 by Lee Mannering
APHIS developing new web site for commodity approval, risk assessments
In today’s Federal Register, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced it will create a new Plant Protection and Quarantine Web site that will provide stakeholders with information about the commodity import approval process for plants and plant products and give them the opportunity to consult with APHIS on risk assessments as they are being drafted.
In the notice, APHIS states that the new site is being created in response to stakeholder interest in knowing more about the commodity import approval process and participating at an earlier stage in the development of risk assessments as they are being drafted. Specifically, the site will describe each major step in the commodity import approval process, including a general description of the following: determination of the import status of a commodity, submission of a request by a national plant protection organization, initiation and drafting of risk assessment and risk management documents, completion of an environmental review, and publication and implementation of new requirements, as applicable.
Stakeholders wishing to consult with PPQ on draft risk assessments will need to subscribe to the APHIS stakeholder registry and submit an email address, which will be used to send an alert whenever a draft risk assessment becomes available for comment. APHIS notes it will post the draft risk assessment on its website for 30 days to give stakeholders an opportunity to review the draft and provide comments via e-mail.
Once the new site is available, we will add it to the APHIS section of our navigating government agencies resource page that contains brief overviews of USDA, FDA, and Customs programs connected to the produce industry. If you have thoughts about the new APHIS site, let’s hear about those in the Global Trade Community on PMA Xchange.