bonsaiTALK Community - View Single Post - USDA Restricts Bonsai Import

I am including this here because the USDA site was pretty nonresponsive this morning. It took about 1/2 hour to pull this down:

Quote:

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 7 CFR Part 319 [Docket No. 00-042-2]

Importation of Artificially Dwarfed Plants
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: We are amending the regulations for importing plants and plant products by requiring artificially dwarfed plants that are imported into the United States to have been grown under certain conditions in greenhouses or screenhouses within nurseries registered with the government of the country where the plants were grown. This action is necessary to protect against the introduction of longhorned beetles into the United States.

EFFECTIVE DATE: September 18, 2002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Inder P. Gadh, Import Specialist, Phytosanitary Issues Management Team, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 140, Riverdale, MD 20737-1236; (301) 734-6799.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The regulations in 7 CFR part 319 prohibit or restrict the importation of certain plants and plant products into the United States to prevent the introduction of plant pests. The regulations contained in ``Subpart--Nursery Stock, Plants, Roots, Bulbs, Seeds, and Other Plant Products,'' Secs. 319.37 through 319.37-14 (referred to below as the regulations), restrict, among other things, the importation of living plants, plant parts, and seeds for propagation.
Under Sec. 319.37-2(b)(2) of the regulations, the importation from all foreign places except Canada of any naturally dwarf or miniature form of tree or shrub exceeding 305 mm (approximately 12 inches) in length from the soil line is prohibited, unless the plants are imported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for experimental or scientific purposes in accordance with Sec. 319.37-2(c). Because the regulations do not explicitly prohibit the importation of naturally dwarf plants under 305 mm in length or artificially dwarfed plants, and because the regulations do not contain restrictions particular to their importation, such plants may be imported into the United States if they are accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate of inspection. Such plants are also subject to inspection and, if necessary, treatment for plant pests, at the port of first arrival in the United States, and under Sec. 319.37-8, such plants must be free of sand, soil, earth, or other growing media.
On April 20, 2001, we published in the Federal Register (66 FR 20208-20211, Docket No. 00-042-1) a proposal to amend the regulations by requiring artificially dwarfed plants that are imported into the United States to have been grown under certain conditions in nurseries registered with the government of the country where the plants were grown. We proposed this action in order to protect against the introduction of longhorned beetles and other plant pests into the United States.

We solicited comments concerning our proposal for 60 days ending June 19, 2001. We received four comments by that date. They were from State agricultural officials, agricultural trade organizations, and an environmental advocacy group. The comments are discussed below.

Comment: The relationship between the proposed rule and another proposed rule involving penjing from China is not clear.
Response: This rule is worldwide in scope and is intended to increase and clarify the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS's) requirements regarding the importation of all artificially dwarfed plants eligible for importation under current regulations. Current regulations allow the importation of artificially dwarfed plants only if they are bare-rooted and accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate. The requirements contained in this rule are intended to clarify what type of plant may be considered an artificially dwarfed plant for the purposes of the regulations, so as to eliminate the possibility that field-grown plants could be imported into the United States under the requirements for artificially dwarfed plants.
In our proposed rule regarding the importation of penjing from China (See 65 FR 56803-56806, Docket No. 98-103-1), we proposed to allow, under certain conditions, the importation in growing media of five genera of artificially dwarfed plants from China.

Comment: Several experts have questioned whether annual inspection by an exporting country's plant protection agency is sufficient to ensure greenhouses are pest-free. Inspections should take place once every 6 months rather than once every 12 months.
Response: We proposed to require that artificially dwarfed plants be grown in a registered nursery for at least 2 years, and that the nursery where they were grown be inspected for any evidence of pests and found free of pests of quarantine significance to the United States at least once every 12 months by the plant protection service of the country where the plants were grown. Several comments that we received indicated that the commenters assumed that we had proposed to require
that the plants be grown in a greenhouse at the nursery. Rather, we had simply proposed to require that the plants be grown in a nursery. Based on the apparent support among commenters for a requirement that plants be grown in a greenhouse for 2 years, we have added a requirement in this final rule based on the comments we received. We believe that requiring artificially dwarfed plants to be grown in a greenhouse or screenhouse, in conjunction with the other requirements described in the proposed rule, will reduce the risk that imported artificially dwarfed plants could become infested with quarantine pests.
Under this change, in addition to the requirements described in the proposed rule, imported artificially dwarfed plants must be grown in a greenhouse or screenhouse. The greenhouse or screenhouse must have screening with openings of not more than 1.6 mm on all vents and openings, and all entryways must be equipped with automatic closing doors. These screening and entryway requirements will help ensure that pests of concern are excluded from the structures in which the artificially dwarfed plants are grown. The phytosanitary certificate accompanying imported artificially dwarfed plants must state that the above requirements have been met. We are making this change to provide added assurance that longhorned beetles are not able to access and infest foreign-grown artificially dwarfed plants that are intended for export to the United States.
Regarding the timing of inspections, we believe that annual
inspections are sufficient to ensure that nurseries are practicing appropriate phytosanitary measures, and to ensure that nurseries meet the conditions described in this document and the proposed rule.

Comment: Why did the proposed rule not address naturally dwarf or miniature forms of tree or shrubs smaller than 305 mm? The pest risk posed by naturally dwarf plants does not differ greatly from risk posed by artificially dwarfed plants, and the scientific rationale for different regulatory treatment of each is not clear.
Response: The current regulations in Sec. 319.37(b)(2) prohibit the importation of naturally dwarf plants that are larger than 305 mm. Naturally dwarf or miniature forms of tree or shrubs smaller than 305 mm are subject to inspection as a condition of entry into the United States, and must be bare-rooted and accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate.
The proposed rule was intended to address the apparently increased pest risk posed by imported plants labeled or manifested as artificially dwarfed plants. As stated in our proposed rule, we believe that many plants that have recently been imported into the United States that have been labeled or manifested as artificially dwarfed plants may in fact be field-collected plants that are produced quickly in their country of origin for mass export. These plants include species that, historically, have not been imported as artificially dwarfed plants and that may not be given the same meticulous care and safeguards as traditional artificially dwarfed plants such as bonsai and penjing.

Essentially, the proposed rule was intended to clarify what type of plant could be considered an artificially dwarfed plant for the purposes of the regulations, so as to eliminate the possibility that field-grown plants could be imported into the United States under the requirements for artificially dwarfed plants. We have not proposed to amend the requirements for naturally dwarf plants because there is no evidence to suggest that the pest risk associated with imported naturally dwarf plants has increased in a manner corresponding to the risk associated with plants following the artificially dwarfed plant pathway. Because naturally dwarf plants must be 305 mm or less in height to be eligible for importation, and since such plants do not have large woody stems into which longhorned beetles could bore, we do not believe such plants serve as suitable hosts for longhorned beetles.

(cont'd)