2016-14616: Use of Electronic Information Exchange Systems; Miscellaneous Amendments

Summary

We are amending our regulations regarding the importation or exportation of animals and animal products and plants and plant products to address instances where the current regulations require the use of a hard-copy form or specify that a particular document must be submitted in writing. This final rule amends the regulations to provide the flexibility needed for persons to take advantage of electronic systems when a regulation has a limiting requirement. The amendments we are making in this final rule are not to mandate the use of electronic systems or preclude the use of paper documents; rather, they address those instances where our regulations specify a submission method to the exclusion of other methods.

The agency’s own summary, as published.

What this changes

Amends 6 parts of the Code of Federal Regulations — the standing rules this notice rewrites.

• 7 CFR 319 Foreign Quarantine Notices
• 7 CFR 322 Bees, Beekeeping Byproducts, and Beekeeping Equipment
• 7 CFR 352 Plant Quarantine Safeguard Regulations
• 7 CFR 353 Export Certification
• 9 CFR 93 Importation of Certain Animals, Birds, Fish, and Poultry, and Certain Animal, Bird, and Poultry Products; Requirements for Means of Conveyance and Shipping Containers
• 9 CFR 94 Foot-and-Mouth Disease, Newcastle Disease, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, African Swine Fever, Classical Swine Fever, Swine Vesicular Disease, and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy: Prohibited and Restricted Importations