Lists of Regions Classified With Respect to Certain Animal Diseases and States Approved To Receive Certain Imported Horses

Resumen

We are proposing to remove lists of regions classified with respect to certain animal diseases and pests from our animal and animal product import regulations and, instead, post them to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS') Web site. The regulations would provide the Web address and would explain APHIS' criteria and process for adding a region to, or removing a region from, each of the lists. The technical criteria APHIS uses to evaluate whether a region should be added to or removed from a list would not change. We are also proposing to remove lists of States approved to receive horses imported from foreign regions where we consider contagious equine metritis to exist and, instead, post approved States to our Web site. The criteria for approving a State would not change. We would continue to provide an opportunity for public comment on changes to the lists. This action would enable the Agency to respond more quickly to changes in the disease status of regions.