March 11, 2021 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has prepared a commodity import evaluation document (CIED) for imported sand pear fruit from the Republic of Korea. APHIS is proposing to authorize imports of non-precleared sand pear fruit from the Republic of Korea into all U.S. ports as an alternative to the preclearance program. Currently, prior to export, sand pears are subject to inspection by APHIS personnel as part of a preclearance program. Only precleared sand pear fruit from South Korea may be imported into the United States, or as non-precleared fruit into the port of Honolulu, HI.Under the proposed change, the oversight of production practices, fruit inspections, and phytosanitary certification of non-precleared sand pear fruit would be conducted by the Republic of Korea national plant protection organization (NPPO) rather than by APHIS preclearance personnel. If the change is made, all Republic of Korea sand pears intended for import into the United States must adhere to the systems approach currently required for precleared fruit. Some of the requirements include: sand pears must be imported as commercial consignments only; they must be grown in places of production and packed in packinghouses registered with the Republic of Korea NPPO; and each sand pear consignment must be labeled to allow trace-back. Precleared sand pears must be accompanied by an APHIS form 203, which indicates the commodity has been inspected by APHIS at origin. Non-precleared sand pears are subject to inspection U.S. ports-of-entry. APHIS will consider all comments that we receive on or before May 14, 2021. To review this docket: Go to www.regulations.gov. Enter APHIS-2020-0063 in the Search field. Select the Documents tab, then select the Comment button in the list of documents.
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
