The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is publishing a proposed rule that would allow orchid plants from Taiwan of the genus Dendrobium spp. to be imported into the United States under a systems approach. Plants would be permitted when they come in an approved growing medium, and those plants would also be subject to specified growing, inspection and certification requirements. Comments on the proposed rule will be accepted for 60 days starting on October 27, 2016, and ending on December 27, 2016.
The orchid plants considered for importation into the United States must comply with several requirements associated with the systems approach including the following:
- Plants must be rooted and grown in a greenhouse that meets requirements for excluding quarantine pests from the production process;
- The source of the seeds or parent plants used to produce the plants is restricted, and requires grow-out or treatment of parent plants imported into Taiwan from another country;
- The sources of water that may be used on the plants, the height of the benches on which the plants must be grown, and the conditions under which the plants must be stored and packaged must be specified;
- The plants must be inspected in the greenhouse and found free of evidence of quarantine plant pests no more than 30 days before they are exported to the United States.
APHIS will carefully consider all comments received by the deadline and then make its decision regarding any change to the Agency’s import regulations for orchids of the genus Dendrobuim spp. in growing media from Taiwan into the United States. You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
- Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2016-0005
- Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to Docket No. APHIS-2016-0005, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238.
Source: USDA APHIS
