SS Hawaii

Revised February 2012

Supporting Statement

Revision of Hawaii and the Territories Fruits

and Vegetables Regulations

OMB No. 0579-0346

A. Justification

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary. Identify any legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), is responsible for preventing plant diseases or insect pests from entering the United States, preventing the spread of pests and noxious weeds not widely distributed in the United States, and eradicating those imported pests when eradication is feasible. The Plant Protection Act authorizes the Department to carry out this mission.

Under the Plant Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 7701 – et. seq), the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to prohibit or restrict the importation, entry, or movement of plants and plant pests to prevent the introduction of plant pests into the United States or their dissemination within the United States.

Under the Hawaii and territorial fruits, vegetables, and flowers regulations (7 CFR 318.13 through 318.13-17, 318.58 through 318.16, and 318.82 through 318.82-3 and referred to as the regulations), APHIS prohibits or restricts the interstate movement of fruits, vegetables, and other products from Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam to the continental United States to prevent the spread of dangerous plant diseases and pests that occur in Hawaii and the territories.

APHIS has established criteria that allows APHIS to approve certain new fruits and vegetables for interstate movement in the United States and to acknowledge pest-free areas in Hawaii and U.S. territories expeditiously. This has simplified and expedited APHIS’ processes for approving certain regulated articles for interstate movement and pest-free areas while continuing to allow for the public participation in the processes.

APHIS is asking the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve, for an additional 3 years, the use of these information collection activities, associated with its effort to prevent the spread of plant pests and diseases into the continental United States.

2. Indicate how, by whom, and for what purpose the information is to be used. Except for a new collection, indicate the actual use the agency has made of the information received from the current collection.

APHIS uses the following information activities to prevent a plant pest or noxious weed from being introduced into or disseminated within the United States:

Limited Permit (PPQ Form 530) – Fruits or vegetables shipped from Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the U.S. Virgin Islands through the continental United States must be accompanied by a limited permit, a copy of which must be presented to an inspector at the port of arrival and the port of export in the United States, and at any other location in the United States where an air consignment is authorized to stop or where overland consignments change means of conveyance.

Transit Permit (PPQ Form 586) – A transit permit is required for the arrival, unloading, and movement through the continental United States of fruits and vegetables otherwise prohibited by this subpart (§ 318.13-6) from being moved through the continental United States from Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Labeling for Pest Free Area - Each box of fruits or vegetables that is moved interstate from a pest-free area must be clearly labeled with: (1) the name of the orchard or grove of origin, or the name of the grower; (2) the name of the municipality and State or territory in which the fruits or vegetables were produced; and (3) the type and amount of fruits or vegetables the box contains.

Inspection & Certification – This will require inspection and certification take place in the State of origin by an inspector because States do no have individual NPPO’s. The inspector would be a State agricultural inspector or anyone authorized by APHIS or the Department of Homeland Security.

Compliance Agreement (PPQ Form 519) – Persons wishing to move fruits and vegetables from a pest-free area in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the U.S. Virgin Islands must enter into a compliance agreement with APHIS in accordance with § 318.13-3(d) and the fruits and vegetables must otherwise meet the requirements of paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section.

Trapping and Surveillance – APHIS will make a determination of an area’s pest-free status based on information provided by the State. The information used to make this determination will include trapping and surveillance data, survey protocols, and protocols for actions to be performed upon detection of the pest.

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses, and the basis for the decision for adopting this means of collection. Also describe any consideration of using information technology to reduce burden.

PPQ Form 530 (Limited Permit) - This form is an accountable form that must be issued by a PPQ employee or a person under Compliance Agreement with PPQ. Strict control is needed for the issuance of this form, as it allows the movement of regulated products that are subject to restrictions, and can only be issued after an inspection proves that the shipment meets the requirements for movement. Movement may also require a treatment, which has to be determined by an inspector. The form must accompany the shipment throughout transport from the inspection until destination.

PPQ Form 519 (Compliance Agreement) – This form is downloadable, fillable, and posted at: www.aphis.usda.gov/library/forms/pdf/ppq519.dot

PPQ Form 586 (Application for Permit to Transit Plants and/or Plant Products through the U.S.) - This form is downloadable and posted at:

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/permits/ppq_epermits.shtml

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication. Show specifically why any similar information already available cannot be used or modified for use for the purpose described in item 2 above.

The information APHIS collects is exclusive to its mission of preventing the incursion or interstate spread of plant pests, diseases, and noxious weeds and is not available from any other source.

5. If the collection of information impacts small businesses or other small entities, describe any methods used to minimize burden.

APHIS estimates that 100 percent of the respondents are small entities.

6. Describe the consequences to Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently, as well as any technical or legal obstacles to reducing burden.

If APHIS did not collect this information or if APHIS collected this information less frequently, the spread of dangerous plant diseases and pests that occur in Hawaii and the territories could cause millions of dollars in damage to U.S. agriculture.

7. Explain any special circumstances that require the collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the general information collection guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5.

requiring respondents to report informa­tion to the agency more often than quarterly;requiring respondents to report informa­tion to the agency more often than quarterly;

Daily Log
For purposes of security, facility operators must maintain a daily log to record the entry and exit of all persons entering and leaving the facility while quarantine is in progress.  

requiring respondents to prepare a written response to a collection of infor­ma­tion in fewer than 30 days after receipt of it;

Licensees and permittees must immediately, but no later than 2 days, send stop distribution and sale notices to any jobbers, wholesalers, dealers, foreign consignees, or other persons known to have any such veterinary biological product in their possession, which instruct them to stop the preparations, distribution, sale, barter, exchange, shipment, or importation of any such veterinary biological product.  All notification shall be documented in writing by the licensee or permittee.

Shipments of live VHS-regulated fish must be presented for inspection at a port of entry.  For live fish entering through certain limited ports listed in APHIS’ regulations, the importer must notify the APHIS port veterinarian at least 72-hours in advance of the arrival in the United States of the shipment.  This notification is necessary to ensure APHIS is prepared for the arrival of the shipment at the port of entry, to ensure that inspectors and facilities are available for inspection in the United States, and to contact appropriate persons if any questions arise concerning the importation.  This prior notification to the port veterinarian may be made via phone, fax, or e-mail.

requiring respondents to submit more than an original and two copies of any docu­ment;
requiring respondents to retain re­cords, other than health, medical, governm­ent contract, grant-in-aid, or tax records for more than three years;

Testing records to support an aquaculture facility's claim of disease freedom from VHS virus must be maintained for a maximum of 4 years.  This recordkeeping will provide APHIS with historical documentation to determine the risk of spreading VHS from a given facility.  

APHIS is requiring herd owners to maintain their herd records for as long as the herd remains in the CWD program.  This time varies from herd to herd.

in connection with a statisti­cal sur­vey, that is not de­signed to produce valid and reli­able results that can be general­ized to the uni­verse of study;
requiring the use of a statis­tical data classi­fication that has not been re­vie­wed and approved by OMB;
that includes a pledge of confiden­tiali­ty that is not supported by au­thority estab­lished in statute or regu­la­tion, that is not sup­ported by dis­closure and data security policies that are consistent with the pledge, or which unneces­sarily impedes shar­ing of data with other agencies for com­patible confiden­tial use; or
requiring respondents to submit propri­etary trade secret, or other confidential information unless the agency can demon­strate that it has instituted procedures to protect the information's confidentiality to the extent permit­ted by law.

 requiring respondents to report information to the agency more often than quarterly;

 requiring respondents to prepare a written response to a collection of information in fewer than 30 days after receipt of it;

 requiring respondents to submit more than an original and two copies of any document;

 requiring respondents to retain records, other than health, medical, government contract, grant-in-aid, or tax records for more than three years;

 in connection with a statistical survey, that is not designed to produce valid and reliable results that can be generalized to the universe of study;

 requiring the use of a statistical data classification that has not been reviewed and approved by OMB;

 that includes a pledge of confidentiality that is not supported by authority established in statute or regulation, that is not supported by disclosure and data security policies that are consistent with the pledge, or which unnecessarily impedes sharing of data with other agencies for compatible confidential use; or

 requiring respondents to submit proprietary trade secret, or other confidential information unless the agency can demonstrate that it has instituted procedures to protect the information's confidentiality to the extent permitted by law.

There are no special circumstances associated with this information collection, and it is conducted in a manner consistent with the guidelines established in 5 CFR 1320.5.

8. Describe efforts to consult with persons outside the agency to obtain their views on the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and recordkeeping, disclosure, or reporting form, and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported. If applicable, provide a copy and identify the date and page number of publication in the Federal Register of the agency’s notice, soliciting comments on the information collection prior to submission to OMB.

The following individuals were consulted during 2011:

Eric Weinert

Senior Vice President

CW Hawaii Pride, LLC

16-664 Milo St.

Keaau, HI 96749

808-982-8888, X12

Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers

Ken Love

P.O. Box 1162

Capitan Cook, HI 96760

808-966-6633/808-966-6282

Kona Dragon Fruit Company

Susie Weaver

PO Box 262

Captain Cook, HI 96704

808-541-1980

On Friday, July 1, 2011, pages 38600-38601, APHIS published in the Federal Register a 60-day notice seeking public comments on its plans to request a 3-year renewal of this collection of information. No comments from the pubic were received.

9. Explain any decision to provide any payment or gift to respondents, other than reenumeration of contractors or grantees.

This information collection activity involves no payments or gifts to respondents.

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for the assurance in stature, regulation, or agency policy.

No additional assurance of confidentiality is provided with this information collection. Any and all information obtained in this collection shall not be disclosed except in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552a.

11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and others that are considered private. This justification should include the reasons why the agency considers the questions necessary, the specific uses to be made of the information, the explanation to be given to persons from whom the information is requested, and any steps to be taken to obtain their consent.

This information collection activity asks no questions of a personal or sensitive nature.

12. Provide estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information. Indicate the number of respondents, frequency of response, annual hour burden, and an explanation of how the burden was estimated.

. Indicate the number of respondents, frequency of response, annual hour burden, and an explanation of how the burden was estimated. If this request for approval covers more than one form, provide separate hour burden estimates for each form and aggregate the hour burdens in Item 13 of OMB Form 83-I.

See APHIS Form 71 for hour burden estimates.

. Provide estimates of annualized cost to respondents for the hour burdens for collections of information, identifying and using appropriate wage rate categories.

$8,686.00 x $31.14 = $270,482.04

$31.14 is based on the average salaries of businesses and States derived from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2009 Report: Occupational Wages in the United States. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t03.html

13. Provide estimates of the total annual cost burden to respondents or recordkeepers resulting from the collection of information, (do not include the cost of any hour burden shown in items 12 and 14). The cost estimates should be split into two components: (a) a total capital and start-up cost component annualized over its expected useful life; and (b) a total operation and maintenance and purchase of services component.

There is zero annual cost burden associated with capital and start-up, operation and maintenance, and purchase of services in connection with this program.

14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government. Provide a description of the method used to estimate cost and any other expense that would not have been incurred without this collection of information.

The estimated cost to the Federal Government is $ 133,908. (See APHIS Form 79.)

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported in Items 13 or 14 of the OMB Form 83-I.

There is no change in burden for this collection of information.

16. For collections of information whose results are planned to be published, outline plans for tabulation and publication.

APHIS has no plans to tabulate or publish the information APHIS collects.

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons that display would be inappropriate.

PPQ Form 519 is used in 12 collections, PPQ Form 530 is used in 9 collections, and PPQ Form 586 is used in 4 collections; therefore, it is not practical to include an OMB expiration date because of the various expiration dates for each collection. APHIS is seeking approval to not display the OMB expiration date on its forms.

18. Explain each exception to the certification statement identified in the “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act.”

APHIS certifies compliance with all the provisions under the Act.

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods.

Statistical methods are not used in this information collection.