2013 Ss 0307

SUPPORTING STATEMENT - OMB NO. 0579-0307

IMPORTATION OF SWINE HIDES, BIRD TROPHIES, AND DEER HIDES

March 2012

A. Justification

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary. Identify any legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection. Attach a copy of the appropriate section of each statute and regulation mandating or authorizing the collection of information.

The Animal Health Protection Act (AHPA) of 2002 is the primary Federal law governing the protection of animal health. The law gives the Secretary of Agriculture broad authority to detect, control, or eradicate pests or diseases of livestock or poultry. The Secretary may also prohibit or restrict import or export of any animal or related material if necessary to prevent the spread of any livestock or poultry pest or disease. The AHPA is contained in Title X, Subtitle E, Sections 10401-18 of P.L. 107-171, May 13, 2002, the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture protects the health of the U.S. livestock and poultry populations. It prevents the spread of contagious, infectious, or communicable animal diseases (such as African Swine Fever (ASF), Bovine Babesiosis, Exotic Newcastle Disease (END), Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD), Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), and Rinderpest). When feasible, it eradicates diseases from the United States. Disease prevention is the most effective method for maintaining a healthy animal population and for enhancing animal-related trade.

Title 9 of the Code of Federal Regulations, parts 91 through 99, governs the importation of animals, birds, and poultry; certain animal and poultry products; and animal germplasm. These regulations place certain restrictions on the importation of hides and bird trophies to prevent an incursion of foreign animal diseases into the United States.

Section 95.5 requires the collection of information regarding the region of origin or the processing of these products as follows:

• Section 95.5(a) – Certificates are required to accompany shipments of hides to show their origin. For ruminant hides, foreign government officials must certify that the ruminant hides are from regions free of FMD and rinderpest. For swine hides, officials certify the hides are from regions free of ASF, FMD, and rinderpest. If hides were from an approved slaughter house, foreign governments would certify that on the certificate.

• Section 95.5(b)(2) – Written statements must accompany shipments of ruminant hides from Mexico to show that the hides were frozen. If the hides were frozen solid for 24 hours before import, which will eliminate any ticks, owners and importers will complete a written statement (often a letter) certifying that the hides were frozen for 24 hours.

• Section 95.5(b)(3) – Certificates or written statements must accompany shipments of ruminant hides from Mexico to show that the hides were treated for ticks. Foreign government officials complete a certificate or written statement certifying that ruminant hides and skins from Mexico were treated to prevent the entry of ticks, which can transmit babesiosis to cattle and horses.

• Section 95.5(c) – Certificates of origin must accompany bird trophies from regions free of END and HPAI. Foreign government officials issue the certificates certifying the trophies are from regions free of END and HPAI.

These activities help ensure that products do not harbor disease or ticks.

APHIS is asking OMB to approve, for 3 years, its use of these certificates and written statements in connection with APHIS’ efforts to ensure that bird trophies and certain animal hides pose a negligible risk of introducing ASF, bovine babesiosis, END, FMD, HPAI, and rinderpest into the United States.

2. Indicate how, by whom, how frequently, 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 ensure that bird trophies and certain animal hides pose a negligible risk of introducing ASF, bovine babesiosis, END, FMD, HPAI, and rinderpest into the United States.

Certificate for ruminant and swine hides from certain regions

Certificates are required to accompany shipments of hides to show their origin. For ruminant hides, foreign government officials certify that the ruminant hides are from regions free of FMD and rinderpest. For swine hides, officials certify the hides are from regions free of ASF, FMD, and rinderpest. If hides were from an approved slaughterhouse, foreign governments certify that on the certificate.

Written statement for untanned ruminant hides from Mexico

In addition to meeting all other applicable APHIS provisions, untanned deer or ruminant hides imported from Mexico must be accompanied by a written statement from the owner or importer. The statement must certify that the hides were frozen solid for 24 hours, which APHIS views as effective in eliminating ticks that could spread bovine babesiosis.

Certificate for untanned ruminant hides from Mexico

In addition to meeting all other applicable APHIS provisions, untanned deer or other ruminant hides imported from Mexico must be accompanied by a certificate issued by a full-time salaried veterinary officer of the Government of Mexico. The certificate must state that the hides were treated with an acaricide to kill ticks that could carry and spread bovine babesiosis.

Certificate for bird trophies from END- and HPAI-free regions

In addition to meeting all other applicable APHIS provisions, bird trophies imported from regions that are free of END and HPAI must be accompanied by a certificate of origin issued by a foreign government official of the region of export. This certification statement will help to ensure that any bird trophy imported into the United States will have originated in and been exported from a region that is free of END and HPAI.

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques 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.

The certification statements used in this program must physically accompany the shipment to the United States and must contain an original signature of the foreign government official, owner, or importer to be valid. Since the number of respondents and annual responses is relatively small, APHIS has no plans to automate the completion of the documents.

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 in connection with this program is not available from any other source. APHIS is the only Agency responsible for preventing the introduction of foreign animal diseases into the United States.

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

The information that APHIS requires on the written statement for untanned hides from Mexico may affect small businesses. APHIS estimates that less than 2 percent of importers are small businesses.

6. Describe the consequence 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 the information was collected less frequently or not collected at all, it would significantly hinder APHIS’ ability to ensure that these commodities pose a minimal risk of introducing foreign animal diseases into the United States. This would make a disease incursion event much more likely, with potentially devastating effects on the United States livestock industry.

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 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.

This information collection 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.

In 2012, APHIS consulted with the following individuals concerning the information collection activities associated with this program:

Paul Nevadomski

Flora and Fauna Customhouse Brokerage

152-31 135th Ave., Jamaica, NY 11434

(718) 977-7700, ext. 102

Lynley Bishop

Coppersmith, Inc.

P.O. Box 113203

Carrollton, TX 75011

(972) 466-5852

John Janelli

National Taxidermist Association

108 Branch Drive

Slidell, LA 70461

(877) 526-3554

On Thursday, August 23, 2012, pages 50981 - 50982, APHIS published in the Federal Register, a 60-day notice seeking public comments on APHIS’ plans to request a 3-year extension of this collection of information. During that time APHIS received one comment from Jean Public about her feelings on not allowing the importation of animal hides and bird trophies from foreign countries. This comment has no relevance to the purpose of the collection.

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 statute, 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 or attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly 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 will ask 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. Burden estimates were developed from discussions with APHIS headquarters and field personnel, State veterinary authorities, and individuals who have expressed interest in the importation of untanned ruminant hides and skins into the United States and bird trophies from END and HPAI-free regions.

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

Respondents are foreign government officials, owners, and importers. APHIS estimates the total annualized cost to these respondents to be $3,331.32. APHIS arrived at this figure by multiplying the estimated total burden hours (142 hours) by the estimated average hourly wage of the above respondents ($23.46).

National government officials – $42.50 [Discussions with APHIS international contacts]

Owners of untanned ruminant hides – $6.23 [http://www.bls.gov/fls/country/mexico.htm]

Importers – $21.65 [.S. importer respondents ($21.65), and exporters ($17.11) taken from www.indeed.com/salary?q I=veterinarian&11=Mexico+City%2C+Mexico and derived from the U.S. Department of Labor; Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2011 Report - Occupational Employment and Wages in the United States.] See http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ocwage.pdf

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.

No annual cost burden is associated with capital and startup costs, operation and maintenance expenditures, and purchase of services.

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 annualized cost to the Federal government is estimated at $3,739.42 (see APHIS Form 79).

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported in Items 13 or 14 of the OMB Form 83-1.

ICR Summary of Burden:

	Requested	Program Change Due to New Statute	Program Change Due to Agency Discretion	Change Due to Adjustment in Agency Estimate	Change Due to Potential Violation of the PRA	Previously Approved
Annual Number of Responses	711	0	0	511	0	200
Annual Time Burden (Hr)	142	0	0	102	0	40
Annual Cost Burden ($)	0	0	0	0	0	0

There is an adjustment increase of +136 respondents and +511 responses resulting in an increase of +102 burden hours.

This is the first renewal of this information collection since the final rule was published in 2009. APHIS has carefully reviewed the activities associated with this information collection and has accurately adjusted the underestimates in respondents, responses, and burden associated with this collection. In addition APHIS is now receiving responses for the certificates for hides and skins from Regions other than Mexico. 

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

APHIS has no plans to publish information it collects in connection with this program.

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.

No forms are associated with this information collection.

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

APHIS can certify compliance with all provisions under the Act.

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods

Statistical methods are not employed in this information collection activity.