Ss-0166[1]

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

District of Columbia Plant Health Certificate

OMB-0159-0166

A. Justification July 2007

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 is responsible for preventing plant pests and noxious weeds from entering the United States (U.S.), preventing the spread of pests and weeds not widely distributed in the U.S., and eradicating those imported pests and weeds when eradication is feasible. The interstate movement of plants and other plant material within the U.S. is an important business in the U.S. and is essential to the plant nursery business in this country.

Under the Plant Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 7701 – 7772), the Secretary of Agriculture, either independently or in cooperation with the States, is authorized to carry out operations or measures to detect, eradicate, suppress, control, prevent, or retard the spread of plant pests.

As a part of this mission, Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ), a program within the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), provides certification services for plant material moving interstate to assure States that plants and plant products they are receiving from the District of Columbia (DC) are free of prohibited or otherwise regulated plant pests.

The regulations in Title 7 CFR Part 302 implement the Plant Protection Act by identifying the products covered, providing for inspection by authorized persons, and by identifying the scope of the certification to cover interstate movement.

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.

The District of Columbia Plant Health Certificate (PPQ Form 571) is used to certify that the domestic plant and other plant material described by the shipper has been inspected according to appropriate procedures and is considered free from certain plant diseases, insects, or other pests, and is considered to conform with the requirements of the importing State.

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 571 is automated and posted at: www.aphis.usda.gov/library/forms

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.

APHIS is the only Federal agency responsible for preventing the interstate spread of plant pests, diseases, and noxious weeds. APHIS is the only source for the information and it is not being collected through other forms or reports.

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

The information APHIS is collecting for this program is the minimum needed to protect growers nationwide from the interstate spread of harmful plant diseases and pests.

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 collected it less frequently, it would likely result in the interstate spread of damaging agricultural pests. Entities in DC would be unable to ship their products to other States, as other States require this certification. This would result in a hardship for these entities and recipients.

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.

No special circumstances exist that require this collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the general information collection guidelines in CFR 1320.5.

8. Describe efforts to consult with persons outside the Agency to obtain their views on the availability of, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and recordkeeping, disclosure, or reporting from, 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 2007, APHIS held productive consultations with the following individuals concerning the information collection activities associated with this certification:

Susan Martin

U.S. National Arboretum

3501 New York Avenue

Washington, DC 20002

202-245-5969, X504

Dave Kidwell-Slak

U.S. National Arboretum

3501 New York Avenue

Washington, DC 20002

202-245-2704

Martin Scanlon

U.S. National Arboretum

11601 Old Pond Drive.

Glendale, MD 20769

240-832-9416

On Tuesday, March 27, 2007, pages 14258 -14259, 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 public 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 (other than appropriate, program-related 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. However, the confidentiality of information is protected under 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.

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 83-1.

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.

$25.00 (estimated rate) X 100 (total burden hours) = $2,500

The hourly rate was derived from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2003 Report – National Compensation Survey: Occupation Wages in the United States, July 2002. See http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/ocs_nat.htm

13. Provide estimates of the total annual cost burden to respondents or recordkeepers resulting from the collection of information, (do no include the cost of any hour burden shown in items 12 and 14). The cost estimated 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 costs, maintenance costs, 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.

See APHIS Form 79 for annualized cost to the Federal government. This cost is based on the estimate average time required to process inspections and certificates associated with this certification program. These costs are estimated to be $535.06.

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

The current burden request reflects an adjustment decrease of -20 hours from the previously approved burden due to a decrease in the number of respondents.

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 of OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons that display would be inappropriate.

If forms were to be discarded because of an outdated OMB expiration date, but otherwise useable, higher printing costs would be incurred by the Federal Government. Therefore, APHIS is seeking approval to not display the OMB expiration date on its form.

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

APHIS is able to certify compliance with all the provisions in the Act.

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods.

Statistical methods are not used in this information collection.