Ss 0284

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

Importation of Baby Corn and

Baby Carrots from Zambia

OMB NO. 0579-0284

A. JUSTIFICATION May 2012

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, preventing the spread of plant diseases not widely distributed in the United States, and eradicating those imported pests and noxious weeds when eradication is feasible.

Under the Plant Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 7701 – et seq.), the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to carry out operations or measures to detect, eradicate, suppress, control, prevent, or retard the spread of plant pests new to the United States or not known to be widely distributed throughout the United States.

The regulations in “Subpart—Fruits and Vegetables” (7 CFR 319.56-8 through 319.,56-50, referred to below as the regulations) prohibit or restrict the importation of fruits and vegetables into the United States from certain parts of the world to prevent the introduction and dissemination of plant pests that are new to or not widely distributed within the United States.

APHIS ’regulations allow the importation into the continental United States of fresh, dehusked immature (baby) sweet corn and fresh baby carrots from Zambia. As a condition of entry, both commodities are subject to inspection at the port of first arrival and must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration stating that the commodity had been inspected and found free of the quarantine pest listed in the certificate.

This collection allows for the importation of Zambian baby corn and baby carrots into the United States while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests.

APHIS is asking the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve for an additional 3 years, the use of this information collection activity, 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 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 activity to prevent the injurious spread of pest from entering the United States due to the importation of Zambian dehusked immature baby corn and baby carrots.

Phytosanitary Certificate (foreign government) - APHIS requires that some plants or plant products be accompanied by a phytosanitary inspection certificate that is completed by plant health officials in the originating or transiting country. APHIS uses this information on the certificate to determine the pest condition of the shipment at the time of inspection in the foreign country. The information is used as a guide to determine the intensity of the inspection APHIS conducts when the shipment arrives. Without this information, all shipments would need to be inspected very thoroughly, thereby requiring considerably more time. This would slow the clearance of international shipments.

Phytosanitary Certificate (business) - Each shipment of corn must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the National Plant Protection Organization of Zambia that includes an additional declaration stating that the corn has been inspected and found free of Phomopsis jaczewskii. Phytosanitary measures for carrots require a phytosanitary certificate bearing a declaration that reads “The carrots in this shipment have been inspected and found free of Meloidogne ethiopica.” In addition, the carrots would have to be free from leaves and soil.

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.

APHIS has no control or influence over when foreign countries will automate the phytosanitary certificate.

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 for preventing the entry of injurious 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.

The information APHIS collects is the minimum needed to protect the United States from

destructive plant pests while increasing the number and variety of fruits and vegetables that can

be imported from other countries. APHIS has determined that there are no small entities involved with this information collection.

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.

This information collection activity is critical to APHIS’ mission of ensuring that baby corn and baby carrots from Zambia are free of Phomopsis jaczewskii;,a fungus that could cause millions of dollars in damage to United States 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 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.

No special circumstances exist that would require this collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the general information collection guidelines 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 2011, APHIS held productive consultations with the following individuals concerning the information collection activities associated with its program to import baby corn and baby carrots from Zambia.

Mr. Luke Mbewe, Chief Executive

Zambia Export Growers Association (ZEGA)

Airfreight Village at Lusaka International Airport

P.O. Box 310-245

Lusaka 10101, Zambia

Tel: 260-1-271166

Fax: 260-1-271167

[email protected] or [email protected]

Judith Lungu, Dean of Agriculture

Dr. Mebelo Mataa,

University of Zambia, School of Agricultlure

P.O. Box 32379

Great Road East

Lusaka, Zambia

[email protected]

Ms. Martha Byanyima, Regional CAADP Process Coordinator

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa

COMESA Secretariat

Ben Bella Road

Lusaka, Zambia

[email protected]

On Wednesday, December 28, 2011, page 81467, 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 decisions to provide any payment or gift to respondents, other than remuneration 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. 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.

The total burden to the respondent is 2 hours. APHIS arrived at this figure by multiplying 2 hours by the estimated average hourly wage of $9.00 for the above respondent.

2 x $9.00 = $18.00

This estimate was developed by using historical data through discussions with growers, shippers, and foreign government officials.

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 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.

The estimated cost for the Federal Government is $ 37.00. (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	2	0	0	-152	0	154
Annual Time Burden (Hr)	2	0	0	-62	0	64
Annual Cost Burden ($)	0	0	0	0	0	0

There is an adjusted decrease in the number of respondents from 7 to 2, annual responses from 154 to 2, and total burden hours from 64 to 2 because Zambia has not shipped baby carrots and corn in the last 3 years. PPQ has no control over Zambia’s decision of when they plan to ship these vegetables. However, APHIS does not wish to retire this information collection because the regulations have not changed, and if and when Zambia decides to ship baby carrots and corn, they will have approval to do so. APHIS will reevaluate before the next renewal of this information collection.

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 it 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.

There are no USDA forms involved in this information collection.

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.