Supporting Statement-0579-0375.1doc

Supporting Statement

Importation of Pomegranates from Chile

Under a Systems Approach

OMB No. 0579-0375

A. JUSTIFICATION March 2014

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, 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 its 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.

The regulations in “Subpart-Fruits and Vegetables” (7 CFR 319.56 through 319.56-58), 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.

The importation of pomegranates from Chile, into the continental United States, is under a systems approach in which the fruit must be grown in a place of production that is registered with the Government of Chile, and certified as having a low prevalence of Brevipalpus chilensis. The fruit undergoes pre-harvest sampling at the registered production site. After the post-harvest process, the fruit is inspected in Chile at an approved inspection site. The phytosanitary certificate must accompany each consignment of fruit which includes an additional declaration stating that the fruit has been found free of Brevipalus chilensis. This determination is based on field and packinghouse inspections.

APHIS is asking OMB to approve for an additional 3 years, its use of these information collection activities associated with its efforts to prevent the spread of fruit flies and other plant pests from entering into the United States.

2. APHIS uses the following information activities to prevent the spread of fruit flies and other plant pests from entering into the United States. 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 collection activities 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.

Phytosanitary Certificate (Foreign Officials) w/Additional Declaration (Foreign Officials) - Each consignment of fruit must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) of Chile that contains an additional declaration stating that the fruit in the consignment was inspected and found free of B. chilensis based on field and packinghouse inspections. Requiring a phytosanitary certificate ensures that the NPPO of Chile has inspected the fruit and certified that the fruit meets the conditions for export to the United States.

Production Site Registration (Business) - The production site where the fruit is grown must be registered with the NPPO of Chile. Registration must be renewed annually.

Marking of Cartons with Registration Number (Business) – Harvested pomegranates must be placed in field cartons or containers that areas mark to show the official registration number of the production site. The registration number allows traceback to the production site if pest problems are found on fruit shipped to the United States. Problem production sites are then removed from the program until further mitigation measures are taken to reduce pest populations.

List of Certified Production Sites (Foreign Officials) - The NPPO of Chile is required to present a list of certified production sites to APHIS.

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 considerations of using information technology to reduce burden.

APHIS has no control or influence over when foreign countries will automate these certificates.

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

The information APHIS collects is exclusive to its mission of preventing the spread of plant pests 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 40 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.

Failing to collect this information would cripple APHIS’ ability to ensure pomegranates from Chile are not carrying plant pests. If plant pests (such as Brevipalpus chilensis) were introduced into the United States, growers would suffer hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.

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.

The following individuals were consulted during 2014:

Hortofruticola Sudamericana Ltda.

Cristian Munoz Careaga

Parcela 30, El Lucero 30

Lampa, Chile

56-9-92269348

Exportadora Rio Blanco

Ricardo Koch

Production and New Business Manager

La Gloria 88, Las Condes,

Santiago, Chile

(56) 2 443-5180

Asociacion de Exportadores de Chile A.G.,

Carlos Cruzat

Cruz delsur 133, 2^nd Piso, Las Condes

Santiago, Chile

(56) 2-472-4700

On Wednesday, September 25, 2013, pages 58991-58992, 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 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 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 burden estimates.

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

APHIS estimates the total annual cost to the respondents to be $2,137.50. APHIS arrived at this figure by multiplying the total burden hours (150) by the estimated average hourly wage of the above respondents ($14.25). The estimated average hourly salary is based on data from Chile’s global services gambit.

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 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 the capital and start-up cost, maintenance cost, and purchase of services in connection with this program.

14. Provide estimates of annualized cost 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 $2,625.00. (See APHIS Form 79)

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported in Items 13 or 14 of the OMB 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	285	0	0	-2	0	287
Annual Time Burden (Hr)	150	0	0	-8	0	158
Annual Cost Burden ($)	0	0	0	0	0	0

The number of respondents decreased from 7 to 3 - a decrease of 4 respondents, and the number of responses decreased from 287 to 285 - a decrease of 2 responses. The total burden hours decreased from 158 to 150 - a decrease of 8 hours. These adjustment decreases resulted from a decrease in the number of respondents using the Phytosanitary Certificate and Production Site Registration forms in this 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 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 under the Act.

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods.

Statistical methods are not used in this information collection.