Supporting Statement

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

South American Cactus Moth;

Quarantine and Regulations

OMB No. 0579-0337

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 (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.

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 subpart, “Subpart-South American Cactus Moth” (7 CFR part 301.55 through 301.55-9), restrict the interstate movement of regulated articles from quarantined areas into or through non-quarantined areas within the United States.

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 efforts to prevent the artificial spread of South American cactus moth into noninfested areas of the 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 restrict the interstate movement of regulated articles from quarantined areas into or through non-quarantined areas within the United States.

Compliance Agreement (PPQ Form 519) (Business) – Compliance agreements are provided for the convenience of persons who are involved in the growing, handling, or moving of regulated articles from quarantined areas. A person may enter into a compliance agreement when an inspector has determined that the person requesting the

compliance agreement has been made aware of the requirements and the person has agreed to comply with the requirements of the regulations and the provisions of the compliance agreements.

Federal Certificate (PPQ Form 540) (State) – This is a certificate used for domestic movement of treated articles relating to quarantines. The form is issued by State Plant Health Regulatory Officials, Plant Health Directors, and any other official approved by the Secretary.

Certificates are issued for regulated articles when an inspector or other person authorized to issue certificates finds that the articles have met the conditions of the regulations and may be safely moved interstate without further restrictions.

Limited Permit (PPQ Form 530) (State) - Limited permits are used to authorize movement of regulated articles that are not certifiable to specified destinations for processing, treatment, or utilization.

A paper document (four parts) is used to authorize the movement of regulated articles to a specified destination and allows further inspection at destination. The decision to perform further inspections will be made by the State plant protection official in the host

State. The decision to inspect is prompted by date of issuance and results of inspection prior to transport.

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 519) – This form is posted at: www.aphis.usda.gov/library/forms/pdf/ppq519.pdf and is fillable and printable.

PPQ Form 540 - APHIS does not plan to automate this form for several reasons. The form has a serial number, and it is an accountable form that must be issued by a PPQ employee, or a person under Compliance Agreement with PPQ. APHIS needs to have strict control over the issuance of this form since it allows the movement of regulated

products that are subject to restrictions. This form can only be issued after an inspection proves that the shipment meets the requirements for movement. An inspector has to determine if a treatment is required before movement.

PPQ Form 530 –This form is an accountable form that must be issued by a PPQ employee, or a person under Compliance Agreement with PPQ. APHIS does not plan to automate this form for the following reasons. Strict control is needed for the issuance of this form, as it allows the movement of regulated products that are subject to restrictions, and it 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

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 to prevent the introduction and spread of plant pests and plant diseases within the United States. The information 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 the introduction of plant pests and plant diseases.

APHIS has no small entities involved in 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.

If APHIS did not collect this information or if this information was collected less frequently, APHIS could not provide an effective domestic quarantine program to prevent the artificial spread of the South American cactus moth within the United States.

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:

Glenn Prickett

Chief External Affairs Officer

The Nature Conservancy
4245 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 100
Arlington, VA 22203-1606

(703) 841-5300

Kerry St. Pe’

Program Director

Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program

320 Audubon Drive
N. Babington Hall, Room 105
Thibodaux, LA 70301

(985) 447-0868

Joe Bischoff

American Nursery and Land Scape Association

1250 I Street, NW, Suite 500

Washington, DC 20005

(202) 789-2900

On Wednesday, March, 12, 2014, pages 13983-13984, 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 is 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 burden estimates.

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

11 burden hours X $42.14 (estimate of annual cost) = $463.54

$42.14 is the hourly rate derived from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2012 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.

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 $318.00 (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-I.

	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	34	0	1	0	0	33
Annual Time Burden (Hr)	11	0	1	0	0	10
Annual Cost Burden ($)	0	0	0	0	0	0

There is a program increase +1 for the number of responses and a program increase +1 for the number of burden hours to this collection. The increase is due to the addition

of form PPQ 530, Limited Permit, to this collection. The addition of form PPQ 530 also increased the number of respondents since the previous collection. There were 6 respondents and currently there are 7.

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 collected.

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 11collections, PPQ form 530 is used in 10 collections, and

PPQ Form 540 is used in 7 collections, so it is not practical to include an OMB expiration date on any of these forms because of the various expiration dates for each collection. Therefore, APHIS is seeking approval to not display the OMB expiration date on the forms.

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.