0579-0458 2018 Ss

January 2018
Supporting Statement
Importation of Orchids in Growing Media from Taiwan
Docket No. APHIS-2016-0005
OMB No. 0579-0458
TERMS OF CLEARANCE: “OMB is withholding approval at this time. Prior to publication
of the final rule, the agency should provide a summary of any comments related to the
information collection and their response, including any changes made to the ICR as a result of
comments. In addition, the agency must enter the correct burden estimates.”
There were 11 comments to the proposed rule and their summary may be found in Question 8.
There were no changes to activities or burdens as a result of the comments.
A. Justification
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 Title 7, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 319, prohibit or restrict the
importation into the United States of certain plants and plant products to prevent the introduction
of plant pests and noxious weeds. The regulations in “Subpart – Plants for Planting,” §§ 319.37
through 319.37-14 (referred to as the regulations) contain, among other things, prohibitions and
restrictions on the importation of plants, plant parts, and seeds for propagation.
APHIS published a final rule amending the regulations governing the importation of plants and
plant products to add orchid plants of the genus Dendrobium from Taiwan to the list of plants
that may be imported into the United States in an approved growing media, subject to specified
growing, inspection, and certification requirements.
APHIS is asking OMB to approve its use of these information collection activities associated
with its efforts to prevent the spread of plant pests and noxious weeds from entering into 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 collection activities to ensure that orchids in growing
media from Taiwan adhere to the regulations while continuing to ensure protection against the
introduction of quarantine pests:
Phytosanitary Certificate; (7 CFR 319.37-8(e)); (Foreign Government, Business)
A restricted article of a plant listed in §319.37-8(e) may be imported if established in an
approved growing media listed in the section and otherwise meets the conditions of the section.
The restricted article must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the National
Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) of Taiwan. The certificate must include a declaration that
the restricted article meets the conditions of 7 CFR 319.37-8(e).
Written Agreement with APHIS; (7 CFR 319.37-8(e)(2)); (Foreign Government)
Articles imported under §319.37-8(e) must be grown in compliance with a written agreement for
enforcement of this section, signed by both the NPPO of Taiwan and the USDA APHIS Plant
Protection and Quarantine Program.
Written Agreement; (7 CFR 319.37-8(e)(2)(i)); (Foreign Government, Business)
Orchids in growing media from Taiwan must be grown in compliance with a written agreement
between the grower and the NPPO of Taiwan. The grower agrees to comply with the provisions
of this section and to allow inspectors and representatives of the NPPO of Taiwan access to the
growing facility, as necessary, to monitor compliance.
Inspections; (7 CFR 319.37-8(e)(2)(viii)); (Foreign Government, Business)
Orchids in growing media from Taiwan must be inspected in the greenhouse by an APHIS
inspector or an inspector of the NPPO of Taiwan and found free from evidence of quarantine
pests no more than 30 days prior to the date of export to the United States.

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 their phytosanitary
certificates or written agreements. However, APHIS is involved with the Government-wide
utilization of the International Trade Data System (ITDS) via the Automated Commercial
Environment (ACE) to improve business operations and further Agency missions. This will
allow respondents to submit the data required by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and its
Partner Government Agencies (PGAs), such as APHIS to import and export cargo through a
Single Window concept. APHIS is also establishing a system known as e-File for CARPOL
(Certification, Accreditation, Registration, Permitting, and Other Licensing) activities. This new

system will strive to automate some of these information collection activities. The system is still
being developed and business processes continue to be identified and mapped.

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 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.
APHIS has determined that there is no impact on any 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 severely limit APHIS’ ability to ensure orchids in
growing media from Taiwan are not carrying plant pests or noxious weeds. If plant pests or
noxious weeds were introduced into the United States, American growers could suffer millions
of dollars in plant and monetary 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;
Orchids in growing media from Taiwan must be inspected in the greenhouse by an
APHIS inspector or an inspector of the NPPO of Taiwan and found free from evidence of
quarantine pests no more than 30 days prior to the date of export to the United States.

•

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 other 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.
APHIS engaged in productive consultations with the following individuals concerning the
information collection requirements associated with this program:
Taiwan Orchid Growers Association
No.325, Wushulin,Wushu Village
Houbi Dist., Tainan City 731, Taiwan
Tel. 011-886-6-683-0304
www.toga.org
Taiwan Floriculture Exports Association
901 Room 41, Section 1
Chung Hsiao West Road
Taipei, Taiwan. R.O.C.
Tel: 011-886-2-331-3146
Ching Hua Orchids
No.192, Dongshan 3rd Road, Xinying District
Tainan City 730, Taiwan
011-886--6-633-2319
[email protected]
On Thursday, October 27, 2016, APHIS published a 60-day notice of proposed rule in the
Federal Register on pages 74720 and 74721, seeking public comments on its plans to amend
7 CFR 319.37 to allow the import of orchids in growing media from Taiwan to the United States

under 7 CFR 319.37-8. There were 11 comments received from a scientific group, an industry
organization, a State Department of Agriculture, and 8 private citizens. Eight of the commenters
were from Hawaii, two were from Florida, and one was from Delaware.
Two of the comments were in favor of the proposed rule change. Comments from the other nine
contained allegations of unfair trade or negative economic impacts on U.S. orchid producers, and
increased risk for introduction of lesser or unknown plant pests. Importation of Dendrobium is
currently permitted; this rule change added the importation of the orchids in approved growing
media. All of the aforementioned comments are addressed in the final rule. The proposed rule is
being adopted as the final rule, without change, and will publish in the Federal Register on
January 29, 2018.
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.
APHIS implements the Confidential Business Information (CBI) policy and procedures to insure
claims are reviewed in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), exemption 4
(5 U.S.C 552(b)(4). CBI is protected from mandatory public disclosure under this Act. 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 annualized cost to respondents to be $8,669. APHIS arrived at this
figure by multiplying the total burden hours (317) by an estimated respondent average
hourly wage of $27.41. This estimated hourly wage for Taiwanese business and Federal
official respondents was derived from the APHIS International Services attache’ located
in Taiwan.

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 costs,
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.
See APHIS Form 79. The estimated cost for the Federal Government is $7,120.

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

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 included 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.