Press Release

Dore Mobley	(301) 734-7255
Jerry Redding	(202) 720-6959

USDA PROPOSES AMENDMENTS TO NURSERY STOCK REGULATIONS

WASHINGTON, April 28, 2004--The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is proposing to allow the importation of small amounts of seeds with import permits instead of phytosanitary certificates.

Under the proposed rule, APHIS will issue permits that specify the import conditions for eligible shipments of seeds. The seeds will be inspected at an APHIS plant inspection station to ensure compliance with the permit conditions.

This action is necessary to facilitate safe imports of small amounts of seed by entities, including individual importers, horticultural societies, arboreta and small businesses, that have previously had difficulty obtaining the necessary phytosanitary certificates from the country of origin.

Notice of this action is published in the April 29 Federal Register. APHIS documents published in the Federal Register and related information, including the names of organizations and individuals who have commented on APHIS dockets, are available on the Internet at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/webrepor.html.

Consideration will be given to comments received on before June 28. Comments may be submitted by postal mail, commercial delivery or by e-mail. Send an original and three copies of postal or commercial delivery comments to Docket No. 02-119-1, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3C71, 4700 River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, Md. 20737-1238 or e-mail comments to regulations@aphis.usda.gov. E-mail comments must be contained in the body of the message; do not send attached files. Please include your name and address in the message and use "Docket No. 02-119-1" on the subject line. To submit comments online, go to http://www.regulations.gov and follow the instructions for locating this docket and submitting comments.

Comments may be reviewed at USDA, Room 1141, South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C., between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. Persons wishing to review comments are requested to call ahead on (202) 690-2817 to facilitate entry into the comment reading room.

Note to Reporters: USDA news releases, program announcements and media advisories are available on the Internet. Access the APHIS home page by pointing your Web browser to
http://www.aphis.usda.gov and clicking on the "News" button.