Animal Health Regionalization and Compartmentalization

Last Modified: Marzo 27, 2025

APHIS evaluates the animal health statuses of foreign regions and compartments and the risk of disease introduction from imported commodities. Our Regionalization Evaluation Services staff leads this work.

We analyze information obtained through consultations with U.S. trading partners. Our evaluations facilitate trade while protecting the United States from certain animal diseases. We define regions and compartments as follows:

  • A region is a geographic land area identifiable by geological, political, or surveyed boundaries.
  • A compartment is any defined animal subpopulation contained in one or more establishments under a common biosecurity management system for which surveillance, control, and biosecurity measures have been applied with respect to a specific disease.

Visit Animal Health Status of Regions for current lists of APHIS-recognized statuses by region and animal disease or pest.

How To Request an Animal Health Status Evaluation

Requests for animal health status evaluations must:

  • Be submitted by the competent animal health authority of the foreign region.
  • Be provided in English and submitted electronically whenever possible.
  • Specifically note the words, paragraphs, or pages of the submission that contain confidential business information (CBI), if applicable. Note: APHIS makes supporting information submitted by foreign regions available to the public unless that information contains CBI. We work to protect CBI in accordance with legal and regulatory obligations and practices.

Below are the different types of requests and steps involved.

Animal Health Status Reviews

We review the animal health statuses of regions APHIS has previously recognized. These reviews ensure that our import procedures continue to mitigate the risk of foreign animal disease introduction and allow us to make changes as needed.

To learn more, visit Animal Health Status Reviews.

Learn More

Find out more about our process (204.9 KB).

Questions?

If you have questions about the import or export of specific animal products or byproducts, contact the Animal Product Import and Export Team at apie@usda.gov or visit Animal Product Imports.

If you have questions about the regionalization process or need information on a region’s APHIS-recognized animal health status, contact us:

Regionalization Evaluation Services