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Rules and Regulations
Federal Register Vol. 86, No. 155
Monday, August 16, 2021

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER
contains regulatory documents having general applicability and legal effect, most of which are keyed to and codified in the Code of Federal Regulations, which is published under 50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.
The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by the Superintendent of Documents.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 9 CFR Parts 92, 93, 94, 95, 98 and 130
Docket No. APHIS20210003

Definitions of the European Union and the United Kingdom Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Final rule.
AGENCY:

We are amending the animal and animal product import regulations in order to reflect the exit of the United Kingdom UK from the European Union EU. The revised regulations will treat as separate entities Great Britain England, Scotland, and Wales GB
and Northern Ireland in various lists and definitions. We are also announcing that, for an interim period, during which the UK will transition to and implement their new animal health laws and policies, the current Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service import conditions for animals and animal products from the UK will continue to apply to imports from GB. In addition, we are announcing that because of Northern Irelands stated intent to continue to follow EU animal health regulations and policies, we intend to consider the animal health statuses of Northern Ireland to be the same animal health statuses of equivalent EU
Member States, wherever appropriate.
We are also updating our definition of the EU, where necessary, to include Croatia. Lastly, we are further amending the regulations to update the names of staff offices and websites, and we are making other minor changes.
DATES: Effective August 16, 2021.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.
Javier Vargas, Senior Staff Officer, Regionalization Evaluation Services, Strategy and Policy, Veterinary Services, APHIS, 4700 River Road, Unit 38,
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with RULES1

SUMMARY:

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Riverdale, MD 207371231; 301 851
3316; AskRegionalization@usda.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background The regulations in 9 CFR parts 92, 93, 94, and 95 prescribe conditions for importing live animals and animal products into the United States. These regulations include regionalization and compartmentalization requirements part 92; general requirements for animals and animal products part 93;
import restrictions and prohibitions pertaining to certain animal diseases, such as foot-and-mouth disease part 94; and requirements for importation of certain animal byproducts part 95.
Among other things, the regulations include provisions for the importation of animals and animal products from the European Union EU. Heretofore, the EU has included the United Kingdom UK. However, under the European Union Withdrawal Agreement Act 2020, widely referred to as Brexit, the UK ratified withdrawing from the EU and, on February 1, 2020, the UK formally left the EU. As a result, it has become necessary to update our regulations to reflect this change.
In this final rule, we are revising the regulations in parts 92, 93, 94, and 95
to indicate that the UK is no longer a Member State of the EU. With the UKs exit from the EU, Great Britain GB, which consists of England, Scotland, and Wales, and Northern Ireland will operate under two different animal health regulation and policy structures.
For an interim period, during which the UK will transition to and implement their new animal health laws and policies, the current APHIS import conditions for animals and animal products from the UK will continue to apply to imports from GB. APHIS will publish a follow-up Federal Register document when the interim period ends. Northern Ireland will continue to follow the EU animal health law structure and will revise its laws to remain harmonized with the EU.
Because Northern Ireland has stated that it intends to continue to follow EU
animal health regulations and policies, we will continue to allow Northern Ireland to maintain APHIS-recognized animal health statuses afforded to EU
Member States, where appropriate.
In 92.1, we are revising the list of Member States under the definition of
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European Union by removing the entry for the UK. We are also updating the definition by adding Croatia to the list because Croatia is now a Member State.
Finally, we are adding a footnote to the definition stating that, as noted above, for animal health purposes, Northern Ireland will be following EU guidelines and will be treated the same as the Member States of the EU.
In 93.301, we are revising the provisions for the importation of thoroughbred horses by removing the references to the UK and replacing them with entries for, respectively, Great Britain England, Scotland, and Wales and Northern Ireland. This language is consistent with that we are using elsewhere in this rule. In footnote 6, we are also updating the name of the French certifying organization.
In 94.0, we are replacing the definition of APHIS-defined EU Poultry Trade Region with a definition of APHIS-defined European Poultry Trade Region. The existing definition of APHIS-defined EU Poultry Trade Region lists EU countries in that region and includes the UK. Reflecting the exit of the UK from the EU, the new definition of APHIS-defined European Poultry Trade Region reads as follows: A single region consisting of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain England, Scotland, and Wales, Greece, Hungary, Ireland Republic of, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.
In 94.24, which contains restrictions on meat and edible products of ovines and caprines due to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, paragraph a contains a list of regions from which such imports are prohibited or restricted.
That list includes the UK. We are revising that paragraph to eliminate that reference. In its place, we would refer instead to Great Britain England, Scotland, and Wales and, separately, Northern Ireland.
Section 94.28 contains restrictions on the importation of poultry and poultry products from the APHIS-defined EU
Poultry Trade Region. We are revising the section heading and all the text throughout the section by replacing all references to the APHIS-defined EU
Poultry Trade Region with references to
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