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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 226 / Monday, November 29, 2021 / Proposed Rules
horses exported from the United States or another region not known to be CEMaffected are allowed to spend up to 60
days in a CEM-affected region and be reimported into the United States without having to undergo CEM testing, provided certain conditions are met.
The conditions include that the horse be accompanied by a certificate that meets the requirements in 93.314a of the regulations issued by each CEM-affected region that the horse has visited during the term of its temporary exportation.
The certificate must include additional declarations stating, among other things, that the horse was held separate and apart from all other horses except for the time it was actually participating in an event and that the horse was not bred while in the CEM-affected region. We are proposing to amend the regulations to extend the temporary export period to 90 days, while maintaining the same separation and documentation requirements.
We are making this change after the equine industry asked APHIS to consider increasing the temporary export period to 90 days to better align our regulations with typical competition cycles. Competition horses move frequently between the United States, Canada, and CEM-affected regions within European Union Member States, and the competition cycle is often more than 60, but no more than 90, days.
APHIS has concluded that the risk of horses introducing CEM to the United States would continue to be minimal if the temporary export period was increased to 90 days. The most significant safeguards against these horses introducing CEM into the United States are the attestations required by the health certificate in the current regulations, rather than the amount of time the horses may spend in a CEMaffected region. Horses temporarily exported to a CEM-affected region must be accompanied by endorsed health certificates from the CEM-affected regions attesting that the returning horses were never used for breeding;
were held separately from other horses while not in competition or training;
and, have never undergone a genital examination which could have exposed these returning horses to CEM. Because CEM is spread through genital contact, we consider these attestations to be effective mitigations against the introduction of CEM.
We would also make minor editorial changes to paragraph g by adding clarifying language and changing the syntax to better explain to which horses the paragraph applies. We are also correcting a reference in paragraph g4
that incorrectly referred to paragraphs
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a through c but should have instead pointed to paragraphs g1 through 3.
Paragraph h lists conditions that a State must meet in order to be approved to receive stallions or mares over 731
days of age from a CEM-affected region.
We are proposing to add a new paragraph h4 to this list of conditions that a State must agree to provide oversight during the test breeding of quarantined stallions. Oversight is necessary in order to ensure that this process is carried out correctly and completely. This change comes at the request of numerous States that have recognized this need but have had difficulty implementing and enforcing this requirement because it was not listed in the regulations. By adding a new paragraph h4, we would redesignate current paragraphs h4
through 7 as paragraphs h5 through 8, respectively. We are also proposing to fix broken internet addresses in newly designated paragraphs h7 and 8 that link to the lists of States approved by APHIS to receive such stallions or mares, as well as correct the mailing address where these lists may alternatively be obtained to reflect current organizational structure.
Import Permits In 93.304, paragraph a contains provisions governing imports for which a permit is required. Currently, only horses from regions that APHIS
considers to be affected with CEM, horses intended for quarantine at a privately owned quarantine facility, and horse test specimens for diagnostic screening purposes are required to submit an application for an import permit. Because horses transiting through regions affected with CEM
present risks similar to those presented by horses imported directly from these regions, we are proposing to add horses transiting CEM-affected regions listed in 93.301c1 en route to the United States to 93.304a1i. Horses transiting through regions APHIS
considers to be affected with CEM
would be required to apply for an import permit and fulfil all other conditions listed in 93.304a that are currently only required of horses imported directly from these regions.
Paragraph a1i also currently states that additional information may be required during the import permit application process, which may come in the form of certificates concerning specific diseases to which the horses are susceptible, as well as vaccinations or other precautionary treatments to which the horses or horse test specimens have been subjected. We are proposing to add the phrase or other attestation
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regarding the health of the animals to this sentence in order to further clarify the nature of the information that APHIS may require. Such additional attestation may include requiring certain subsets of horses to provide certification that the horses have not been exposed to other pests or diseases beyond the diseases already addressed in the health certificate, if necessary.
We are also proposing to clarify that the provisions of this section apply to horses intended for quarantine at Federal quarantine facilities as well, in order to reflect current practices more accurately. On October 28, 2020, APHIS
Veterinary Services VS issued an import notice,1 a type of order issued pursuant to the AHPA, regarding import permits for horses from CEM-affected regions. That notice addressed a prior inconsistency in enforcing the import permit requirements for certain horses who enter Federal quarantine facilities and acknowledged that this inconsistency caused confusion and difficulties for both port personnel and importers. The notice clarified that, beginning January 1, 2021, all horses from CEM-affected regions must be accompanied by an import permit, regardless of where import quarantine is completed. This proposed clarification seeks to codify the import notice and add this same clarification to the regulations.
Health Certification Section 93.314 of the regulations outlines specific health certification requirements for horses offered for importation into the United States. We are proposing to clarify current health certification regulations to increase compliance. This includes requiring that certifications are prepared and issued directly from the national government of the region of origin or annotated by the national government of the region of origin to indicate how the documentation may be verified;
requiring that origin and destination addresses are listed on the certificate;
and requiring identifying information regarding the horse or horse test specimens, importer, and exporter are listed on the health certificate. These proposed changes would help APHIS
confirm the legitimacy of the required documentation, as well as align information presented on the health certificate with what is currently required for other accompanying documents, such as the declaration of importation and the import permit.
1 To view the import notice, go to: https
www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/animals/
equine/import-permits-equine-cem-regions.pdf.

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