USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) proposed rules this week to amend its meat, poultry, and egg products import regulations to provide for the use of the agency’s new electronic system to facilitate trade with foreign countries by allowing the electronic exchange of import data and documentation. The proposal would require foreign governments to provide additional information to FSIS when submitting both the foreign establishment certificate and the foreign inspection certificate. The proposal would also streamline existing import documentation requirements by making the foreign inspection certificate consistent among meat, poultry, and egg products.
The proposal would also utilize FSIS’ Public Health Information System (PHIS) Import Component, launched May 29, which is an electronic alternative to the paper-based import inspection application and imported product foreign inspection and foreign establishment certificate processes. “The PHIS enables U.S. importers to file for FSIS inspection in advance of arrival of shipments destined to the United States,” the Federal Register notice said. The proposal “updates the required information on applications and certificates to fortify the effectiveness of import inspection regulations,” FSIS added.
FSIS also proposed amending 9 CFR 327.6 (e) to require that an official import inspection establishment must meet the Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) requirements in 9 CFR 416.11 through 416.17. If this proposed amendment is adopted, official import inspection establishments operating under a grant of inspection must develop and implement written Sanitation SOPs within 60 days of the final rule’s publication, FSIS said.
Under the proposal, the industry would have the option of filing import inspection applications electronically. Foreign governments would have the option of submitting electronic inspection and foreign establishment certifications and data. Some of the information required on the new import inspection application is data required by other government agencies including U.S. Customs and Border Protection and that are entered by the applicant into the Automated Commercial System (ACE) trade processing system. Because ACE electronically transmits data elements into PHIS, the need for entering all of the data requested on the electronic form is eliminated, the notice said.
When the regulatory amendments in the proposal are finalized, FSIS said it will end its practice of reinspecting imported products based on the foreign government’s guarantee to replace a lost or incorrect foreign inspection certificate and will only reinspect imported products upon receipt of the foreign inspection certificate.
Comments are due on or before January 28, 2013. The Federal Register notice is available here.
