USDA recently issued its semiannual regulatory agenda, which includes the following actions affecting international trade of poultry that are expected over the next six months. These are:
- Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) is planning to soon propose, in the hopes of issuing a final rule by the end of August, a rule that would delete references to the Export Enhancement Program.
- FAS is hoping to publish a proposed rule by the end of July, and a final rule no later than November, that would add pork and distillers dried grain to the export sales reporting program. This would allow information regarding the total volume of sales and shipments of these products to be available within two weeks of sale or export rather than the current two-month delay.
- A Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) proposed rule that would add Mexico to the list of countries from which fresh slaughtered poultry may be imported into the U.S. has been postponed until March 2012.
- FSIS has again delayed but is still working to issue in the near future a proposed rule that would amend the meat, poultry and egg products import inspection regulations to provide for an electronic application and electronic imported product and foreign establishment certification system. FSIS is also proposing to delete the “streamlined” import inspection procedures for Canadian product.
- Similarly, FSIS is still working to publish a proposed rule that would (a) provide an electronic export application and certification process that will be available for a fee, (b) provide establishments that export meat, poultry and egg products with flexibility in the official export inspection marks, devices and certificates, and (c) establish egg product export regulations that parallel the meat and poultry export regulation.
