The following terms, when used in this part, shall be construed, respectively, to mean:

Administrative instructions. Published documents relating to the enforcement of this part, and issued under authority thereof by the Administrator.

Administrator. The Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), United States Department of Agriculture, or any employee of APHIS to whom authority has been delegated to act in the Administrator's stead.

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture.

Article. Any material or tangible object, including a living organism, that could harbor living plant pests or noxious weeds. The term includes associated articles such as soil and packaging.

Biocontainment facility. A physical structure or portion thereof, constructed and maintained in order to contain plant pests, biological control organisms, or associated articles.

Biological control organism. Any enemy, antagonist, or competitor used to control a plant pest or noxious weed.

Continental United States. The contiguous 48 States, Alaska, and the District of Columbia.

Continued curation permit. A permit issued prior to the expiration date for an import permit or interstate movement permit in order for a permittee to continue research or other actions listed on the import or interstate movement permit. Continued curation permits do not allow acquisition of additional organisms for research and other authorized activities and only address retention of existing organisms for authorized uses.

Department. The United States Department of Agriculture.

Deputy Administrator. The Deputy Administrator of the Plant Protection and Quarantine Programs or any employee of the Plant Protection and Quarantine Programs delegated to act in his or her stead.

Enter (entry). To move into, or the act of movement into, the commerce of the United States.

EPA. The Environmental Protection Agency of the United States.

Export (exportation). To move from, or the act of movement from, the United States to any place outside the United States.

Garbage. That material designated as “garbage” in § 330.400(b).

Hand-carry. Importation of an organism that remains in one's personal possession and in close proximity to one's person.

Import (importation). To move into, or the act of movement into, the territorial limits of the United States.

Inspector. Any individual authorized by the Administrator of APHIS or the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to enforce the regulations in this part.

Interstate movement. Movement from one State into or through any other State; or movement within the District of Columbia, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or any other territory or possession of the United States.

Living. Viable or potentially viable.

Means of conveyance. Any personal or public property used for or intended for use for the movement of any other property. This specifically includes, but is not limited to, automobiles, trucks, railway cars, aircraft, boats, freight containers, and other means of transportation.

Move (moved and movement). To carry, enter, import, mail, ship, or transport; to aid, abet, cause, or induce the carrying, entering, importing, mailing, shipping, or transporting; to offer to carry, enter, import, mail, ship, or transport; to receive to carry, enter, import, mail, ship, or transport; to release into the environment, or to allow any of those activities.

Noxious weed. Any plant or plant product that can directly or indirectly injure or cause damage to crops (including nursery stock or plant products), livestock, poultry, or other interests of agriculture, irrigation, navigation, the natural resources of the United States, the public health, or the environment.

Owner. The owner, or his or her agent, having possession of a plant pest, biological control organism, associated article, or any other means of conveyance, products, or article subject to the regulations in this part.

Permit. A written authorization, including by electronic methods, by the Administrator to move plant pests, biological control organisms, or associated articles under conditions prescribed by the Administrator.

Permittee. The person to whom APHIS has issued a permit in accordance with this part and who must comply with the provisions of the permit and the regulations in this part.

Person. Any individual, partnership, corporation, association, joint venture, or other legal entity.

Plant. Any plant (including any plant part) for or capable of propagation including trees, tissue cultures, plantlet cultures, pollen, shrubs, vines, cuttings, grafts, scions, buds, bulbs, roots, and seeds.

Plant pest. Any living stage of any of the following that can directly or indirectly injure, cause damage to, or cause disease in any plant or plant product: A protozoan, nonhuman animal, parasitic plant, bacterium, fungus, virus or viroid, infectious agent or other pathogen, or any article similar to or allied with any of the foregoing.

Plant product. Any flower, fruit, vegetable, root, bulb, seed, or other plant part that is not included in the definition of plant; or any manufactured or processed plant or plant part.

Plant Protection and Quarantine Programs. The Plant Protection and Quarantine Programs of the Animal and Plant Inspection Health Service.

Pure culture. A single species of invertebrate originating only from an identified/described population and free of disease and parasites, cryptic species, soil and other biological material except host material and substrate as APHIS deems appropriate. Examples of identified/described population are those originating from a specific laboratory colony or field collection from a specified geographic area, such as an entire country or States or provinces of a country.

Regulated garbage. That material designated as regulated garbage in § 330.400(c) and (d).

Responsible individual. One or more individuals who a permittee designates to appropriately oversee and control the staff, facilities, and/or site(s) at the location(s) specified on the permit as the ultimate destination of the plant pest, biological control organism, or associated article, to ensure compliance with the permit conditions during all phases of the activities being performed with the regulated articles authorized under a permit issued in accordance with this part for the movement or curation of a plant pest, biological control organism, or associated article. For the duration of the permit, the individual(s) must serve as a primary contact for communication with APHIS. The permittee may designate him or herself as the responsible individual. The responsible individual(s) must be at least 18 years of age and to be able meet with and provide information to an APHIS representative within a reasonable time frame. In accordance with section 7734 of the Plant Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.), the act, omission, or failure of any responsible individual will also be deemed the act, omission, or failure of a permittee.

Secure shipment. Shipment of a regulated plant pest, biological control organism, or associated article in a container or a means of conveyance of sufficient strength and integrity to prevent leakage of contents and to withstand shocks, pressure changes, and other conditions incident to ordinary handling in transportation.

Shelf-stable. The condition achieved in a product, by application of heat, alone or in combination with other ingredients and/or other treatments, of being rendered free of microorganisms capable of growing in the product at nonrefrigerated conditions (over 50 °F or 10 °C).

Soil. The unconsolidated material from the earth's surface that consists of rock and mineral particles and that supports or is capable of supporting biotic communities.

State. Any of the States of the United States, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and all other territories or possessions of the United States.

Sterilization (sterile, sterilized). A chemical or physical process that results in the death of all living organisms on or within the article subject to the process. Examples include, but are not limited to, autoclaving and incineration.

Taxon (taxa). Any recognized grouping or rank within the biological nomenclature of organisms, such as class, order, family, genus, species, subspecies, pathovar, biotype, race, forma specialis, or cultivar.

Transit. Movement from and to a foreign destination through the United States.

United States. All of the States and territories.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). U.S. Customs and Border Protection within the Department of Homeland Security.

The purpose of the regulations in this part is to prevent the dissemination of plant pests into the United States, or interstate, by regulating the movement of plant pests into or through the United States, or interstate, and the movement of means of conveyance, earth, stone and quarry products, garbage, and certain other products and articles into or through the United States, or from any Territory or possession into or through any other Territory or possession or the continental United States. The Deputy Administrator shall employ procedures to carry out this purpose which will impose a minimum of impediment to foreign commerce and travel whenever practicable, consistent with proper precaution against plant pest dissemination. The same policy is to be applied in the case of interstate commerce and travel.

Under the authority of the Plant Protection Act, the Secretary may prohibit or restrict the importation, entry, exportation, or movement in interstate commerce of any plant, plant product, biological control organism, noxious weed, article (including baggage, mail, garbage, earth, stone, and quarry products) or means of conveyance if such actions are necessary to prevent the introduction into or the dissemination within the United States of a plant pest or noxious weed.

Any notifications, reports, and similar documentation not specified in the regulations in this part, but necessary to carry out the purpose of the regulations, will be prescribed in administrative instructions.

Ports of entry for plant pests, means of conveyance, or other products or articles of any character whatsoever the entry or movement of which is regulated by the regulations in this part may be specified in administrative instructions or in the permits if permits are required by the regulations. The ports of entry shall be those named in 19 CFR 101.3(b)(1), except as otherwise provided by administrative instructions or by permits issued in accordance with this part, and except those ports of entry listed below.

(a) Inspection of foreign arrivals. In order to prevent the dissemination into the United States of plant pests and for the purpose of carrying out the regulations in this part, all plant pests; means of conveyance and their stores; baggage; mail; plants; plant products; soil; stone and quarry products under this part; garbage; and any other product or article of any character whatsoever which an inspector considers may be infested or infected by or contain a plant pest, arriving in the United States from any place outside thereof for entry into or movement through the United States shall be subject to inspection by an inspector at the port of first arrival, except that mail will be handled in accordance with the joint customs and postal regulations for inspecting and handling mail. No such plant pests; means of conveyance or their stores; baggage; mail; plants; plant products; soil; stone or quarry products under this part; garbage; or other products or articles which an inspector notifies the Customs authorities should be held for inspection shall be released by Customs officers for entry or onward movement until released by an inspector. The release of all means of conveyance, products and articles regulated under parts 319, 321, and 352 of this chapter shall be in accordance with the requirements of those parts and the applicable provisions in this part. Whenever it shall be deemed safe to modify the requirements of this section by exempting any class of means of conveyance, products or articles from the requirement that they be held for inspection and release of the inspector, the exemptions shall be specified in administrative instructions. Inspectors shall make local arrangements, in accordance with policies of the Plant Protection and Quarantine Programs, with the Collector of Customs for the release by Customs officers on behalf of the inspector of any class of means of conveyance, their stores, baggage, mail, or other products or articles when such arrangements do not increase unduly the danger of plant pest dissemination and will facilitate clearance of means of conveyance, baggage, mail, or other products or articles.

(b) Inspection of domestic movements. For the purpose of preventing the interstate movement of plant pests, provisions requiring inspection of means of conveyance and products or articles moving interstate may be issued as regulations in association with quarantines in part 301 or part 318 of this chapter or in this part.

(a) Procedures to prevent pest dissemination. Whenever inspection of any means of conveyance, stores, baggage, mail, plants, plant products, earth, stone and quarry products, garbage, or other products or articles of any character whatsoever, arriving in the United States from a place outside thereof, or moving interstate, discloses a plant pest, or provides a reason to believe such a pest is present (other than one moving under permit in accordance with any conditions in the permit and the provisions in this part) which is new to, or not theretofore known to be widely prevalent or distributed within and throughout the United States, the inspector shall employ procedures necessary to prevent the dissemination of the plant pest. Such procedures shall also be employed with respect to means of conveyance or products or articles of any character whatsoever which have moved into the United States or interstate and which the inspector has reason to believe were infested or infected by or contained any such plant pest at the time of such movement. The inspector may follow administrative instructions containing procedures prescribed for certain situations, or he may follow a procedure selected by him from administratively approved methods known to be effective. The procedure may involve seizure, quarantine, treatment in accordance with part 305 of this chapter, application of other remedial measures, exportation, return to shipping point of origin, destruction, or other disposal, but no means of conveyance, product, article, or plant pest owned by any person shall be destroyed, exported, or returned to shipping point of origin or ordered to be so handled, unless there is, in the opinion of the inspector, no less drastic action adequate to prevent the dissemination of the plant pest. In forming such an opinion that no less drastic action is adequate, the inspector shall be guided by applicable specific and general instructions received from officers of the Plant Protection and Quarantine Programs. In taking action with respect to any means of conveyance, product, article, plant pest, the inspector shall take cognizance of applicable requirements of the customs and postal laws and regulations.

(b) Orders for remedial measures. The inspector may order the owner of any means of conveyance, product, article, or plant pest, subject to disposal under paragraph (a) of this section, to treat, apply other remedial measures, destroy, or make other disposal thereof without cost to the Federal Government and in a manner specified in accordance with paragraph (a) of this section.

(c) Failure to apply remedial measures. If the measures required by the inspector are not applied promptly by the owner within the time limits specified by the inspector, the inspector shall apply measures necessary to prevent the dissemination of the plant pests.

(d) Khapra beetle infestations of means of conveyance, or cargo or stores thereof; other infestations. As a means of preventing the dissemination into the United States, or interstate, of the khapra beetle (Trogoderma granarium Everts), the following procedures will be applicable when that insect is found, or there is reason to believe it is present, in a means of conveyance within paragraph (a) of this section, or in any cargo or stores in such a means of conveyance, or in any cargo or stores unloaded or landed, or being unloaded or landed, in the United States therefrom. These procedures will also apply with respect to other plant pests when the inspector finds they are necessary and sufficient to prevent the spread of such pests.

(1) Infestation in storerooms and similar compartments of means of conveyance (except aircraft). (i) When infestation is found only in stores or storerooms, galleys, pantries, or similar noncargo compartments of a means of conveyance, except aircraft, the inspector shall prescribe and supervise the application of such remedial measures as, in his opinion, will be effective under conditions that will not spread the infestation to other parts of the means of conveyance, or to adjacent piers or other installations. If, in the opinion of the inspector, fumigation is the only available safeguard to eliminate the infestation, he shall order the owner to arrange for immediate fumigation of the infested stores and portions of the means of conveyance.

(ii) If the means of conveyance is to leave the territorial limits of the United States directly for a port in another country within 24 hours of such order, the inspector may suspend compliance with the fumigation requirement pending departure from the United States. Pending fumigation or departure, the inspector may seal the openings of infested compartments, packages, or articles, if in his opinion the action is necessary to prevent plant pest dissemination while the means of conveyance remains in the teritorial limits of the United States, as authorized in § 330.110. The inspector may extend the 24-hour period to 48 hours, if, in his judgment, such extension is warranted by plans of the owner to remove the means of conveyance from the territorial limits of the United States within the extended period, the inability of the contractor to begin fumigation within the 24-hour period, or other reason deemed valid by the inspector. Further extension shall be given only under authority of the Deputy Administrator. Pending compliance with the requirement of fumigation, or the departure from the territorial limits of the United States directly for a port in another country, no stores, laundry, furnishings or equipment, or other articles or products whether in cargo or stores, shall be unloaded from the means of conveyance except as authorized by the inspector and under conditions prescribed by him. The owner of an infested means of conveyance under notice for fumigation which leaves the territorial limits of the United States without fumigation should arrange for the eradication of the infestation before returning to the same or another port in the United States. Upon return to a port in the United States and unless the infestation has been eliminated to the satisfaction of the inspector, the means of conveyance shall be subject to fumigation immediately upon arrival in the United States. Unloading or landing of any product or article shall not be permitted pending compliance with the fumigation requirement, except as authorized by the inspector and under conditions prescribed by him.

(iii) If the means of conveyance is to remain at the port where the infestation was found or is to be moved to another port in the United States, the inspector shall prescribe and supervise the application of the remedial measures at the port where the infestation is found, as provided in this paragraph, or he may authorize the means of conveyance to be moved to another port for fumigation or the application of other remedial measures under safeguards prescribed by him.

(iv) In all instances where the inspector prescribed procedures concerned with the application of remedial measures which involve (a) withholding permission to discharge articles or products; (b) permission to discharge after such permission has been withheld; (c) discontinuance of discharging; or (d) resumption of discharging after it has been discontinued, the appropriate Customs officer shall be immediately notified in writing. The inspector shall also inform the Customs officers at the port where the infestation is found and at such other ports as may be necessary of the requirement for fumigation and/or permission to move coastwise to another U.S. port for fumigation or other remedial measures.

(2) Infestation in cargo compartments of means of conveyance (except aircraft). When infestation is found in cargo compartments or in cargo of a means of conveyance, except aircraft, the inspector shall prescribe and supervise the application of such remedial measures as, in his opinion are necessary, with respect to the cargo and the portions of the means of conveyance which contain or contained or were contaminated by the infested cargo. If in the opinion of the inspector fumigation is the only available safeguard to eliminate the infestation, he shall order the owner to arrange for immediate fumigation of the infested portions of such means of conveyance and cargo. However, if such cargo compartments cannot be fumigated without fumigating the entire means of conveyance, the inspector may order the entire means of conveyance and cargo to be fumigated. The inspector shall notify the owner of the means of conveyance of such requirement and the owner shall arrange for immediate fumigation. Discharge of cargo shall be discontinued unless the inspector allows it to continue under safeguards to be prescribed by him. The provisions applicable to stores and storerooms in paragraph (d)(1) (ii) and (iii) of this section shall apply to cargo and cargo areas of such means of conveyance. Customs officers shall be informed as required in paragraph (d)(1)(iv) of this section.

(3) Infestation in an aircraft. If infestation is found in an aircraft, the inspector may apply seals as provided in § 330.110, and he may require such temporary safeguards as he deems necessary, including the discontinuance of further unloading or landing of any products or articles except as authorized by him. Upon finding such infestation in an aircraft the inspector shall promptly notify the Plant Protection and Quarantine Programs of all circumstances and the temporary safeguards employed, and the Plant Protection and Quarantine Programs will specify the measures for eliminating the infestation which will not be deleterious to the aircraft or its operating components. Any insecticidal application required shall be approved by the Deputy Administrator for use in aircraft. If the aircraft is to depart from the territorial limits of the United States within 24 hours after the infestation is found, the inspector shall permit such departure in lieu of the application of other measures and shall prior to departure break any seals that would prevent access to the aircraft or safe operation thereof. Other seals shall remain intact at time of departure and shall be broken by the aircraft commander or a crew member upon his order only after the aircraft is beyond the territorial limits of the United States. Extension of the 24-hour period shall be given only under authority of the Deputy Administrator. The owner of the aircraft under notice of khapra beetle infestation which leaves the territorial limits of the United States before the infestation has been eradicated should arrange for eradication before returning the aircraft to the United States. Upon return to the United States, if the infestation is not eliminated to the satisfaction of the inspector, the aircraft shall be subject to the same disinfestation requirements and other safeguards immediately upon arrival in the United States. Customs officers shall be notified as required in paragraph (d)(1)(iv) of this section.

(4) Precautions. The owner of a means of conveyance required to be fumigated pursuant to this section shall arrange with a competent operator to apply the fumigant under the supervision of the inspector. The owner shall understand that if certain fumigants are used they may result in residues in or on foodstuffs which may render them unsafe for use as food items. He is hereby warned against such use unless as ascertains that the fumigated foodstuffs are fit for human consumption. It should also be understood by the owner that emergency measures prescribed by the inspector to safeguard against dissemination of infestation may have adverse effects on certain products and articles, and that the acceptance of fumigation as a requirement is an alternative to the immediate removal of the infested means of conveyance and any products and articles thereon, from the territorial limits of the United States. Products or articles in a means of conveyance, or compartments thereof, which may be exposed to methyl bromide or other remedial measures and may be adversely affected thereby, may be removed from the means of conveyance or compartments thereof prior to the application of the remedial measures if in the opinion of the inspector this can be done without danger of plant pest dissemination and under conditions authorized by him, for additional inspection and/or application of effective remedial measures.

All costs (including those incurred under § 330.106 of this part by the government or the owner) incident to the inspection, handling, cleaning, safeguarding, treating, or other disposal of means of conveyance or products, articles, or plant pests under this part shall be borne by the owner. Services of the inspector during regularly assigned hours of duty at the usual places of duty shall be furnished without cost to the person requesting the services, unless a user fee is payable under § 354.3 of this chapter.

The Deputy Administrator is authorized to issue the administrative instructions for which provision is made in the regulations in this part, for the purpose of preventing dissemination of plant pests into the United States or interstate. In addition, whenever the Deputy Administrator shall find that existing conditions as to pest risk involved in the movement of plant pests, means of conveyance, or other products or articles to which the regulations in this part apply, make it safe to modify by making less stringent the restrictions contained in any of such regulations, he shall publish such findings in administrative instructions, specifying the manner in which the regulations shall be made less stringent whereupon such modification shall become effective.

In applying treatments or taking other measures prescribed in administrative instructions or by the inspector, it should be understood that inexactness or carelessness may result in injury or damage.

(a) Use authorized; form. Whenever, in the opinion of the inspector, it is necessary, as a safeguard in order to prevent the dissemination of plant pests into the United States, or interstate, seals may be applied to openings, packages, or articles requiring the security provided by such seals. The words “openings, packages, or articles” shall include any form of container, shelf, bin, compartment, or other opening, package, or article which the inspector may have occasion to seal in lieu of more drastic action or otherwise, as a safeguard against plant pest dissemination. The seals may be automatic metal seals or labels or tags and will be provided by the Plant Protection and Quarantine Programs. When they consist of a label or tag, they will be printed in black ink on yellow paper and read substantially as follows: “Warning! The opening, package, or article to which this seal is affixed is sealed under authority of law. This seal is not to be broken while within the territorial limits of the United States except by, or under instructions of, an inspector.”

(b) Breaking of seals. Seals may be broken: (1) By an inspector; (2) by a Customs officer for Customs purposes, in which case the opening, package, or article will be resealed with Customs seals; (3) by the owner or his agent when the means of conveyance, product, or article has left the territorial limits of the United States; (4) by any person authorized by the inspector or the Deputy Administrator under conditions specified by the inspector or Deputy Administrator. No person shall break seals applied under authority of this section except as provided in this paragraph. The movement into or through the United States, or interstate, of any means of conveyance or product or article on which a seal, applied under this paragraph, has been broken in violation of this paragraph is hereby prohibited, except as authorized by an inspector.

(c) Notice of sealing. When an inspector seals any opening, product or article, he shall explain the purpose of such action to the owner or his representative and shall present him with a written notice of the conditions under which the seal may be broken, if requested to do so.

The owner, operator, or other representative of any aircraft or watercraft entering the United States from a foreign country, or arriving in the continental United States from Hawaii or any territory or possession of the United States, shall provide every Plant Protection and Quarantine office (PPQ office) serving a port of arrival on the itinerary of the craft while in the United States with advance notification of intent to arrive at that port. This advance notification of arrival shall:

(a) Reach the appropriate PPQ office not less than 12 hours before the craft's estimated time of arrival at the port;

(b) Be communicated by radio, wire, telephone, or any other means; and

(c) Include the following information:

(1) The name or other identifying feature of the individual craft;

(2) The date and estimated time of arrival at the port;

(3) The location of arrival, providing the most site-specific data available, such as the dock, pier, wharf, berth, mole, anchorage, gate, or facility, and;

(4) The names of all foreign and non-Continental U.S. ports where any cargo, crew, or passenger destined for the continental United States has boarded the craft since its most recent arrival at a port in the United States.

(d) If the craft's estimated time of arrival changes by more than one hour, the PPQ office that serves the port of arrival must be notified and provided with updated information immediately.

(e) If the craft's site of arrival changes after a PPQ office has received advance notification of arrival, both that PPQ office and the newly affected PPQ office shall be notified of this change immediately. This applies, too, to site-specific changes involving watercraft.

(f) If the craft's point of arrival is an anchorage, the PPQ office shall be notified, as soon as possible after the craft's arrival at the anchorage, of the specific site, such as berth, mole, pier, to which the craft will be moving, as well as of its estimated time of arrival at that site.

(g) Aircraft and watercraft meeting any of the following conditions are exempt from the provisions in this section, and need not provide advance notification of arrival:

(1) The craft is not regularly used to carry passengers or cargo for a fee;

(2) The aircraft is making a flight scheduled in the Official Airline Guide, North American Edition, or the Official Airline Guide, Worldwide Edition, unless the scheduled time of arrival changes by more than one hour or the plane is diverted to another landing port;

(3) An inspector has precleared the aircraft in Hawaii, a territory or possession of the United States, or a foreign port, having determined that the aircraft contained only articles that are not prohibited or restricted importation into the United States under the provisions of 7 CFR chapter III and 9 CFR chapter I; or

(4) Personnel of the United States armed forces, including the U.S. Coast Guard, in Hawaii, a territory or possession of the United States, or a foreign port, have precleared an aircraft, having determined that the aircraft contained only articles that are not prohibited or restricted importation into the United States under the provisions of 7 CFR chapter III and 9 CFR chapter I.

(5) The owner, operator, or other representative of the aircraft or watercraft not leaving the United States has been informed in writing by a PPQ inspector that notification of intended arrival is not required at subsequent ports in the United States.