Prior Notice of Imported Food Under the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002; Extension of Comment Period

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is extending to July 13, 2004, the comment period on the prior notice interim final rule (IFR) that appeared in the Federal Register of October 10, 2003 (68 FR 58974). The prior notice IFR requires the submission to FDA of prior notice of food, including animal feed, that is imported or offered for import into the United States. FDA reopened the comment period for 30 days in the Federal Register of April 14, 2004 (69 FR 19766), to solicit comments on the "Joint FDA-CBP Plan for Increasing Integration and Assessing the Coordination of Prior Notice Timeframes" and to ensure that those who comment on this IFR would have had the benefit of our outreach and education efforts and would have had some experience with the systems, timeframes, and data elements of the prior notice system. In response to a request from the Government of Canada, FDA is extending the comment period for an additional 60 days. Accordingly, the comment period for the prior notice rulemaking, including the comment period for the "Joint FDA-CBP Plan for Increasing Integration and Assessing the Coordination of Prior Notice Timeframes," is extended to July 13, 2004.