Change in Disease Status of the Czech Republic Because of BSE

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the regulations by adding the Czech Republic to the list of regions where bovine spongiform encephalopathy exists because the disease has been detected in native-born animals in that region. The Czech Republic had already been listed among the regions that present an undue risk of introducing bovine spongiform encephalopathy into the United States, so the effect of the interim rule was a continued restriction on the importation of ruminants that have been in the Czech Republic and meat, meat products, and certain other products of ruminants that have been in the Czech Republic. The interim rule was necessary in order to update the disease status of the Czech Republic regarding bovine spongiform encephalopathy.