Products From Foreign Countries; Eligibility for Import Into the United States

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is amending those paragraphs of the imported products sections of the Federal meat and poultry products inspection regulations that contain the phrase ``at least equal to'' by replacing that phrase with the words ``equivalent to.'' This action will amend language in the Federal meat and poultry products inspection regulations to correctly reflect the language used in the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, which was enacted to comply with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 1994 (GATT). Subtitle B, section 431, paragraph (k) of Title IV of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act of 1994, Pub. L. No. 103-465, 108 Stat. 4809 (1994), amends section 17(d)(1) of the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA) (21 U.S.C. Sec. 466(d)(1)) to require that all imported poultry or poultry products intended for human consumption be subject to foreign inspection that achieves a level of sanitary protection equivalent to that achieved under United States standards. Imported poultry and poultry products must also be processed by the exporting country in facilities and under conditions that achieve that same level of sanitary protection. In addition, paragraph (k) amends section 17(d)(2) of the PPIA (21 U.S.C. Sec. 466(d)(2)) to allow the Secretary of Agriculture to treat the meat and poultry standards of exporting countries as ``equivalent to'' United States standards if the exporting countries provide the Secretary with sufficient scientific evidence to demonstrate that their standards achieve the level of sanitary protection achieved under the United States standard. Subtitle B, section 431, paragraph (l), Title IV, of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act similarly amends section 20(e)(1), subparagraphs (A) and (B) of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 620(e)(1)(A) and (B)). Because this codification is required by GATT, we expect no adverse public reaction resulting from this change in regulatory language. Therefore, unless notice is rece