Revision of the Hawaiian and Territorial Fruits and Vegetables Regulations

We are revising and reorganizing the regulations pertaining to the interstate movement of fruits and vegetables from Hawaii and the territories to consolidate requirements of general applicability and eliminate redundant requirements, update terms and remove outdated requirements and references, and make various editorial and nonsubstantive changes to the regulations to make them easier to use. We are also making substantive changes to the regulations including establishing criteria within the regulations that, if met, will allow us to approve certain new fruits and vegetables for interstate movement in the United States and to acknowledge pest-free areas in Hawaii and U.S. territories expeditiously, and removing the listing in the regulations of some specific commodities as regulated articles. These changes are intended to simplify and expedite our processes for approving certain regulated articles for interstate movement and acknowledging pest-free areas while continuing to allow for public participation in the processes. This final rule does not allow for the interstate movement of any specific new fruits or vegetables, nor does it alter the conditions for interstate movement of currently approved fruits or vegetables. These changes will make our domestic interstate movement regulations more consistent with our fruits and vegetables import regulations. The changes in this final rule will not alter the manner in which the risk associated with a regulated article interstate movement request is evaluated, nor will they alter the manner in which those risks are ultimately mitigated.