114 STAT. 442 PUBLIC LAW 106-224—JUNE 20, 2000 Deadline. Publication. Public information. (b) POLICY.— The Secretary shall ensure that processes used in developing regulations under this section governing consideration of import requests are based on sound science and are transparent and accessible. (c) REGULATIONS.— The Secretary may issue regulations to implement subsection (a), including regulations requiring that any plant, plant product, biological control organism, noxious weed, article, or means of conveyance imported, entered, to be exported, or moved in interstate commerce— (1) be accompanied by a permit issued by the Secretary prior to the importation, entry, exportation, or movement in interstate commerce; (2) be accompanied by a certificate of inspection issued (in a manner and form required by the Secretary) by appropriate officials of the country or State from which the plant, plant product, biological control organism, noxious weed, article, or means of conveyance is to be moved; (3) be subject to remedial measures the Secretary determines to be necessary to prevent the spread of plant pests or noxious weeds; and (4) with respect to plants or biological control organisms, be grown or handled under post-entry quarantine conditions by or under the supervision of the Secretary for the purposes of determining whether the plant or biological control organism may be infested with plant pests or may be a plant pest or noxious weed. (d) NOTICE.— Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall publish for public comment a notice describing the procedures and standards that govern the consideration of import requests. The notice shall— (1) specify how public input will be sought in advance of and during the process of promulgating regulations necessitating a risk assessment in order to ensure a fully treinsparent and publicly accessible process; and (2) include consideration of the following: (A) Public announcement of import requests that will necessitate a risk assessment. (B) A process for assigning major/nonroutine or minor/ routine status to such requests based on current state of supporting scientific information. (C) A process for assigning priority to requests. (D) Guidelines for seeking relevant scientific and economic information in advance of initiating informal rulemaking. (E) Guidelines for ensuring availability and transparency of assumptions and uncertainties in the risk assessment process including applicable risk mitigation measures relied upon individually or as components of a system of mitigative measures proposed consistent with the pvuTposes of this title. (e) STUDY AND REPORT ON SYSTEMS APPROACH.— (1) STUDY.— The Secretary shall conduct a study of the role for and application of systems approaches designed to guard against the introduction of plant pathogens into the United States associated with proposals to import plants or plant products into the United States.
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