(a) Inspection. All cut flowers imported into the United States must be made available to an inspector for examination at the port of first arrival and must remain at the port of first arrival until released, or authorized further movement, by an inspector.

(b) Actions to prevent the introduction of plant pests; notice by an inspector. If an inspector orders any disinfection, cleaning, treatment, reexportation, or other action with regard to imported cut flowers that are found to be infested with injurious plant pests or infected with diseases, the inspector will provide an emergency action notification (PPQ Form 523) to the importer, owner, or agent or representative of the importer or owner of the cut flowers. The importer, owner, or agent or representative of the importer or owner must, within the time specified in the PPQ Form 523 and at his or her own expense, destroy the cut flowers, ship them to a point outside the United States, move them to an authorized site, and/or apply treatments, clean, or apply other safeguards to the cut flowers as prescribed by the inspector on the PPQ Form 523. Further, if the importer, owner, or agent or representative of the importer or owner fails to follow the conditions on PPQ Form 523 by the time specified on the form, APHIS will arrange for destruction of the cut flowers, and the importer, owner, or agent or representative of the importer or owner will be responsible for all costs incurred. Cut flowers that have been cleaned or treated must be made available for further inspection, cleaning, and treatment at the option of the inspector at any time and place indicated by the inspector before the requirements of this subpart will have been met. Neither the Department of Agriculture nor the inspector may be held responsible for any adverse effects of treatment on imported cut flowers.

(c) Fumigation for agromyzids. Cut flowers imported from any country or locality and found upon inspection to be infested with agromyzids (insects of the family Agromyzidae) must be fumigated at the time of importation with methyl bromide in accordance with part 305 of this chapter, with the following exceptions:

(1) Fumigation will not be required for cut flowers imported from Canada (including Labrador and Newfoundland) or Mexico because of the finding of agromyzids.

(2) Fumigation will not be required for cut flowers of Chrysanthemum spp. imported from Colombia or the Dominican Republic because of the finding of agromyzids, when such agromyzids are identified by an inspector to be only agromyzids of the species Liriomyza trifolii (Burgess).

(d) Chrysanthemum white rust hosts. (1) The following Chrysanthemum, Leucanthemella, and Nipponanthemum spp. are considered to be hosts of chrysanthemum white rust:

(2) Chrysanthemum white rust is considered to exist in the following regions: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Canary Islands, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Ecuador, Iceland, Japan, Korea, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Republic of South Africa, Russia, San Marino, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, Yugoslavia; the European Union (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom); and all countries, territories, and possessions of countries located in part or entirely between 90° and 180° East longitude.

(3) Cut flowers of any species listed in paragraph (d)(1) of this section may be imported into the United States from any region listed in paragraph (d)(2) of this section only under the following conditions:

(i) The flowers must be grown in a production site that is registered with the national plant protection organization (NPPO) of the country in which the production site is located or with the NPPO's designee, and the NPPO or its designee must provide a list of registered sites to APHIS.

(ii) Each shipment of cut flowers must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate or equivalent documentation, issued by the NPPO of the country of origin or its designee, that contains an additional declaration stating that the place of production as well as the consignment have been inspected and found free of Puccinia horiana.

(iii) Box labels and other documents accompanying shipments of cut flowers must be marked with the identity of the registered production site.

(iv) APHIS-authorized inspectors must also be allowed access to production sites and other areas necessary to monitor the chrysanthemum white rust-free status of the production sites.

(4) Cut flowers not meeting these conditions will be refused entry into the United States. The detection of chrysanthemum white rust in a shipment of cut flowers from a registered production site upon arrival in the United States will result in the prohibition of imports originating from the production site until such time when APHIS and the NPPO of the exporting country, can agree that the eradication measures taken have been effective and that the pest risk within the production site has been eliminated.

(e) Irradiation. Cut flowers and foliage that are required under this part to be treated or subjected to inspection to control one or more of the plant pests for which irradiation is an approved treatment under part 305 of this chapter may instead be treated with irradiation. Irradiation treatment must be conducted in accordance with the requirements of part 305 of this chapter. There is a possibility that some cut flowers could be damaged by such irradiation.

(f) Refusal of entry. If an inspector finds that imported cut flowers are so infested with a plant pest or infected with disease that, in the judgment of the inspector, they cannot be cleaned or treated, or if they contain soil or other prohibited contaminants, the entire lot may be refused entry into the United States.

(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 0579-0271) [64 FR 38110, July 15, 1999, as amended at 71 FR 4464, Jan. 27, 2006; 72 FR 15811, Apr. 3, 2007; 75 FR 4253, Jan. 26, 2010]