[Federal Register: December 5, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 233)]
[Notices]
[Page 68554-68555]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr05de07-31]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. APHIS-2007-0149]
National Animal Identification System; Updated Program Standards
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that we are making available for
review and comment a revised version of the National Animal
Identification System (NAIS) Program Standards and Technical Reference
document. A previous Program Standards document was originally made
available in May 2005. The revised Program Standards and Technical
Reference document reflects the continuing evolution of the NAIS,
particularly with regard to identification devices available for
official use within the system, and provides further guidance to NAIS
participants and other interested stakeholders.
ADDRESSES: The revised Program Standards and Technical Reference
document is available on the Internet at http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/.
The document may also be viewed in our
reading room. The reading room is located in Room 1141 of the USDA
South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue, SW., Washington,
DC. Normal reading room hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except holidays. To be sure someone is there to help you,
please call (202) 690-2817 before coming.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Adam Grow; Director, Surveillance
and Identification Programs, National Center for Animal Health
Programs, VS, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 200, Riverdale, MD 20737-
1231; (301) 734-3752.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On May 6, 2005, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
(APHIS) published in the Federal Register (70 FR 23961-23963, Docket
No. 05-015-1) a notice advising the public that two documents related
to the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), a Draft Strategic
Plan and a Draft Program Standards document, were being made available
to the public for review and comment. The Draft Program Standards
document provided technical data standards to be used for information
systems in the NAIS. Subsequently, a Draft User Guide for the NAIS
replaced the 2005 Draft Program Standards, as well as other draft NAIS
documents. We published a notice of availability of the Draft User
Guide in the Federal Register (72 FR 4680-4681, Docket No. APHIS-2007-
0007) on February 1, 2007. The February 2007 notice also announced the
availability of a technical specification document for animal tracking
databases and an updated Program Standards and Technical Reference
document.
The Program Standards and Technical Reference document supplemented
the User Guide and contained an update of the data element standards
that were in the 2005 Draft Program Standards. It was targeted to
entities that are involved in the administration of the program,
including manufacturers of animal identification devices. At that time,
only
[[Page 68555]]
the Cattle Working Group and the Equine Species Working Group had
provided performance standards for APHIS to employ when approving
devices for use in the NAIS, so the standards included only the
recommendations of those groups. Since then, the Swine Working Group
and the Sheep and Goat Working Group have also provided
recommendations, and in October 2007, we updated the Program Standards
and Technical Reference document to include information specific to
those species and made some other changes. We are, therefore, now
making available to the public for review and comment this newly
updated version of the Program Standards and Technical Reference
document. We will continue to solicit public comments and stakeholder
feedback on the document through the NAIS Web site.
Updates to the document include the following: (1) Adjustments to
performance standards for identification eartags; (2) adjustments to
printing standards for individual animal identification eartags; (3)
the addition of printing standards for slaughter swine premises
identification; and (4) the adjustment of our performance standards for
radio frequency identification (RFID) injectable transponders to allow
for the potential use of alternate International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) or U.S.-based technology standards. These updates
are discussed in more detail below.
Performance Standards for Identification Eartags
In the February 2007 Program Standards and Technical Reference
document, we included a table outlining performance standards for
identification eartags. These standards focused on cattle, since the
Cattle Working Group had provided performance standards and since
cattle were the primary species using NAIS identification at that time.
We have now updated the performance standards for ``Readability'' and
``Tag loss rates'' to include information specific to sheep and goats
and swine. For readability, we have added a note indicating that, for
swine, the premises identification number (PIN) must also be easily and
reliably readable. For tag loss rates, we have specified separate
performance requirements for cattle (noting that the requirements for
cattle should be used for all other species not specified in the
table), sheep and goats, and swine. Due to the addition of eartag
identification performance standards for species other than cattle, we
have also changed the title of the table from ``Identification Eartag''
to ``Performance Standards for Identification Eartags for all Species
that use Eartags.''
Printing Standards for Eartags
In the February 2007 Program Standards and Technical Reference
document, we included a table containing printing standards for
identification eartags. As with the performance standards discussed
above, the printing standards focused on cattle, since the Cattle
Working Group had provided standards and since cattle were the primary
species using NAIS identification at that time. We have now updated
those standards to address the needs for unique, individual animal
identification for sheep and goats and swine. Specifically, we have
provided for the following options: (1) The use of smaller print sizes
for the U.S. Shield, numbers, and letters, if needed, on tags for sheep
and goats; (2) the inclusion of an eight-character series in the
National Uniform Eartagging System, in addition to the current nine-
character series, to accommodate the need for smaller eartags in
smaller species such as swine and sheep; (3) the continuing use of a
PIN plus an individual animal number unique to the premises for swine
as an alternative to the animal identification number (AIN); and (4)
the use of a number issued by the scrapie program consisting of a flock
identification number (FIN) plus an individual animal number unique to
the flock for sheep and goats as an alternative to the AIN. We have
also changed the title of the table from ``Printing Standards for
Eartags'' to ``Printing Standards for Individual Animal ID Eartags'' to
differentiate these standards for ``individual animal identification''
eartags from the standards for ``premises identification'' eartags for
slaughter swine. Slaughter swine do not require unique, individual
animal identification.
Printing Standards for Slaughter Swine Premises Identification
The Swine Working Group recently provided recommendations related
to printing standards necessary for official identification for
slaughter swine premises identification. This updated October 2007
Program Standards and Technical Reference document now provides a
table, directly following the ``Printing Standards for Individual
Animal ID Eartags'' table described above, outlining the printing
standards for slaughter swine premises identification eartags. The
February 2007 document did not have such a table.
Adjustment to Performance Requirements for RFID Injectable Transponders
The February 2007 Program Standards and Technical Reference
document included a table outlining performance requirements for RFID
injectable transponders, as recommended by the Equine Species Working
Group. Continuing work with this group resulted in an application to be
used by manufacturers of such devices to gain approval by APHIS for use
in the NAIS. The application indicates that other ISO or U.S.-based
technology standards might be approved for use by APHIS, so the ``ISO
Compliant'' standard has been adjusted to read, ``All transponders must
be certified by ICAR [International Committee for Animal Recording] for
conformance with ISO 11784 and 11785, unless other ISO or U.S.-based
technology standards are applicable to livestock and approved for use
by APHIS.''
Comments about the revised Program Standards and Technical
Reference document or other aspects of the NAIS may be submitted to
USDA through the NAIS Web site e-mail address:
animalidcomments@aphis.usda.gov or by mail to NAIS Program Staff, VS,
APHIS, 4700 River Road, Unit 200, Riverdale, MD 20737.
Done in Washington, DC, this 29th day of November 2007.
Kevin Shea,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. E7-23524 Filed 12-4-07; 8:45 am]
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