The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is proposing changes to its regulations regarding the importation of wheat from areas affected with Karnal bunt.

The proposed changes include the following: developing lists of regulated articles and regions affected by Karnal bunt; increasing the flexibility of the regulations to provide for faster recognition of areas free of the disease, describing conditions under which wheat and related articles from affected regions could be imported into the United States and specifying disinfection requirements for imported farm equipment used to handle Karnal bunt-positive wheat.

These proposed changes would make APHIS' import regulations for wheat and related articles from areas affected with Karnal bunt equivalent to its domestic Karnal bunt regulations.

Notice of this action is published in the March 3 Federal Register. APHIS documents published in the Federal Register and related information, including the names of organizations and individuals who have commented on APHIS dockets, are available on the Internet at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/webrepor.html.

Consideration will be given to comments received on or before May 3. Comments may be submitted by postal mail, commercial delivery or e-mail. Send an original and three copies of postal mail or commercial delivery comments to Docket No. 02-057-1, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3C71, 4700 River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, Md. 20737-1238. If you use e-mail, address your comments to regulations@aphis.usda.gov. Comments must be contained in the body of the message; do not send attached files. Please include your name and address in the message and use "Docket No. 02-057-1" on the subject line.

Comments may be reviewed at USDA, Room 1141, South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C., between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. Persons wishing to review comments are requested to call ahead on (202) 690-2817 to facilitate entry into the comment reading room.