Permanent, Privately-Owned Horse Quarantine Facilities

Background
The horse industry is an international industry and increasingly more foreign horses are being brought into the U.S. for racing, showing, sale and breeding and often there are not enough quarantine spaces to accommodate them all.

There are presently three facilities through which horses may be brought into the U.S. permanently. The need for additional quarantine space has increased dramatically and more facilities are needed to handle the additional commerce. But current USDA rules do not provide for permanent, privately-owned facilities. If there were such rules, private industry could step in under USDA requirements and fill that gap.

The American Horse Council and other equine groups have been calling for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to re-publish the rule proposal that was originally proposed over four years ago to respond to the need for more import facilities through privately-operated stations.

Rule Proposal
The USDA re-published a new and updated proposal on December 13, 2006 that would permit the establishment and operation of permanent, privately-owned quarantine facilities under certain conditions. Though based on the prior proposal, it contains some changes that were suggested in comments on the 2002 proposal, specifically with different restrictions on ownership and requirements for the physical plant, operating procedures, and compliance.

USDA’s proposal sets forth fairly specific criteria that a private facility would have to meet to be granted a permit to be a quarantine facility for permanent-entry horses. These facilities would have to be approved by USDA’s Animal and Plant Inspection Service (APHIS) and maintain the same level of biological security standards as current permanent facilities operated by APHIS. Although privately-owned, at least one APHIS representative would have to be onsite to oversee the care of the horses during normal working hours.

The proposed rule would not affect the current USDA regulations that allow the approval of temporary, privately-owned quarantine facilities for horses imported for specific events, such as certain races or shows. These rules would remain as they are.

Application Process: Any permanent facility would be subject to APHIS approval and oversight. The proposed regulations provide information about how to apply for approval of a permanent facility and information concerning denial and withdrawal of approval. Any application by a private operator would be submitted to the Administrator of the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). USDA will review requests for approval as a permanent facility on a “first-come, first-served” basis.

Under the proposed rules, an operator of a private quarantine facility could not also act as a broker for the sale or importation of horses.

Compliance Agreement: If approved, a facility must operate in accordance with a compliance agreement between the owner and the APHIS Administrator, which must be renewed on an annual basis. This agreement is in effect the operating agreement between the parties. The operator is responsible for all costs associated with the maintenance and operation of the facility, including the cost of all APHIS services, the hiring of employees, and the care of the quarantined horses, including feed, bedding, medicines, inspections, testing, laboratory procedures and necropsy examinations.

Proposed Physical Requirements for Permanent Facilities: The proposed regulations list the basic, specific physical criteria that a permanent facility must meet for approval. Additional requirements could also be imposed by APHIS pursuant to the compliance agreement to ensure that the quarantine is adequate to determine the horses’ health status and prevent the transmission of diseases into, within, or from the facility. It is proposed that any permanent, privately owned facility must be designed, equipped, and monitored similarly to the APHIS quarantine facilities to ensure sufficient protection against disease.

Additional Differences from Prior Proposal: The newly released proposal includes a provision that would allow necropsies to be conducted off-site from the facility, if it does not have a necropsy area onsite. Additionally, there is a change from the prior proposal that prohibits vaccinations from being performed at the facility, due to the fact that vaccinations performed on horses while in quarantine can alter their immune system and affect the diagnostic test results.

AHC Comments
USDA asked for public comment on the specifics of the proposed rule. On February 12, 2007, the AHC submitted comments supporting the proposed rules for Permanent Privately-Owned Horse Quarantine Facilities. You can read the comments in their entirety here. (PDF File)

The AHC expressed its support of permanent privately-owned quarantine facilities, mentioning some key points that it wished to emphasize within the proposal, as well as some concerns.

There were two items in particular that the AHC supported and wanted to emphasize. The first was the importance of having APHIS personnel present at the privately-owned facilities in order to provide the oversight and assistance necessary to ensure the biological security of the facility. The second item emphasized was the importance that the establishment of permanent privately-owned quarantine facilities not have any affect on temporary, privately-owned quarantine facilities, which are an important resource to the horse industry and have worked well.