APHIS PHYTO

APHIS Phytosanitary Certificate Issuance and Tracking (PCIT) Certificates for Baled Cotton

The USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Memphis office has indicated that they have issued the first electronic signature on Phytosanitary Certificate Issuance and Tracking (PCIT) certificates for baled cotton. In addition, APHIS said a procedure for issuing an electronically signed PCIT certificate for a baled cotton shipment has been implemented on a trial basis through that Memphis office.

APHIS also informed the NCC that:  1) the only commodity allowed to use this practice is baled cotton; 2) there must be universal agreement by importing countries to accept an electronic signature in lieu of a regular signature or the procedure may be terminated; 3) APHIS plans to make this option available across the Cotton Belt once the new procedure is accepted by US cotton's trading partners and some minor technical issues are addressed.

For more information, contact Kathleen Henry, at the APHIS Memphis office, at 901-309-6434.

Section 4-2 Special Procedures - Commodity - Cotton was revised by APHIS on January 21, 2009. All editions of the APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) Export Program Manual (XPM) published after that date include the new procedures.

Some of these procedures are significant updates of the nationwide template for establishing compliance agreements with cotton warehouses. An enhancement to the procedure is the addition of an online fillable National Cotton Compliance Agreement (NCCA). Also available online is a fillable PPQ Form 572, Application for Inspection and Certification of Domestic Plants and Plant Products for Export.

Chapter 3 of the Export Program Manual contains the general procedures for completing a PPQ Form 572. Chapter 3 describes what information is needed to determine a commodity's eligibility and import requirements as well as instructions for completing PPQ Form 572 using PCIT or the paper equivalent. Applicants (shippers and freight forwarders) must submit completed PPQ 572s when requesting a phytosanitary certificate (PPQ Form 577).

It is the applicant's (not the warehouse's) responsibility to submit a request for an export certificate in a timely manner. However, a warehouse with an NCCA may assist the applicant by performing the necessary inspections and then completing and sending the PPQ Form 572 to the applicant (not APHIS). Warehouses only need to provide an applicant with a hard (emailed or faxed) copy of a PPQ Form 572 because -- APHIS allows PHYTO applicants to submit either PCIT-generated or non PCIT- generated PPQ Form 572s when a PHYTO is needed.