Practice Areas
Citrus Imports from Morocco Region Prohibited Due to Medfly
Effective Dec. 23, the Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has prohibited the importation of tangerines, clementines, mandarins, and sweet oranges produced in, packaged in, moved through, or shipped from the Berkane region in Morocco. Shipments of such fruit that are currently in transit to the U.S. may enter if they arrive at a port of entry north of 39 degrees latitude and east of 104 degrees longitude by Jan. 6, pass cold treatment, and are inspected and determined to present no plant pest risk.
Further, all shipments of tangerines, clementines, mandarins, and sweet oranges from other regions of Morocco must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration that the fruit was not produced in, packaged in, moved through, or shipped from the Berkane region and has been produced in accordance with an operational workplan that the national plant protection organization of Morocco has entered into with APHIS. This is in addition to the other requirements of the workplan, which are still in effect for shipments from such regions.
These restrictions are being imposed because on Dec. 14 U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspections at the Philadelphia port of entry detected live Mediterranean fruit flies on commercial consignments of clementines from the Berkane region.
