USDA announces Oct. 1 as deadline to participate in accreditation program

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23, 2011 Ñ The U.S. Department of AgricultureÕs Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today announced to the public that veterinarians who are currently accredited in the National Veterinary Accreditation Program (NVAP) may continue to perform accredited duties and may elect to continue to participate in the NVAP until Oct. 1, 2011. A previous notice announced that currently accredited veterinarians may continue to perform accredited duties until further notice, even if they had not received a date for their first accreditation renewal, because logistical difficulties prevented APHIS from processing currently accredited veterinarians (over 50,000) who elected to participate. The USDA is now close to reaching its goal of processing these elections and is specifying Oct. 1 as the date by which veterinarians must elect to continue to participate in the NVAP. The accreditation of all currently accredited veterinarians who have not elected to participate in the program will expire, ending their authorization to perform accredited work. For accredited veterinarians who have not yet elected to participate and would like to do so, APHIS has made available a Web seminar on the revisions to the NVAP and how to elect to participate. For more information on the accreditation program and pending deadline, please visit the APHIS Web site.