Import Alert: Import Restrictions on Bosnia and Herzegovina due to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza

Import Alert: Import Restrictions on Bosnia and Herzegovina due to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza 

Issuance Date: February 13, 2025 

  2:35 PM, U.S. Eastern 

Effective Date: February 10, 2025 

Region: Bosnia and Herzegovina 

As of the effective date listed above, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is restricting the importation of avian commodities from the region listed above due to highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). 

Avian (bird, poultry, among other) commodities originating from or transiting the region are subject to HPAI-related import restrictions, such as those summarized below. Specific restrictions can differ by region and change as additional epidemiologic information becomes available. Details of region-specific import restrictions will be available through the Veterinary Services (VS) Permitting Assistant within a few weeks. 

Restrictions 

Poultry, commercial birds, ratites, and avian hatching eggs: Importation is prohibited. 

Pet and zoo birds, pigeons, and doves: May be imported under an APHIS import permit and subject to a 30-day quarantine at the New York Animal Import Center in Newburgh, NY, or the Miami Animal Import Center in Miami, FL.   

Processed avian products and by-products (including eggs and egg products): 

• If arriving as cargo, must be accompanied by a VS import permit and/or government certification confirming that the products or by-products were treated in accordance with APHIS requirements. 

• If arriving in passenger baggage, 

• must appear “thoroughly cooked” throughout (applies only to cooked, perishable poultry meat and poultry meat products and/or cooked, perishable egg/egg products intended for human consumption), OR 

• must be shelf stable as a result of APHIS-approved packaging and cooking (for example, packed in hermetically sealed containers and fully cooked by a commercial method after such packing to produce articles that are shelf stable without refrigeration), OR 

• must be accompanied by a VS import permit and/or government certification confirming that the products or by-products were treated in accordance with APHIS requirements. 

Unprocessed avian products and by-products (including eggs and egg products; meat; and hunter harvested, non-fully finished avian trophies): 

• If arriving as cargo, importation is prohibited with limited exceptions. In some cases, unprocessed avian products and by-products can be imported if consigned directly from the port of arrival to an eligible USDA-approved establishment. 

• If arriving in passenger baggage, importation is prohibited, except for trophies that are fully taxidermy finished or consigned directly to an eligible USDA-approved establishment. 

Fresh, unprocessed shell/table eggs and egg products, void of the shell (for example, liquid eggs and dried egg whites) arriving as cargo: Importation is prohibited unless they are consigned from the port of arrival directly to an APHIS-approved breaking and pasteurization facility. An import permit and/or certificate is not required for these shipments if they are consigned directly to an APHIS approved establishment. 

More information 

More information is available on the APHIS website at the links below.  

• Bringing Live Animals and Germplasm into the United States From Another Country (Import),  

• Animal Product Imports, and  

• Avian Influenza: disease, prevention, and control information.