2015-19083. Adjustment of Appendices to the Dairy Tariff-Rate Import Quota Licensing Regulation for the 2015 Tariff-Rate Quota Year

AGENCY:

Office of the Secretary, USDA.

ACTION:

Final rule.

SUMMARY:

This document sets forth the revised appendices to the Dairy Tariff-Rate Import Quota Licensing Regulation for the 2015 quota year reflecting the cumulative annual transfers from Appendix 1 to Appendix 2 for certain dairy product import licenses permanently surrendered by licensees or revoked by the Licensing Authority.

DATES:

Effective: August 4, 2015.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Abdelsalam El-Farra, Dairy Import Licensing Program, Import Policies and Export Reporting Division, U.S. Department of Agriculture, at(202) 720-9439; or by email at: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Foreign Agricultural Service, under a delegation of authority from the Secretary of Agriculture, administers the Dairy Tariff-Rate Import Quota Licensing Regulation codified at 7 CFR 6.20-6.37 that provides for the issuance of licenses to import certain dairy articles under tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) as set forth in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. These dairy articles may only be entered into the United States at the low-tier tariff by or for the account of a person or firm to whom such licenses have been issued and only in accordance with the terms and conditions of the regulation.

Licenses are issued on a calendar year basis, and each license authorizes the license holder to import a specified quantity and type of dairy article from a specified country of origin. The Import Policies and Export Reporting Division, Foreign Agricultural Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, issues these licenses and, in conjunction with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, monitors their use.

The regulation at 7 CFR 6.34(a) states: “Whenever a historical license (Appendix 1) is not issued to an applicant pursuant to the provisions of 6.23, is permanently surrendered or is revoked by the Licensing Authority, the amount of such license will be transferred to Appendix 2.” Section 6.34(b) provides that the cumulative annual transfers will be published in the Federal Register. Accordingly, this document sets forth the revised Appendices for the 2015 tariff-rate quota year.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 6

• Agricultural commodities
• Cheese
• Dairy products
• Imports
• Reporting and recordkeeping requirements

Issued at Washington, DC, the 16th day of July, 2015.

Ronald Lord,

Licensing Authority.

Accordingly, 7 CFR part 6 is amended as follows:

PART 6—IMPORT QUOTAS AND FEES

1. The authority citation for Part 6, Subpart—Dairy Tariff-Rate Import Quota Licensing continues to read as follows:

Authority: Additional U.S. Notes 6, 7, 8, 12, 14, 16-23 and 25 to Chapter 4 and General Note 15 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (19 U.S.C. 1202), Pub. L. 97-258, 96 Stat. 1051, as amended (31 U.S.C. 9701), and secs. 103 and 404, Pub. L. 103-465, 108 Stat. 4819(19 U.S.C. 3513 and 3601).

2. Appendices 1, 2 and 3 to Subpart—Dairy Tariff-Rate Import Quota Licensing are revised to read as follows:

Articles Subject to: Appendix 1, Historical Licenses; Appendix 2 Non-Historical Licenses; and Appendix 3, Designated Importers Licenses for Quota Year 2015

[Quantities in kilograms]

Non-cheese articles	Appendix 1	Appendix 2	Sum of appendix 1 & 2	Appendix 3		Grand total	HTS
				Tokyo R.	Uruguay R.		Chapter 4/2014
BUTTER (NOTE 6)	4,545,013	2,431,987	6,977,000			6,977,000	6,977,000
EU-27	62,599	33,562	96,161
New Zealand	88,264	62,329	150,593
Other Countries	39,173	34,762	73,935
Any Country	4,354,977	2,301,334	6,656,311
DRIED SKIM MILK (NOTE 7)		5,261,000	5,261,000			5,261,000	5,261,000
Australia	0	600,076	600,076
Canada	0	219,565	219,565
Any Country	0	4,441,359	4,441,359
DRIED WHOLE MILK (NOTE 8)	0	3,321,300	3,321,300			3,321,300	3,321,300
New Zealand	0	3,175	3,175
Any Country	0	3,318,125	3,318,125
DRIED BUTTERMILK/WHEY (NOTE 12)	0	224,981	224,981			224,981	224,981
Canada	0	161,161	161,161
New Zealand	0	63,820	63,820
BUTTER SUBSTITUTES CONTAINING OVER 45 PERCENT OF BUTTERFAT AND/OR BUTTER OIL (NOTE 14)	0	6,080,500	6,080,500			6,080,500	6,080,500
Any Country	0	6,080,500	6,080,500
TOTAL: NON-CHEESE ARTICLES	4,545,013	17,319,768	21,864,781			21,864,781	21,864,781

Cheese articles	Appendix 1	Appendix 2	Sum of appendix 1 & 2	Tokyo R.	Uruguay R.	Grand total	Chapter 4/2010
CHEESE AND SUBSTITUTES FOR CHEESE (NOTE 16)	18,385,959	13,083,772	31,469,731	9,661,128	7,496,000	48,626,859	48,626,859
Argentina	0	7,690	7,690	92,310		100,000	100,000
Australia	535,628	5,542	541,170	758,830	1,750,000	3,050,000	3,050,000
Canada	977,439	163,561	1,141,000			1,141,000	1,141,000
Costa Rica	0	0	0		1,550,000	1,550,000	1,550,000
EU-27	14,342,806	8,924,850	23,267,656	1,132,568	3,446,000	27,846,224	27,493,224
Of which Portugal is:	65,838	63,471	129,309	223,691		353,000	353,000
Israel	79,696	0	79,696	593,304		673,000	673,000
Iceland	29,054	264,946	294,000	29,000		323,000	323,000
New Zealand	1,595,012	3,220,460	4,815,472	6,506,528		11,322,000	11,322,000
Norway	122,860	27,140	150,000			150,000	150,000
Switzerland	536,720	134,692	671,412	548,588	500,000	1,720,000	1,720,000
Uruguay	0	0	0		250,000	250,000	250,000
Other Countries	100,906	100,729	201,635			201,635	201,635
Any Country	0	300,000	300,000			300,000	300,000
BLUE-MOLD CHEESE (NOTE 17)	1,947,512	533,489	2,481,001		430,000	2,911,001	2,911,001
Argentina	2,000	0	2,000			2,000	2,000
EU-27	1,945,512	533,488	2,479,000		350,000	2,829,000	2,829,000
Chile	0	0	0		80,000	80,000	80,000
Other Countries	0	1	1			1	1
CHEDDAR CHEESE (NOTE 18)	2,344,177	1,939,679	4,283,856	519,033	7,620,000	12,422,889	12,422,889
Australia	897,786	86,713	984,499	215,501	1,250,000	2,450,000	2,450,000
Chile	0	0	0		220,000	220,000	220,000
EU-27	52,404	210,596	263,000		1,050,000	1,313,000	1,313,000
New Zealand	1,292,374	1,504,094	2,796,468	303,532	5,100,000	8,200,000	8,200,000
Other Countries	101,613	38,276	139,889			139,889	139,889
Any Country	0	100,000	100,000			100,000	100,000
AMERICAN-TYPE CHEESE (NOTE 19)	1,248,043	1,917,510	3,165,553	357,003	0	3,522,556	3,522,556
Australia	761,890	119,108	880,998	119,002		1,000,000	1,000,000
EU-27	140,611	213,389	354,000			354,000	354,000
New Zealand	217,680	1,544,319	1,761,999	238,001		2,000,000	2,000,000
Other Countries	127,862	40,694	168,556			168,556	168,556
EDAM AND GOUDA CHEESE (NOTE 20)	4,335,725	1,270,677	5,606,402	0	1,210,000	6,816,402	6,816,402
Argentina	105,418	19,582	125,000		110,000	235,000	235,000
EU-27	4,114,499	1,174,501	5,289,000		1,100,000	6,389,000	6,389,000
Norway	111,046	55,954	167,000			167,000	167,000
Other Countries	4,762	20,640	25,402			25,402	25,402
ITALIAN-TYPE CHEESES (NOTE 21)	6,179,155	1,341,392	7,520,547	795,517	5,165,000	13,481,064	13,481,064
Argentina	3,762,028	363,455	4,125,483	367,517	1,890,000	6,383,000	6,383,000
EU-27	2,417,127	964,873	3,382,000		2,025,000	5,407,000	5,407,000
Romania	0	0	0		500,000	500,000	500,000
Uruguay	0	0	0	428,000	750,000	1,178,000	1,178,000
Other Countries	0	13,064	13,064			13,064	13,064
SWISS OR EMMENTHALER CHEESE (NOTE 22)	5,182,610	1,468,704	6,651,314	823,519	380,000	7,854,833	7,854,833
EU-27	3,918,461	1,233,533	5,151,994	393,006	380,000	5,925,000	5,925,000
Switzerland	1,230,651	188,836	1,419,487	430,513		1,850,000	1,850,000
Other Countries	33,498	46,335	79,833			79,833	79,833
CHEESE AND SUBSTITUTES FOR CHEESE (NOTE 23)	1,837,206	2,587,702	4,424,908	1,050,000	0	5,474,908	5,474,908
EU-27	1,837,206	2,587,701	4,424,907			4,424,907	4,424,907
Israel	0	0	0	50,000		50,000	50,000
New Zealand	0	0	0	1,000,000		1,000,000	1,000,000
Other Countries	0	1	1			1	1
SWISS OR EMMENTHALER CHEESE WITH EYE FORMATION (NOTE 25)	13,609,024	8,688,307	22,297,331	9,557,945	2,620,000	34,475,276	34,475,276
Argentina	0	9,115	9,115	70,885		80,000	80,000
Australia	209,698	0	209,698	290,302		500,000	500,000
Canada	0	0	0	70,000		70,000	70,000
EU-27	10,081,002	6,395,826	16,476,828	4,003,172	2,420,000	22,900,000	22,900,000
Iceland	0	149,999	149,999	150,001		300,000	300,000
Israel	27,000	0	27,000			27,000	27,000
Norway	2,480,021	1,175,289	3,655,310	3,227,690		6,883,000	6,883,000
Switzerland	763,050	921,055	1,684,105	1,745,895	200,000	3,630,000	3,630,000
Other Countries	48,253	37,023	85,276			85,276	85,276
TOTAL: CHEESE ARTICLES	55,069,411	32,831,232	87,900,643	22,764,145	24,921,000	135,585,788	135,585,788
TOTAL: CHEESE & NON-CHEESE	59,614,424	50,151,000	109,765,424	22,764,145	24,921,000	157,450,569	157,450,569