2012-20943. Adjustment of Appendices to the Dairy Tariff-Rate Import Quota Licensing Regulation for the 2012 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 2012 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 Date: August 27, 2012.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Abdelsalam El-Farra, Dairy Import Licensing Program, Import Policies and Export Reporting Division, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1400 Independence Avenue SW., Stop 1021, Washington, DC 20250-1021; or by telephone at [phone]; 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 2012 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 13th day of July, 2012.

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:

Appendices 1-3 to Subpart—Dairy Tariff-Rate Import Quota Licensing

Articles Subject to: Appendix 1, Historical Licenses; Appendix 2, Nonhistorical Licenses; and Appendix 3, Designated Importer Licenses for Quota Year 2012

[Quantities in kilograms]

Article by additional U.S. Note No. and country of origin	Appendix 1	Appendix 2	Sum of Appendix 1&2	Appendix 3		Harmonized tariff schedule
				Tokyo R.	Uruguay R.
NON-CHEESE ARTICLES
BUTTER (G-NOTE 6)	4,733,992	2,243,008	6,977,000			6,977,000
EU-25	75,000	21,161	96,161
New Zealand	110,045	40,548	150,593
Other Countries	41,970	31,965	73,935
Any Country	4,506,977	2,149,334	6,656,311
DRIED SKIM MILK (K-NOTE 7)		5,261,000	5,261,000			5,261,000
Australia		600,076	600,076
Canada		219,565	219,565
Any Country		4,441,359	4,441,359
DRIED WHOLE MILK (H-NOTE 8)	3,175	3,318,125	3,321,300			3,321,300
New Zealand	3,175		3,175
Any Country		3,318,125	3,318,125
DRIED BUTTERMILK/WHEY (M-NOTE 12)		224,981	224,981			224,981
Canada		161,161	161,161
New Zealand		63,820	63,820
BUTTER SUBSTITUTES CONTAINING OVER 45 PERCENT OF BUTTERFAT AND/OR BUTTER OIL (SU-NOTE 14)		6,080,500	6,080,500			6,080,500
Any Country		6,080,500	6,080,500
TOTAL: NON-CHEESE ARTICLES	4,737,167	17,127,614	21,864,781			21,864,781
CHEESE ARTICLES
CHEESE AND SUBSTITUTES FOR CHEESE (EXCEPT: SOFT RIPENED COW'S MILK CHEESE; CHEESE NOT CONTAINING COW'S MILK; CHEESE (EXCEPT COTTAGE CHEESE) CONTAINING 0.5 PERCENT OR LESS BY WEIGHT OF BUTTERFAT; AND, ARTICLES WITHIN THE SCOPE OF OTHER IMPORT QUOTAS PROVIDED FOR IN THIS SUBCHAPTER) (OT-NOTE 16)	21,419,738	10,049,993	31,469,731	9,661,128	7,496,000	48,626,859
Argentina	7,690	0	7,690	92,310		100,000
Australia	535,628	5,542	541,170	758,830	1,750,000	3,050,000
Canada	977,439	163,561	1,141,000			1,141,000
Costa Rica		0			1,550,000	1,550,000
EU-25	15,729,427	7,538,229	23,267,656	1,132,568	3,446,000	27,846,224
Of which Portugal is:	65,838	63,471	129,309	223,691		353,000
Israel	79,696	0	79,696	593,304		673,000
Iceland	294,000	0	294,000	29,000		323,000
New Zealand	2,910,180	1,905,292	4,815,472	6,506,528		11,322,000
Norway	124,982	25,018	150,000			150,000
Switzerland	593,952	77,460	671,412	548,588	500,000	1,720,000
Uruguay		0			250,000	250,000
Other Countries	100,906	100,729	201,635			201,635
Any Country		300,000	300,000			300,000
BLUE-MOLD CHEESE (EXCEPT STILTON PRODUCED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM) AND CHEESE AND SUBSTITUTES FOR CHEESE CONTAINING, OR PROCESSED FROM, BLUE-MOLD CHEESE (B-NOTE 17)	2,283,646	197,355	2,481,001		430,000	2,911,001
Argentina	2,000	0	2,000			2,000
EU-25	2,281,646	197,354	2,479,000		350,000	2,829,000
Chile					80,000	80,000
Other Countries		1	1			1
CHEDDAR CHEESE, AND CHEESE AND SUBSTITUTES FOR CHEESE CONTAINING, OR PROCESSED FROM, CHEDDAR CHEESE (C-NOTE 18)	2,795,016	1,488,840	4,283,856	519,033	7,620,000	12,422,889
Australia	902,462	82,037	984,499	215,501	1,250,000	2,450,000
Chile		0			220,000	220,000
EU-25	52,404	210,596	263,000		1,050,000	1,313,000
New Zealand	1,737,605	1,058,863	2,796,468	303,532	5,100,000	8,200,000
Other Countries	102,545	37,344	139,889			139,889
Any Country		100,000	100,000			100,000
AMERICAN-TYPE CHEESE, INCLUDING COLBY, WASHED CURD AND GRANULAR CHEESE (BUT NOT INCLUDING CHEDDAR) AND CHEESE AND SUBSTITUTES FOR CHEESE CONTAINING OR PROCESSED FROM SUCH AMERICAN-TYPE CHEESE (A-NOTE 19)	2,688,157	477,396	3,165,553	357,003		3,522,556
Australia	761,890	119,108	880,998	119,002		1,000,000
EU-25	145,147	208,853	354,000			354,000
New Zealand	1,630,479	131,520	1,761,999	238,001		2,000,000
Other Countries	150,641	17,915	168,556			168,556
EDAM AND GOUDA CHEESE, AND CHEESE AND SUBSTITUTES FOR CHEESE CONTAINING, OR PROCESSED FROM, EDAM AND GOUDA CHEESE (E-NOTE 20)	4,910,073	696,329	5,606,402		1,210,000	6,816,402
Argentina	110,495	14,505	125,000		110,000	235,000
EU-25	4,680,498	608,502	5,289,000		1,100,000	6,389,000
Norway	114,318	52,682	167,000			167,000
Other Countries	4,762	20,640	25,402			25,402
ITALIAN-TYPE CHEESES, MADE FROM COW'S MILK, (ROMANO MADE FROM COW'S MILK, REGGIANO, PARMESAN, PROVOLONE, PROVOLETTI, SBRINZ, AND GOYA-NOT IN ORIGINAL LOAVES) AND CHEESE AND SUBSTITUTES FOR CHEESE CONTAINING, OR PROCESSED FROM, SUCH ITALIAN-TYPE CHEESES, WHETHER OR NOT IN ORIGINAL LOAVES (D-NOTE 21)	6,402,630	1,117,917	7,520,547	795,517	5,165,000	13,481,064
Argentina	3,910,738	214,745	4,125,483	367,517	1,890,000	6,383,000
EU-25	2,491,892	890,108	3,382,000		2,025,000	5,407,000
Romania		0			500,000	500,000
Uruguay		0		428,000	750,000	1,178,000
Other Countries		13,064	13,064			13,064
SWISS OR EMMENTHALER CHEESE OTHER THAN WITH EYE FORMATION, GRUYERE-PROCESS CHEESE AND CHEESE AND SUBSTITUTES FOR CHEESE CONTAINING, OR PROCESSED FROM, SUCH CHEESES (GR-NOTE 22)	5,264,929	1,386,385	6,651,314	823,519	380,000	7,854,833
EU-25	3,995,739	1,156,255	5,151,994	393,006	380,000	5,925,000
Switzerland	1,235,692	183,795	1,419,487	430,513		1,850,000
Other Countries	33,498	46,335	79,833			79,833
CHEESE AND SUBSTITUTES FOR CHEESE, CONTAINING 0.5 PERCENT OR LESS BY WEIGHT OF BUTTERFAT (EXCEPT ARTICLES WITHIN THE SCOPE OF OTHER TARIFF-RATE QUOTAS PROVIDED FOR IN THIS SUBCHAPTER), AND MARGARINE CHEESE (LF-NOTE 23)	1,840,852	2,584,056	4,424,918	1,050,000		5,474,908
EU-25	1,840,852	2,584,055	4,424,907			4,424,907
Israel		0		50,000		50,000
New Zealand		0		1,000,000		1,000,000
Other Countries		1	1			1
SWISS OR EMMENTHALER CHEESE WITH EYE FORMATION (SW-NOTE 25)	15,565,737	6,731,594	22,297,331	9,557,945	2,620,000	34,475,276
Argentina		9,115	9,115	70,885		80,000
Australia	209,698	0	209,698	290,302		500,000
Canada		0		70,000		70,000
EU-25	11,155,483	5,321,345	16,476,828	4,003,172	2,420,000	22,900,000
Iceland	149,999	0	149,999	150,001		300,000
Israel	27,000	0	27,000			27,000
Norway	3,187,264	468,046	3,655,310	3,227,690		6,883,000
Switzerland	776,708	907,397	1,684,105	1,745,895	200,000	3,630,000
Other Countries	59,585	25,691	85,276			85,276
TOTAL: CHEESE ARTICLES	63,170,778	24,729,865	87,900,653	22,764,145	24,921,000	135,585,788
TOTAL: CHEESE ARTICLES & NON-CHEESE ARTICLES	67,907,945	41,857,479	109,765,434	22,764,145	24,921,000	157,450,569