[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 168 (Thursday, September 2, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49289-49292]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-19106]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Foreign Agricultural Service


Adjustment of Appendices Under the Dairy Tariff-Rate Quota Import 
Licensing Regulation

AGENCY: Foreign Agricultural Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the transfer of amounts for certain 
dairy articles from the historical license category (Appendix 1) to the 
lottery (nonhistorical) license category (Appendix 2) pursuant to the 
Dairy Tariff-Rate Quota Import Licensing regulations for the 2021 quota 
year. In addition, adjustments have been made to the Appendices to 
reflect changes to United Kingdom (UK) and European Union (EU) country 
allocations for certain tariff rate quotas (TRQs) and other changes to 
the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) made by the 
U.S. Trade Representative in response to the withdrawal of the UK from 
the EU and the accession of Croatia to the EU, which will go into 
effect for the 2022 quota year. Appendices 1 and 2 for the EU-27 for 
Additional U.S. Note 16 to Chapter 4 have also been adjusted to account 
for a clerical error in last year's Appendices 1 and 2 published 
amounts. This correction does not increase the overall quantity 
allotted to the EU-27 and the UK.

DATES: September 2, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Abdelsalam El-Farra, (202) 720-9439; 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Foreign Agricultural Service, under a 
delegation of authority from the Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign 
Agricultural Affairs, administers the Dairy Tariff-Rate Quota Import 
Licensing regulation codified at 7 CFR 6.20 through 6.36 that provides 
for the issuance of licenses to import certain dairy articles under 
TRQs as set forth in the HTSUS. 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 Imports 
Program, 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 that whenever a historical 
license (Appendix 1) is permanently surrendered, revoked by the 
Licensing Authority, or not issued to an applicant pursuant to the 
provisions of Sec.  6.23, then the amount of such license will be 
transferred to Appendix 2. Section 6.34(b) provides that the cumulative 
annual transfers will be published by notice in the Federal Register. 
Accordingly, this document sets forth the revised Appendices in the 
table below. The quantities for designated licenses (Appendix 3 and 
Appendix 4) are also included in the table below for completeness.
    In addition, the Appendices have been revised to reflect modified 
EU and UK country allocations under certain TRQs in Chapter 4 of the 
HTSUS made by the U.S. Trade Representative in response to the 
withdrawal of the UK from the EU and to acknowledge the accession of 
Croatia to the EU. On July 6, 2021, the U.S. Trade Representative 
announced, inter alia, that: (1) The TRQs allocated to the EU under 
Additional U.S. Notes 6, 16, 17, and 18 to Chapter 4 will be allocated 
between the EU and the UK according to the average percentage of in-
quota imports for the 2013-2015 period; and (2) the UK would have 
access to a specific in-quota quantity under these notes. Specifically, 
the U.S. Trade Representative announced that, effective with respect to 
articles entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for 
consumption, on or after January 1, 2022:
    1. Additional U.S. Note 2 to Chapter 4 of the HTSUS is modified by: 
(a) Inserting ``Croatia,'' into the list of countries in alphabetical 
order; and (b) deleting ``the Slovak Republic, Sweden or the United 
Kingdom'' and inserting ``the Slovak Republic or Sweden'' in lieu 
thereof.
    2. With respect to the published in-quota quantity of 96,161 
kilograms allocated to the EU 27 for the TRQ in Additional U.S. Note 6 
to Chapter 4 of the HTSUS, the UK shall have access to a quantity of 
not less than 14,062 kilograms and the EU 27 shall have access to a 
quantity of not less than 82,099 kilograms.
    3. Additional U.S. Note 16 to Chapter 4 of the HTSUS is modified 
by: (a) Inserting ``United Kingdom'' into the list of countries in 
alphabetical order; (b) inserting a quota quantity of ``2,213,374'' in 
the Quantity (kg) column for the United Kingdom; (c) deleting the 
quantity ``27,846,224'' in the Quantity (kg) column for the EU27; and 
(d)

[[Page 49290]]

``25,632,850'' in the Quantity (kg) column for the EU27 in lieu 
thereof.
    4. Additional U.S. Note 17 to Chapter 4 of the HTSUS is modified 
by: (a) Inserting ``United Kingdom'' into the list of countries in 
alphabetical order; (b) inserting a quota quantity of ``23,617''' in 
the Quantity (kg) column for the United Kingdom; (c) deleting the 
quantity ``2,829,000'' in the Quantity (kg) column for the EU27; and 
(d) inserting ``2,805,383'' in the Quantity (kg) column for the EU27 in 
lieu thereof.
    5. Additional U.S. Note 18 to Chapter 4 of the HTSUS is modified 
by: (a) Inserting ``United Kingdom'' into the list of countries in 
alphabetical order; (b) inserting a quota quantity of ``895,948'' in 
the Quantity (kg) column for the United Kingdom; (c) deleting the 
quantity ``1,31,000'' in the Quantity (kg) column for the EU27; and (d) 
inserting ``417,052'' in the Quantity (kg) column for the EU27 in lieu 
thereof.
    For U.S. TRQs under Additional U.S. Notes 19 to 23 and 25 to 
Chapter 4, the UK otherwise will be eligible to export under the in-
quota quantities allocated to ``other countries or areas.'' See 
Modification of U.S. Tariff-Rate Quotas and the Harmonized Tariff 
Schedule of the United States (86 FR 35560 (July 6, 2021)). 
Accordingly, the Licensing Authority has divided the amounts allocated 
to the EU under Additional U.S. Notes 6, 16, 17, and 18 in Appendices 
1, 2, 3 and 4, as applicable, between the EU and the UK by directly 
applying the percentages used by the U.S. Trade Representative to 
allocate the overall TRQs under those notes.
    Entities that currently hold EU-27 historical licenses for TRQs 
under Additional U.S. Notes 6, 16, 17, and 18 that wish to retain their 
EU-27 historical licenses and/or obtain UK historical licenses under 
these TRQs for the 2022 TRQ year and that otherwise qualify for carry 
over of such EU-27 historical licenses will be instructed to apply to 
carry over the EU-27 historical license and/or to obtain a UK 
historical license. The quantities of the new EU-27 license and/or UK 
license for the 2022 TRQ year that will be issued under these TRQs will 
be determined by allocating the original EU-27 license quantity between 
the two new licenses applying the same ratio that USTR used to split 
the applicable overall TRQ. Any discrepancies in quantities at the 
individual license level are due to rounding.
    Notice of this action and specific instructions on how to apply for 
the 2022 TRQ year for EU-27 and UK historical licenses under these TRQs 
are being provided to all current holders of EU-27 historical licenses 
for TRQs under Additional U.S. Notes 6, 16, 17, and 18. The notice and 
instructions are also posted on USDA Foreign Agricultural Service's 
Dairy Import Licensing Program's website at: https://www.fas.usda.gov/programs/dairy-import-licensing-program and also in the Community 
Notices section of the Agricultural Trade License Administration System 
(ATLAS).
    Finally, with regard to Additional U.S. Note 16, Cheese and 
Substitutes for Cheese, the quantity in Appendix 1 for EU-27 historical 
licenses includes an additional 21,768 kg and the quantity for EU-27 
lottery licenses in Appendix 2 includes a reduction of 21,768 kg. This 
corrects a clerical error in the previously published quantities for 
Appendices 1 and 2. The correction does not change the overall quantity 
allotted to the EU-27 or the UK under Additional U.S. Note 16.

Lori Tortora,
Licensing Authority.


                                                Articles Subject to Dairy Import Licenses (Kilograms) \1\
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                                                                                                                            Designated
                                                                                                            Designated       licenses
                                                         Historical     Lottery licenses      Sum of         licenses        (Uruguay
                                                          licenses      (Appendix 2) \3\  Appendix 1 & 2   (Tokyo round,      round,         Total \4\
                                                      (Appendix 1) \2\                          \4\         Appendix 3)     Appendix 4)
                                                                                                                \4\             \4\
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NON-CHEESE ARTICLES, Notes 6, 7, 8, 12, 14 (Appendix
 1 reduction):
BUTTER (NOTE 6, Commodity Code G) (-19,466 kg)......         4,205,995         2,771,005       6,977,000  ..............  ..............       6,977,000
    EU-27 \5\.......................................            53,445            28,654          82,099  ..............  ..............          82,099
    The United Kingdom..............................             9,154             4,908          14,062  ..............  ..............          14,062
    New Zealand.....................................            76,503            74,090         150,593  ..............  ..............  ..............
    Other Countries.................................            35,382            38,553          73,935  ..............  ..............  ..............
    Any Country (-19,466 kg)........................         4,031,511         2,624,800       6,656,311  ..............  ..............  ..............
DRIED SKIM MILK (NOTE 7, Commodity Code K)..........                 0         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, Commodity Code H).........                 0         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, Commodity Code                   0           224,981         224,981  ..............  ..............         224,981
     M).............................................
    Canada..........................................                 0           161,161         161,161  ..............  ..............  ..............
    New Zealand.....................................                 0            63,820          63,820  ..............  ..............  ..............
BUTTER SUBSTITUTES CONTAINING OVER 45 PERCENT OF                     0         6,080,500       6,080,500  ..............  ..............       6,080,500
 BUTTERFAT AND/OR BUTTER OIL (NOTE 14, Commodity
 Code SU)...........................................
    Any Country.....................................                 0         6,080,500       6,080,500  ..............  ..............  ..............
                                                     ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        TOTAL: NON-CHEESE ARTICLES (-19,466 kg).....         4,205,995        17,658,786      21,864,781  ..............  ..............      21,864,781
CHEESE ARTICLES (Notes 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22,    ................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............  ..............
 23, 25) (Appendix 1 reduction):
CHEESE AND SUBSTITUTES FOR CHEESE (NOTE 16,                 17,021,404        14,448,327      31,469,731       9,661,128       7,496,000      48,626,859
 Commodity Code OT (-648,520 kg)....................
    Argentina.......................................                 0             7,690           7,690          92,310  ..............         100,000
    Australia (-522,506 kg).........................            13,122           528,048         541,170         758,830       1,750,000       3,050,000
    Canada (-54,507 kg).............................           895,655           245,345       1,141,000  ..............  ..............       1,141,000
    Costa Rica......................................                 0                 0               0  ..............       1,550,000       1,550,000
    EU-27 (not including Portugal) (-34,573 kg).....        12,769,952         8,505,615      21,275,567         835,707       3,168,576      25,279,850
    Portugal........................................            65,838            63,471         129,309         223,691  ..............         353,000

[[Page 49291]]

 
    The United Kingdom..............................         1,118,071           744,709       1,862,780          73,170         277,424       2,213,374
    Israel..........................................            79,696                 0          79,696         593,304  ..............         673,000
    Iceland.........................................            29,054           264,946         294,000          29,000  ..............         323,000
    New Zealand (-18,155 kg)........................         1,332,845         3,482,627       4,815,472       6,506,528  ..............      11,322,000
    Norway..........................................           122,860            27,140         150,000  ..............  ..............         150,000
    Switzerland.....................................           512,184           159,228         671,412         548,588         500,000       1,720,000
    Uruguay.........................................                 0                 0               0  ..............         250,000         250,000
    Other Countries (-18,779).......................            82,127           119,508         201,635  ..............  ..............         201,635
    Any Country.....................................                 0           300,000         300,000  ..............  ..............         300,000
BLUE-MOLD CHEESE (NOTE 17, Commodity Code B) (-2,300         1,930,826           550,175       2,481,001  ..............         430,000       2,911,001
 kg)................................................
    Argentina.......................................             2,000                 0           2,000  ..............  ..............           2,000
    EU-27 (-2,300 kg)...............................         1,912,724           545,581       2,458,305  ..............         347,078       2,805,383
    The United Kingdom..............................            16,102             4,593          20,695  ..............           2,922          23,617
    Chile...........................................                 0                 0               0  ..............          80,000          80,000
    Other Countries.................................                 0                 1               1  ..............  ..............               1
CHEDDAR CHEESE (NOTE 18, Commodity Code C) (-9,324           2,286,995         1,996,861       4,283,856         519,033       7,620,000      12,422,889
 kg)................................................
    Australia.......................................           881,894           102,605         984,499         215,501       1,250,000       2,450,000
    Chile...........................................  ................                 0               0  ..............         220,000         220,000
    EU-27...........................................            16,645            66,892          83,537  ..............         333,515         417,052
    The United Kingdom..............................            35,759           143,704         179,463  ..............         716,485         895,948
    New Zealand.....................................         1,265,070         1,531,398       2,796,468         303,532       5,100,000       8,200,000
    Other Countries (-9,324 kg).....................            87,627            52,262         139,889  ..............  ..............         139,889
    Any Country.....................................  ................           100,000         100,000  ..............  ..............         100,000
AMERICAN-TYPE CHEESE (NOTE 19, Commodity Code A) (-          1,146,898         2,018,655       3,165,553         357,003               0       3,522,556
 4,536 kg)..........................................
    Australia.......................................           753,578           127,420         880,998         119,002  ..............       1,000,000
    EU-27 (-4,536 kg)...............................           131,539           222,461         354,000  ..............  ..............         354,000
    New Zealand.....................................           158,725         1,603,274       1,761,999         238,001  ..............       2,000,000
    Other Countries or Areas \6\....................           103,056            65,500         168,556  ..............  ..............         168,556
EDAM AND GOUDA CHEESE (NOTE 20, Commodity Code D) (-         4,270,567         1,335,835       5,606,402               0       1,210,000       6,816,402
 10,902 kg).........................................
    Argentina.......................................           105,418            19,582         125,000  ..............         110,000         235,000
    EU-27 (-10,902 kg)..............................         4,049,341         1,239,659       5,289,000  ..............       1,100,000       6,389,000
    Norway..........................................           111,046            55,954         167,000  ..............  ..............         167,000
    Other Countries or Areas \6\....................             4,762            20,640          25,402  ..............  ..............          25,402
ITALIAN-TYPE CHEESES (NOTE 21, Commodity Code D) (-          5,867,429         1,653,118       7,520,547         795,517       5,165,000      13,481,064
 232,929 kg)........................................
    Argentina (-157,571 kg).........................         3,530,236           595,247       4,125,483         367,517       1,890,000       6,383,000
    EU-27 (-75,358 kg)..............................         2,337,193         1,044,807       3,382,000  ..............       2,025,000       5,407,000
    Romania.........................................                 0                 0               0  ..............         500,000         500,000
    Uruguay.........................................                 0                 0               0         428,000         750,000       1,178,000
    Other Countries or Areas \6\....................                 0            13,064          13,064  ..............  ..............          13,064
SWISS OR EMMENTHALER CHEESE (NOTE 22 Commodity Code          4,228,895         2,422,419       6,651,314         823,519         380,000       7,854,833
 GR)................................................
    EU-27...........................................         2,979,351         2,172,643       5,151,994         393,006         380,000       5,925,000
    Switzerland.....................................         1,216,046           203,441       1,419,487         430,513  ..............       1,850,000
    Other Countries or Areas \6\....................            33,498            46,335          79,833  ..............  ..............          79,833
LOW FAT CHEESE (NOTE 23, Commodity Code LF).........         1,173,766         3,251,142       4,424,908       1,050,000               0       5,474,908
    EU-27...........................................         1,173,766         3,251,141       4,424,907  ..............  ..............       4,424,907
    Israel..........................................                 0                 0               0          50,000  ..............          50,000
    New Zealand.....................................                 0                 0               0       1,000,000  ..............       1,000,000
    Other Countries or Areas \6\....................                 0                 1               1  ..............  ..............               1
SWISS OR EMMENTHALER CHEESE WITH EYE FORMATION (NOTE        12,983,391         9,313,940      22,297,331       9,557,945       2,620,000      34,475,276
 25, Commodity Code SW) (-108,457 kg)...............
    Argentina.......................................                 0             9,115           9,115          70,885  ..............          80,000
    Australia.......................................           209,698                 0         209,698         290,302  ..............         500,000
    Canada..........................................                 0                 0               0          70,000  ..............          70,000
    EU-27 (-108,457 kg).............................         9,653,742         6,823,086      16,476,828       4,003,172       2,420,000      22,900,000
    Iceland.........................................                 0           149,999         149,999         150,001  ..............         300,000
    Israel..........................................            27,000                 0          27,000  ..............  ..............          27,000
    Norway..........................................         2,285,329         1,369,981       3,655,310       3,227,690  ..............       6,883,000
    Switzerland.....................................           759,369           924,736       1,684,105       1,745,895         200,000       3,630,000
    Other Countries or Areas \6\....................            48,253            37,023          85,276  ..............  ..............          85,276
                                                     ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        TOTAL: CHEESE ARTICLES......................        50,910,171        36,990,472      87,900,643      22,764,145      24,921,000     135,585,788
                                                     ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
            TOTAL: CHEESE & NON-CHEESE..............        55,116,166        54,649,258     109,765,424      22,764,145      24,921,000     157,450,569
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\1\ Source of the total TRQs is the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule, Chapter 4, in the corresponding Additional U.S. Notes.
\2\ Reduced from 2020 by total of -1,036,434 KG.
\3\ Increased from 2020 by total of 1,036,434 KG.
\4\ No change.
\5\ The list of countries in Additional U.S. Note 2 to Chapter 4 now includes ``Croatia'' and omits ``the United Kingdom.''
\6\ For Additional U.S. Notes 19 to 23 and 25, the UK will be eligible to export under the in-quota quantities allocated to ``other countries or
  areas.''



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[FR Doc. 2021-19106 Filed 9-1-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-10-P