This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains regulatory documents having general

applicability and legal effect, most of which

are keyed to and codified in the Code of

Federal Regulations, which is published under

50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.

The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by

the Superintendent of Documents. Prices of

new books are listed in the first FEDERAL

REGISTER issue of each week.

Rules and Regulations Federal Register

76253 

Vol. 75, No. 235 

Wednesday, December 8, 2010 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Office of the Secretary 

7 CFR Part 6 

RIN 0551–AA70 

Dairy Import Licensing Program 

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, USDA. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: This final rule amends the 

historical license reduction provisions 

of the Dairy Tariff-Rate Import Quota 

Licensing Program 7 CFR part 6, by 

suspending the provisions with respect 

to the reduction of historical licenses 

based on surrenders of unused 

quantities until 2016. 

DATES: Effective Date: January 1, 2011. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ron 

Lord, Branch Chief, Sugar and Dairy 

Branch, Import and Trade Support 

Programs Division, Foreign Agricultural 

Service, Stop 1021, 1400 Independence 

Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20250– 

1021; telephone (202) 720–6939; or 

e-mail at: ronald.lord@fas.usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Executive Order 12866 

The final rule has been determined to 

be not significant under E.O. 12866 and 

has been reviewed by the Office of 

Management and Budget. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Regulatory Flexibility Act 

ensures that regulatory and information 

requirements are tailored to the size and 

nature of small businesses, small 

organizations, and small governmental 

jurisdictions. This final rule will not 

have a significant economic impact on 

small businesses participating in the 

program. 

Executive Order 12988 

This final rule has been reviewed 

under Executive Order 12988. The 

provisions of this final rule would not 

have a preemptive effect with respect to 

any State or local laws, regulations, or 

policies which conflict with such 

provision or which otherwise impede 

their full implementation. The final rule 

would not have a retroactive effect. 

Before any judicial action may be 

brought forward regarding this final 

rule, all administrative remedies must 

be exhausted. 

National Environmental Policy Act 

The Administrator has determined 

that this action will not have a 

significant effect on the quality of the 

human environment. Therefore, neither 

an Environmental Assessment nor an 

Environmental Impact Statement is 

necessary for this final rule. 

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (Pub. 

L. 104–4) 

Public Law 104–4 requires 

consultation with State and local 

officials and Indian Tribal governments. 

This final rule does not impose an 

unfunded mandate or any other 

requirement on State, local, or Tribal 

governments. Accordingly, these 

programs are not subject to the 

provisions of the Unfunded Mandates 

Reform Act. 

Executive Order 12630 

This Order requires careful evaluation 

of governmental actions that interfere 

with constitutionally protected property 

rights. This final rule would not 

interfere with any property rights and, 

therefore, does not need to be evaluated 

on the basis of the criteria outlined in 

Executive Order 12630. 

Government Paperwork Elimination 

Act 

Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) is 

committed to compliance with the 

Government Paperwork Elimination 

Act, which requires government 

agencies, in general, to provide the 

public the option of submitting 

information or transacting business 

electronically to the maximum extent 

possible. 

Background 

FAS administers the Dairy Tariff-Rate 

Import Quota Licensing Program, 7 CFR 

6.20–6.37, that provides for the issuance 

of licenses to import certain dairy 

articles under tariff-rate quotas (TRQ), 

as established in the Harmonized Tariff 

Schedule of the United States. These 

dairy products may only be imported 

into the United States at the in-quota 

rate, 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 

program. Section 6.25(b)(1)(i) provides 

that if a licensee surrenders more than 

50 percent of a historical license at least 

3 out of the 5 prior years, that license 

will be permanently reduced to the 

average amount entered during those 

5 years. Any amounts permanently 

reduced are transferred to the nonhistorical quota, which is allocated by a 

lottery. In 2008, the Secretary amended 

the regulation, suspending section 

6.25(b)(1)(i) for 2 years until January 1, 

2011. Subsequent market developments 

have caused the Department to again reconsider the license reduction 

provisions of the Dairy Import Licensing 

Program. 

Summary of public comments: The 

Secretary published a proposed rule in 

the Federal Register (75 FR 62692–23), 

October 13, 2010, providing that the 

provisions of 7 CFR 6.25, with respect 

to the reduction of historical licenses, 

based on unused amounts would be 

suspended for an additional 5 years 

until 2016. The Department requested 

that public comments be submitted by 

November 12, 2010. Comments were 

submitted by 29 importing companies, 

3 associations, a counsel to the Cheese 

Importers Association of America and 

several of its member companies, a 

customs broker, a manufacturer of dairy 

products, and a Congressman all in 

favor of the proposed 5-year suspension 

of the dairy import license reduction 

provision. 

The factors cited in favor of a further 

5-year suspension included the 

declining availability of cheese from the 

European Union (EU), a weaker U.S. 

dollar, and the general economic 

weakness in the United States. Some 

companies with historical licenses 

stated that the U.S. food market benefits 

from reliable and longer-term supplychain relationships which may be more 

easily maintained by companies which 

have historical licenses. 

Many of the companies emphasized 

that a 5-year suspension of the historical 

license reduction provision would allow 

additional time for license holders to 

adjust to economy-wide factors outside 

their control, including changes in the 


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76254 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 235 / Wednesday, December 8, 2010 / Rules and Regulations 

EU’s supply and demand situation for 

dairy products, as well as to changes in 

the U.S. market. 

Conclusion: The quota-fill rates for 

Swiss, Gruyere, and low-fat type 

cheeses have continued to remain low 

even after transfer to the lottery system 

in recent years. Market conditions are 

always subject to fluctuation and 

change, and it is incumbent upon all 

license holders to adjust to these 

changing conditions. To allow 

additional time to adjust to changes in 

EU supply and demand, due to its longterm dairy policy changes, the 

Department will again temporarily 

suspend the historical license reduction 

provisions for a period of 5 years, 

commencing January 1, 2011. Historical 

license reductions will again be 

implemented beginning 2016, as set 

forth in the proposed rule. In 2016, 

historical license reductions will be 

based on import data from years 2011 

through 2015. 

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 6 

Agricultural commodities, Cheese, 

Dairy products, and Imports. 

■ For the reasons set out in the 

preamble, 7 CFR part 6 is amended as 

follows: 

PART 6—IMPORT QUOTAS AND FEES 

Subpart—Dairy Tariff-Rate Import 

Quota Licensing 

■ 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. Section 6.25 (b) is revised to read 

as follows: 

§ 6.25 Allocation of Licenses. 

* * * * * 

(b) Historical licenses for the 2011 

and subsequent quota years (Appendix 

1). 

(1) A person issued a historical 

license for the 2010 quota year will be 

issued a historical license in the same 

amount for the same article from the 

same country for the 2011 quota year 

and for each subsequent quota year 

except that: 

(i) Beginning with the 2016 quota 

year, a person who has surrendered 

more than 50 percent of such historical 

license in at least three of the prior 5 

quota years will thereafter be issued a 

license in an amount equal to the 

average annual quantity entered during 

those 5 quota years. 

(ii) [Reserved] 

* * * * * 

Issued at Washington, DC, the 30th day of 

November 2010. 

Robert Riemenschneider, 

Acting Administrator, Foreign Agricultural 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 2010–30714 Filed 12–7–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–10–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Grain Inspection, Packers and 

Stockyards Administration 

7 CFR Part 802 

[Docket # GIPSA–2010–FGIS–0012] 

RIN 0580–AB19 

Official Performance and Procedural 

Requirements for Grain Weighing 

Equipment and Related Grain Handling 

Systems 

AGENCY: Grain Inspection, Packers and 

Stockyards Administration, USDA. 

ACTION: Direct final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Grain Inspection, Packers 

and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) 

Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) 

is amending the regulations issued 

under the United States Grain Standards 

Act (USGSA), as amended, to 

incorporate by reference the applicable 

requirements of the 2008 edition of the 

National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST) Handbook 44, 

‘‘Specifications, Tolerances, and Other 

Technical Requirements for Weighing 

and Measuring Devices,’’ (NIST 

Handbook 44, issued October 2007). 

DATES: This rule is effective March 8, 

2011 without further action, unless 

adverse comments or written notice of 

intent to submit adverse comments are 

received by January 7, 2011. If adverse 

comments are received, GIPSA will 

publish a timely withdrawal of the rule 

in the Federal Register. The 

incorporation by reference of certain 

publications in this rule is approved by 

the Director of the Federal Register as of 

March 8, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: We invite you to submit 

comments on this direct final rule by 

any of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

online instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• Mail: Tess Butler, GIPSA, USDA, 

1400 Independence Avenue, SW., room 

1643–S, Washington, DC 20260–3642. 

• E-mail comments to 

comments.gipsa@usda.gov. 

• Fax: (202) 690–2173. 

Instructions: All comments will 

become a matter of public record and 

should be identified as ‘‘NIST Handbook 

44 IBF Comments,’’ making reference to 

the date and page number of this issue 

of the Federal Register. Comments will 

be available for public inspection at 

http://www.regulations.gov and in the 

above office during regular business 

hours (7 CFR 1.27(b)). Please contact the 

GIPSA Management Support Staff at 

(202) 720–7486 to make an appointment 

to read the comments received. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Robert S. Lijewski, Director, Field 

Management Division by E-mail at 

robert.s.lijewski@usda.gov, or by 

telephone at (202) 720–0228. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Under the provisions of the USGSA (7 

U.S.C. 71–87k), grain exported from the 

U.S. must be officially inspected and 

weighed. Sections 802 and 802.1 of the 

USGSA regulations (7 CFR 802.0–802.1) 

set forth certain procedures, 

specifications, tolerances, and other 

technical requirements for grain 

weighing equipment and related grain 

handling systems used in performing 

Class X and Class Y official weighing 

services. GIPSA management has 

reviewed these regulations and 

determined that they still serve their 

intended purpose, are consistent with 

GIPSA’s statutory authority and policy, 

and should remain in effect. In order to 

update the USGSA regulations, 

however, GIPSA is incorporating by 

reference the 2008 edition of NIST 

Handbook 44 into the USGSA 

regulations (7 CFR 802.0(a)). Those 

provisions in NIST Handbook 44 that 

obviously do not pertain to GIPSA 

services are not being incorporated and 

are listed in section 802.0(b) of the 

USGSA regulations (7 CFR 802.0(b)). 

Direct Final Action 

GIPSA is revising § 802.0(a) of the 

USGSA regulations (7 CFR 802.0(a)) by 

incorporating by reference the following 

sections only of the 2008 edition of 

NIST Handbook 44: 

Section 1.10 General Code 

Section 2.20 Scales 

Section 2.22 Automatic Bulk Weighing 

Systems 

Section 2.23 Weights 

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553, it is found 

and determined upon good cause that it 

is impracticable, unnecessary, and 

contrary to public interest to give 

preliminary notice prior to putting this 


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