48852 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 185 / Friday, September 25, 2009 / Rules and Regulations 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Confirmation of Effective Date 

The FAA published this direct final 

rule with a request for comments in the 

Federal Register on March 12, 2009 (74 

FR 10676), Docket No. FAA–2009–0053; 

Airspace Docket No. 09–ASO–11. The 

FAA uses the direct final rulemaking 

procedure for a non-controversial rule 

where the FAA believes that there will 

be no adverse public comment. This 

direct final rule advised the public that 

no adverse comments were anticipated, 

and that unless a written adverse 

comment, or a written notice of intent 

to submit such an adverse comment, 

were received within the comment 

period, the regulation would become 

effective on May 7, 2009. No adverse 

comments were received, and thus this 

notice confirms that effective date. 

* * * * * 

Issued in College Park, Georgia, on 

September 2, 2009. 

Barry A. Knight, 

Manager, Operations Support Group, Eastern 

Service Center, Air Traffic Organization. 

[FR Doc. E9–22073 Filed 9–24–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

Bureau of Customs and Border 

Protection 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

19 CFR Parts 12 and 163 

[CBP Dec. 09–36] 

RIN 1505–AC14 

Entry of Certain Cement Products 

From Mexico Requiring a Commerce 

Department Import License 

AGENCIES: Customs and Border 

Protection, Department of Homeland 

Security; Department of the Treasury. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: This document amends title 

19 of the Code of Federal Regulations 

(19 CFR) by removing regulations 

originally promulgated to provide 

special entry requirements for certain 

cement products from Mexico requiring 

a United States Department of 

Commerce import license and to 

include certain required entry 

documentation in the ‘‘List of Records 

Required for the Entry of Merchandise’’ 

set forth in the Appendix to Part 163 of 

title 19 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations. Since the underlying trade 

agreement that necessitated these 

regulations expired on March 31, 2009, 

they are no longer necessary and are 

obsolete. 

DATES: The amendment is effective 

September 25, 2009. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Christine Furgason, Acting Director, 

AD/CVD and Revenue Policy & 

Programs, Customs and Border 

Protection, 1400 L Street, NW., 

Washington, DC 20229, Tel (202) 863– 

6081. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

On March 6, 2006, the Office of the 

United States Trade Representative 

(USTR), the United States Department of 

Commerce (Commerce), and the 

Ministry of Economy of the United 

Mexican States (Secretaria de Economia) 

signed a bilateral Trade in Cement 

Agreement (Agreement) concerning the 

entry of certain cement products from 

Mexico into the United States. The 

Agreement required the creation of an 

Export Licensing Program by Mexico 

and an Import Licensing Program by 

Commerce to enforce certain 

quantitative restrictions contained in 

the Agreement. The Agreement 

included a provision for its termination 

on March 31, 2009. A copy of the 

Agreement is available on the 

Commerce Web site: http:// 

www.ia.ita.doc.gov/download/mexicocement/cement-final-agreement.pdf. 

To implement the Agreement, the 

International Trade Administration of 

the Department of Commerce (ITA) 

published a final rule in the Federal 

Register (72 FR 10006) on March 6, 

2007, prescribing the cement licensing 

and import monitoring program 

regulations promulgated at 19 CFR 

361.101–361.105. 

On March 6, 2007, Customs and 

Border Protection (CBP) published a 

corollary final rule in the Federal 

Register (72 FR 10004) that promulgated 

special requirements for the entry into 

the U.S. of certain cement products from 

Mexico requiring a U.S. Department of 

Commerce import license, at new 19 

CFR 12.155. The ‘‘List of Records 

Required for the Entry of Merchandise’’ 

set forth in the Appendix to Part 163 

was also amended by that document to 

reflect the entry document requirements 

mandated by the Agreement. 

As the Agreement expired on March 

31, 2009, § 12.155 and the references to 

Mexican Cement export and import 

licenses in the Appendix to Part 163 are 

now unnecessary and obsolete, and, 

accordingly they are removed from the 

regulations. 

Inapplicability of Prior Public Notice 

and Comment Procedures and Delayed 

Effective Date 

Because this amendment merely 

removes obsolete regulations from title 

19 of the CFR, CBP has determined, 

pursuant to the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 

553(b)(B), that prior public notice and 

comment procedures on this regulation 

are unnecessary and contrary to public 

interest. For the same reason, pursuant 

to the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3), 

there is good cause for dispensing with 

a delayed effective date. 

The Regulatory Flexibility Act 

This document is not subject to the 

notice and public procedure 

requirements of 5 U.S.C. 553, and thus 

is not subject to the provisions of the 

Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 

et seq.). 

Executive Order 12866 

These amendments do not meet the 

criteria for a ‘‘significant regulatory 

action’’ as specified in Executive Order 

12866. 

Signing Authority 

This document is being issued in 

accordance with 19 CFR 0.1(a)(1). 

List of Subjects 

19 CFR Part 12 

Customs duties and inspection, Entry 

of merchandise, Imports, Licensing, 

Mexico, Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements, Trade agreements. 

19 CFR Part 163 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Customs duties and 

inspection, Exports, Imports, Reporting 

and recordkeeping requirements. 

Amendment to the Regulations 

■ For the reasons stated above, parts 12 

and 163 of title 19 of the Code of 

Federal Regulations (19 CFR parts 12 

and 163) are amended as set forth 

below. 

PART 12—SPECIAL CLASSES OF 

MERCHANDISE 

■ 1. The general authority citation for 

part 12 continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301; 19 U.S.C. 66, 1202 

(General Note 3(i), Harmonized Tariff 

Schedule of the United States (HTSUS)), 

1624; 

* * * * * 

§ 12.155 [Removed] 

■ 2. The undesignated center heading 

entitled ‘‘Mexican Cement Products’’ 

and § 12.155 are removed. 


CPrice-Sewell on DSKGBLS3C1PROD with RULES
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 185 / Friday, September 25, 2009 / Rules and Regulations 48853 

PART 163—RECORDKEEPING 

■ 3. The authority citation for part 163 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301; 19 U.S.C. 66, 

1484, 1508, 1509, 1510, 1624. 

Appendix to Part 163 [Amended] 

■ 4. In the Appendix to Part 163, the 

listing for § 12.155 under section IV is 

removed. 

Jayson P. Ahern, 

Acting Commissioner, Customs and Border 

Protection. 

Approved: September 21, 2009. 

Timothy E. Skud, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. 

[FR Doc. E9–23157 Filed 9–24–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

Bureau of Customs and Border 

Protection 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

19 CFR Part 148 

[CBP Dec. 09–37] 

RIN 1505–AC16 

Increase in Certain Personal Duty 

Exemptions Extended to Returning 

U.S. Residents 

AGENCIES: Customs and Border 

Protection, Department of Homeland 

Security; Department of the Treasury. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: This document amends title 

19 of the Code of Federal Regulations 

(CFR) by making technical corrections 

to those regulatory provisions within 

part 148 that set forth personal duty 

exemption amounts authorized by the 

Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 

United States (HTSUS). These technical 

corrections are necessary to conform 

title 19 of the CFR to amendments to the 

HTSUS effected by section 381 of the 

Trade Act of 2002 and section 

2004(d)(8)(A) and (B) of the 

Miscellaneous Trade and Technical 

Corrections Act of 2004, which 

increased personal duty exemption 

amounts. 

DATES: The final rule is effective on 

September 25, 2009. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Bernarda Gilbert, Passenger Operations, 

Office of Field Operations, Customs and 

Border Protection, (202) 344–2269. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

I. Personal Duty Exemptions 

Generally, when an individual 

imports merchandise into the United 

States, the person must pay duty to 

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on 

the goods. The amount of duty payable 

is determined by the merchandise’s 

classification within the Harmonized 

Tariff Schedule of the United States 

(HTSUS). 

Under prescribed circumstances, the 

government permits an exemption from 

the payment of duty on certain articles 

imported by or for the account of any 

person arriving in the United States who 

is a returning resident of the United 

States, including American citizens who 

are residents of American Samoa, Guam, 

or the U.S. Virgin Islands. Subheadings 

9804.00.65, 9804.00.70 and 9804.00.72, 

HTSUS, with certain limitations and 

conditions, extend such duty 

exemptions to articles for personal or 

household use that are acquired abroad 

merely as an incident of the foreign 

journey. The duty exemptions (also 

known as personal exemptions) 

provided for in these tariff schedule 

subheadings specify the aggregate fair 

retail value of merchandise that a 

returning resident may bring back to the 

United States without having to pay 

duty. 

It is noted that although the 

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 

Islands is not listed in these provisions, 

pursuant to section 603(c) of the 

Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth 

of the Northern Mariana Islands in 

Political Union with the United States 

of America, Public Law 94–241, 90 Stat. 

263, 270, goods imported from the 

Commonwealth of the Northern 

Marianas are entitled to the same tariff 

treatment as imports from Guam and are 

therefore subject to the duty exemptions 

provided for under these subheadings. 

II. Statutory Amendments 

The Trade Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107– 

210, 116 Stat. 933, 19 U.S.C. 3801) and 

the Miscellaneous Trade and Technical 

Corrections Act of 2004 (Pub. L. 108– 

429, 118 Stat. 2598) amended 

subheadings 9804.00.65, 9804.00.70, 

and 9804.00.72 of the HTSUS, in 

pertinent part, regarding the amounts of 

the duty exemptions, as well as the 

scope of those provisions. The 

amendments are as follows: 

• Section 381, within Subtitle D of 

the Trade Act of 2002, amended 

subheading 9804.00.65, HTSUS, by 

increasing from $400 to $800 the duty 

exemption accorded articles for 

personal or household use 

accompanying returning U.S. residents. 

• Section 2004(d)(8)(A) of the 

Miscellaneous Trade and Technical 

Corrections Act of 2004 (Pub. L. 108– 

429, 118 Stat. 2598) amended 

subheading 9804.00.70, HTSUS, by 

increasing the duty exemption accorded 

to articles for personal or household 

use, whether or not the articles 

accompany the returning resident, from 

$1,200 to $1,600 in the case of a direct 

or indirect arrival from American 

Samoa, Guam, or the Virgin Islands of 

the United States, not more than $800 

(increased from $400) of which must 

have been acquired elsewhere than in 

such locations (including the 

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 

Islands, as explained above). The 2004 

amendment to subheading 9804.00.70, 

HTSUS, removed the restriction that 

‘‘up to $600’’ may have been acquired 

in one or more beneficiary countries. 

• Section 2004(d)(8)(B) of the 

Miscellaneous Trade and Technical 

Corrections Act of 2004 amended 

subheading 9804.00.72, HTSUS, by 

increasing the duty exemption accorded 

to articles for personal or household 

use, whether or not accompanying the 

returning resident, from $600 to $800 in 

the case of a direct arrival from a 

beneficiary country of the Caribbean 

Basin Initiative or the Andean Trade 

Preference Program (see U.S. Note 4 to 

Chapter 98, HTSUS (19 U.S.C. 1202)), 

and removed the limitation that ‘‘not 

more than $400 of that amount must 

have been acquired elsewhere than in 

beneficiary countries.’’ 

III. Technical Corrections to the 

Regulations 

Within part 148 of title 19 of the Code 

of Federal Regulations (19 CFR), several 

regulations pertain directly to or 

reference the duty exemptions set forth 

in the amended HTSUS subheadings. 

Technical corrections are necessary to 

the following regulations to conform 

them to the increased personal duty 

exemption amounts set forth in the 

current HTSUS: §§ 148.12; 148.17; 

148.31; 148.32; 148.33; 148.34; 148.35; 

148.36; 148.37; 148.38; 148.51; and 

148.113. 

Sections 148.12(b)(1)(i)(B) and 

148.33(a)(2) and (d)(3)(ii) are also 

amended by removing the reference to 

‘‘§ 10.191(b)(1) of this chapter’’ as the 

source for the definition of ‘‘beneficiary 

country’’ for purposes of these 

provisions, and replacing it with a 

reference to ‘‘U.S. Note 4 to Chapter 98 

of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 

the United States.’’ This change is 

necessary because the definition set 

forth in 19 CFR 10.191(b)(1) is limited 

to those countries designated as 

beneficiary countries in accordance 


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