SUMMARY: This notice announces that
the fee to be charged for the 2007 tariff-rate
quota (TRQ) year for each license issued to a
person or firm by the Department of Agriculture
authorizing the importation of certain dairy
articles which are subject to tariff-rate quotas
set forth in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of
the United States (HTS) will be $150.00 per
license.
EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2007.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bettyann
Gonzales, Dairy Tariff-Rate Import Quota
Program, Import Policies and Programs Division,
STOP 1021, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1400
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC
20250-1021 or telephone at (202) 720-1344 or
e-mail at
Bettyann.Gonzales@fas.usda.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION:
The Dairy Tariff-Rate Import Quota
Licensing Regulation promulgated by the
Department of Agriculture and codified at 7 CFR
6.20-6.37 provides for the issuance of licenses
to import certain
dairy articles that are subject to TRQs set
forth in the HTS. Those dairy articles may only
be entered into the United States at the
in-quota TRQ tariff-rates by or 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
use of
licenses by the license holder to import dairy
articles is monitored by the Dairy Import Quota
Manager, Import Policies and Programs Division,
Foreign
Agricultural
Service,
U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S.
Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Department
of Homeland
Security.
The regulation at 7 CFR 6.33(a) provides that
a fee will be charged for each license issued to
a person or firm by the Licensing Authority in
order to reimburse the Department of Agriculture
for the costs of administering the licensing
system under this regulation.
The regulation at 7 CFR 6.33(a0 also provides
that the Licensing Authority will announce the
annual fee for each license and that such fee
will be set out in a notice to be published in
the Federal Register. Accordingly, this notice
sets out the fee for the licenses to be issued
for the 2007 calendar year.
Notice
The total cost to the Department of Agriculture
of administering the licensing system during
2006 has been estimated to be $383,000 and the
estimated number of licenses expected to be
issued is 2,550. Of the total cost, $210,000
represents staff and supervisory costs directly
related to administering the licensing system
for 2006; $50,000 represents the total computer
costs to monitor and issue import licenses for
2006; and $123,000 represents other
miscellaneous costs,
including travel, postage, publications, forms,
Internet software development, and ADP system
contractors.
Accordingly, notice is hereby given that the
fee for each license issued to a person or firm
for the 2007 calendar year, in accordance with 7
CFR 6.33, will be $150.00 per license.
