ALFD Newsletter August 2007

What Does it Mean?

This month’s term is: Needs Correction. This is a status you might see for pending eApps. It means that a TTB label specialist has reviewed your eApp and has found one or more problems with either the application portion or the labels themselves. With paper applications, we reject them if we find problems and when you resubmit them they go to the bottom of the pile. With COLAs Online, however, we work with you and you get up to 15 days to correct any problems we find, and corrected eApps that are sent back to TTB go to the front of the queue for all eApps received that day. This can really speed up the time to get your COLA. An eApp is only rejected if you fail to make all the requested corrections or if you don’t respond within 15 days.

Greetings!

We are very pleased with the level of interest shown in our first edition of COLAs Online eNews and we extend a warm welcome to all new subscribers. We truly desire this to be a useful tool to help you use COLAs Online to its fullest potential so, if there is anything you want to see us cover in future editions, just drop us a line at COLAsONLINEeNEWS@ttb.gov.

Announcements

TTB has been holding a series of industry seminars and COLAs Online workshops around the nation. We hope you have already had the opportunity to attend, but if you missed the earlier dates it is not too late! We still have spots available at both an industry seminar and two COLAs Online workshops in Houston, Texas. The full-day seminar will be held on Tuesday, September 11, 2007, and there will be two half-day COLAs Online workshops on the following day, September 12, 2007. These are fantastic opportunities to learn more about the TTB regulations and to get hands-on tutoring using COLAs Online. You also get to meet many of the TTB employees who work on your permits and COLAs every day. Hope to see you there!

You Aren’t the Only One Who Asked Us...

I used to receive emails from you all the time about the status of my eApps, but lately I don’t get them anymore. What happened?

There are a few common reasons why you might stop seeing e-mails from us. When you registered to use COLAs Online you supplied us with an e-mail address that we added to your user profile when we created your account. COLAs Online automatically sends e-mail messages to the address we have on file for the person who submits an eApp (electronic application) when the application is initially submitted to TTB and each time the status changes. TTB label specialists may also send you a message at this address if they have questions about your eApp. If you stop receiving these messages, there are several things to check:

Hopefully one of these solutions will work for you! Remember, even if you aren’t getting e-mails from us, you can always log on to COLAs Online at any time to check the status of your eApps.

Tip of the Month

To avoid getting the following error message when uploading label images in Step 3:

Be sure that the label dimensions you enter for the width and height of the actual printed label as it will appear on the container are neither more than two digits nor more than two decimal places. You may enter fewer than two digits on either side of the decimal place, but not more than two. You are not required to show decimal places if there are none. Remember we need the dimensions stated in inches (and not centimeters, pixels, etc.). Also, be sure you use a period (.) and NOT a comma (,) as a separator between the whole number and any decimals.

Also, be sure you don’t confuse width

and height

when entering label dimensions, but more on that in a future newsletter!

How do I...

There is some confusion about the terms withdraw and surrender, so let’s define them. The person who submits an eApp may withdraw it any time during the review process up until the time TTB makes a final determination to either approve or reject the application. The labels on a withdrawn eApp may be resubmitted at any time. Surrender refers only to COLAs that have already been approved by TTB. We encourage you to regularly evaluate all your approved COLAs and to surrender the ones you no longer need and COLAs that are obsolete. Surrendered COLAs are no longer valid for bottling or removing beverage alcohol from bond. Withdrawn applications are not public records, so no one outside your company may view them, but surrendered COLAs remain in the Public COLA Registry with a current status of Surrendered.

E-apps and COLAs may only be withdrawn or surrendered in COLAs Online by authenticated users. If you wish to withdraw a pending eApp, you must log onto COLAs Online and open the particular e-application. Once you locate the correct COLA, click on the TTB ID number to access the Applications Details page. Click on the Withdraw COLA link in upper right hand corner. You will be taken to a page that shows some of the details of the COLA and asked to confirm that you want to withdraw the COLA. You may also cancel the process at this time. When you click on the withdraw button you will be taken to a confirmation page that you may print and keep for your records.

To surrender an approved COLA that you no longer need, log on to COLAs Online and access the COLA in question. You may search for a particular COLA by entering the TTB ID number in the search box located on your COLAs Online home page. Once you locate the correct COLA, click on the TTB ID number to access the Applications Details page. Click on the Surrender COLA link in upper right hand corner. You will be taken to a page that shows some of the details of the COLA and asked to confirm that you want to surrender the COLA. You may also cancel the process at this time. When you click on the surrender button you will be taken to a confirmation page that you may print and keep for your records.