December 18, 2009
Greetings! We hope you are having a good and noble week! This edition includes the notice of Frank Foote's retirement, the announcement of the Calistoga Viticultural Area, Notice No. 100 comment period extended, Lou Bright's retirement from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, and notice of our
Semi-annual Regulatory Agenda.
In the TTB Newsletter, we compile the top TTB news of the week and other helpful information about the Bureau and the Federal alcohol and tobacco laws and regulations we enforce. Please send any questions and/or comments to Executive Liaison for Industry Matters (IndustryLiaison@ttb.gov) and/or (stateliaison@ttb.com).
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FRANK FOOTE RETIRING
Frank Foote, Director, Regulations and Rulings Division, is retiring this month after 39 dedicated years to Federal service. Please join us in wishing Frank a great retirement.
TTB ANNOUNCES THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CALISTOGA VITICULTURAL AREA
We have published a final rule in the Federal Register establishing the Calistoga viticultural area in Napa County, California. In this final rule, TTB addresses the effect that establishment of the viticultural area would have on existing businesses which use the term "Calistoga" in the brand name of their wines, including whether certain such brand names should be allowed to continue appearing on wine labels under a specific, limited grandfather provision.
The final rule does not provide a new grandfather provision for the continued use of labels that contain "Calistoga" in the brand name; it provides a 3-year transition period for the continued use of those brand names on wines that do not source a sufficient amount of grapes from the new viticultural area for that name to appear on wine labels. This final rule becomes effective January 7, 2010.
NOTICE NO. 100 COMMENT PERIOD EXTENDED
In response to a request filed on behalf of an industry association, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is extending the comment period for Notice No. 100, a notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register on October 15, 2009, until January 14, 2010 (see Notice No. 101, published on November 27, 2009). The proposed rule outlined in Notice No. 100 seeks comments on conforming amendments to our regulations to reflect proposed Customs and Border Protection regulations intended to clarify the relationship between tax payment under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and drawback of tax under the Tariff Act of 1930.
LOU BRIGHT ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT FROM PUBLIC SERVICE
Lou Bright, General Counsel of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission will be retiring from public service at the end of January, 2010. Lou will combine recreational activities with work in and with the alcoholic beverage industry. Lou sends his best regards to his many friends around the country.
SEMIANNUAL REGULATORY AGENDA PUBLISHED
The Semiannual Regulatory Agenda (Unified Agenda) was published in the Federal Register on December 7, 2009, by the Regulatory Information Service Center (RISC).
Under current practice, RISC publishes only the Department of the Treasury's regulatory agenda in the Federal Register. The more detailed descriptions of the individual regulatory actions are only published online on the RISC Web site. Below are links to these publications.
- You may view the Department's agenda as published in the Federal Register via these links ([TEXT][PDF] (TTB's portion of the agenda is on pages 64312 - 64314).
OR, you may view the same information on the RISC Web site at:http://www.reginfo.gov/public/jsp/eAgenda/StaticContent/200910/Statement_1500.html. - The Department's listing of individual regulatory actions, including TTB's, are available on the RISC Web site via the search page at http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaMain.
The following statement was included in the Department's Regulatory Plan published in the Federal Register (relates to Serving Facts Statement final rule):
TTB plans to pursue one significant regulatory action during FY 2010. In 2007, the Department approved the publication of a notice of proposed rulemaking soliciting comments on a proposal to require a serving facts statement on alcohol beverage labels. The proposed statement would include information about the serving size, the number of servings per container, and per-serving information on calories and grams of carbohydrates, fat, and protein. The proposed rule would also require information about alcohol content. This regulatory action was initiated under section 105(e) of the Federal Alcohol Administration Act, 27 U.S.C. 205(e), which confers on the Secretary of the Treasury authority to promulgate regulations for the labeling of alcoholic beverages, including regulations that prohibit consumer deception and the use of misleading statements on labels and that ensure that such labels provide the consumer with adequate information as to the identity and quality of the product. TTB received and reviewed approximately 800 comments on the serving facts proposal and plans to put forward for Department approval a final rule on this matter in FY 2010.