Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is amending its regulations regarding the electronic submission of forms to provide for the electronic submission to TTB of copies of certain forms, where the original is to be retained by the submitter along with other records. This amendment removes a barrier that industry members have faced when trying to apply for permits completely by electronic means. TTB is also amending its regulations to address circumstances where TTB requires certain information to be submitted to other agencies. Specifically, the amendments provide that TTB requirements for information to be submitted to another agency may be met by the electronic submission of the information, as long as the other agency has provided for such a submission of information by electronic means. In addition, TTB is amending its regulations governing the records that distilled spirits plant (DSP) proprietors must keep of finished products. Specifically, TTB is removing the requirement that DSP proprietors keep a daily summary record of the kind of distilled spirits bottled or packaged. Finally, TTB is amending its regulations regarding closures that must be affixed to containers of imported distilled spirits products or of such products brought into the United States from Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands. The amendments remove a requirement that a part of the closure remain attached to the container when opened. This amendment will align the regulations for such products with those applicable to domestic distilled spirits products.

As part of our continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we invite comments on the proposed or continuing information collections listed below in this notice.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) proposes to establish the approximately 11,178-acre ``Manton Valley'' viticultural area in Shasta and Tehama Counties in northern California. The proposed viticultural area does not lie within, nor does it contain, any other established viticultural area. TTB designates viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase. TTB invites comments on this proposed addition to its regulations.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) establishes the approximately 17,633-acre ``Moon Mountain District Sonoma County'' viticultural area in Sonoma County, California. The viticultural area lies entirely within the larger Sonoma Valley viticultural area and the multicounty North Coast viticultural area. TTB designates viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase.

As part of our continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we invite comments on the proposed or continuing information collections listed below in this notice.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is reopening the comment period for Notice No. 135, Proposed Establishment of the Eagle Peak Mendocino County Viticultural Area and Realignments of the Mendocino and Redwood Valley Viticultural Areas, a notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register on June 27, 2013. TTB is taking this action in response to a request from an interested party.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) proposes to establish the ``Malibu Coast'' viticultural area in portions of Los Angeles County and Ventura County, California. The proposed viticultural area, if established, would include the existing Saddle Rock-Malibu and Malibu-Newton Canyon viticultural areas. TTB designates viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase. TTB invites comments on this proposed addition to its regulations.

This temporary rule amends the regulations of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) pertaining to permits for importers of tobacco products and processed tobacco by extending the duration of new permits from three years to five years. Based on its experience in the administration and enforcement of importer permits over the past decade, TTB believes that it can gain administrative efficiencies and reduce the burden on industry members, while still meeting the purposes of the limited-duration permit, by extending the permit duration to five years. This temporary rule also makes several technical corrections by amending the definition of ``Manufacturer of tobacco products'' to reflect a recent statutory change, and by amending a reference to the sale price of large cigars to incorporate a clarification published in a prior TTB temporary rule. Finally, this temporary rule incorporates and reissues TTB regulations pertaining to importer permit requirements for tobacco products, and minimum manufacturing and marking requirements for tobacco products and cigarette papers and tubes, and, as a result, these temporary regulations replace temporary regulations originally published in 1999. TTB is soliciting comments from all interested parties on these regulatory provisions through a notice of proposed rulemaking published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) proposes to establish the approximately 26,260-acre ``Eagle Peak Mendocino County'' viticultural area in northern California. TTB also proposes to modify the boundaries of the existing Mendocino viticultural area and the Redwood Valley viticultural area. The proposed boundary modifications would decrease the size of the 327,437-acre Mendocino viticultural area by 1,900 acres and decrease the size of the 32,047-acre Redwood Valley viticultural area by 1,430 acres. The proposed modifications of the two existing viticultural areas would eliminate potential overlaps with the proposed Eagle Peak Mendocino County viticultural area. The proposed viticultural area and the two existing viticultural areas all lie entirely within Mendocino County, California, and the multi-county North Coast viticultural area. TTB designates viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase. TTB invites comments on these proposals.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is amending its regulations regarding the mandatory labeling requirements for wine. The regulatory change permits alcohol content to appear on other labels affixed to the container rather than requiring it to appear on the brand label. This regulatory change provides greater flexibility in wine labeling, and will conform the TTB wine labeling regulations to the agreement reached by members of the World Wine Trade Group regarding the presentation of certain information on wine labels.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) proposes to establish the 11,000-acre Big Valley District-Lake County viticultural area and the 9,100-acre Kelsey Bench-Lake County viticultural area, both in Lake County, California. Additionally, TTB proposes to modify the boundary of the established 31,250-acre Red Hills Lake County viticultural area in order to align its border with that of the proposed Kelsey Bench-Lake County viticultural area. The proposed modification would increase the size of the Red Hills Lake County viticultural area by approximately 7 acres. The proposed viticultural areas and the established viticultural area that are the subject of this proposed rule lie entirely within the existing Clear Lake viticultural area, which, in turn, is within the larger, multicounty North Coast viticultural area. TTB designates viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase. TTB invites comments on these proposed additions and modification to its regulations.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is amending the regulations setting forth the standards of identity for distilled spirits to include ``Cacha[ccedil]a'' as a type of rum and as a distinctive product of Brazil. This amendment follows requests received from the Government of Brazil and subsequent discussions with the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) establishes the approximately 4,800-square mile ``Indiana Uplands'' viticultural area in south-central Indiana. TTB also modifies the boundary of the established 26,000-square mile Ohio River Valley viticultural area to eliminate a potential overlap with the Indiana Uplands viticultural area. The modification decreases the size of the Ohio River Valley viticultural area by approximately 1,530 square miles. TTB designates viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) proposes to establish the approximately 7,800-acre ``Ballard Canyon'' viticultural area in Santa Barbara County, California. The proposed viticultural area lies entirely within the larger Santa Ynez Valley viticultural area and the multicounty Central Coast viticultural area. TTB designates viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase. TTB invites comments on this proposed addition to its regulations.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) amends its regulation that sets forth the penal sum for a brewer's bond where the excise tax liability of the brewer is reasonably expected to be not more than $50,000 in the current calendar year and the brewer was liable for not more than $50,000 in such taxes in the preceding calendar year. For a period of three years, the penal sum of the required bond will be $1,000 for such brewers who file excise tax returns and remit taxes quarterly. In a related proposed rule published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, TTB is soliciting comments from all interested parties on this amended regulatory text, on whether TTB should permanently adopt this change, and on other proposed regulatory changes.

As part of our continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we invite comments on the proposed or continuing information collections listed below in this notice.

This document adopts, as a final rule, a proposal to amend the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau wine labeling regulations to allow a vintage date to appear on a wine that is labeled with a country as an appellation of origin. This amendment will provide greater grape sourcing and wine labeling flexibility to winemakers, both domestic and foreign, while still ensuring that consumers are provided with adequate information as to the identity and quality of the wines they purchase.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) establishes the 28,441-acre ``Inwood Valley'' viticultural area in Shasta County, California. TTB designates viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase.

As part of our continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we invite comments on the proposed or continuing information collections listed below in this notice.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) proposes to establish the approximately 4,800-square mile ``Indiana Uplands'' viticultural area in south-central Indiana and proposes to modify the boundary of the established Ohio River Valley viticultural area, which would result in the elimination of a potential overlap with the proposed Indiana Uplands viticultural area. These proposals would result in an approximately 1,530 square mile region no longer being part of the Ohio River Valley viticultural area as the affected region would be included in the new Indiana Uplands viticultural area. TTB designates viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase. TTB invites comments on these proposals.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) proposes to amend the regulations setting forth the standards of identity for distilled spirits to include ``Cacha[ccedil]a'' as a type of rum and as a distinctive product of Brazil. This proposal follows requests received from the Government of Brazil and subsequent discussions with the Office of the United States Trade Representative. TTB invites comments on this proposed amendment to the TTB regulations.

In this document, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau proposes to amend its regulations setting forth the standards of identity for distilled spirits to include Pisco as a type of brandy that must be manufactured in accordance with the laws and regulations of either Peru or Chile, as appropriate, governing the manufacture of those products. This change will remove ``Pisco brandy'' from the list of examples of geographical designations in the distilled spirits standards of identity. This document also includes a technical correction to remove ``Cognac'' from the same list of examples. These changes will provide greater clarity in distilled spirits labeling.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is reopening the comment period for Notice No. 123, Proposed Establishment of the Middleburg Virginia Viticultural Area, a notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register on November 8, 2011. TTB is taking this action in response to a request from a local wine industry organization.

This final rule establishes the 11,075-acre ``Coombsville'' viticultural area in Napa County, California. The viticultural area lies within the Napa Valley viticultural area and the multicounty North Coast viticultural area. TTB designates viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase.

This Treasury decision establishes the 27,500-acre ``Fort Ross-Seaview'' viticultural area in the western part of Sonoma County, California. TTB designates viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase.