Department of the Treasury December 3, 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This final rule amends the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations to reflect an extension and amendment of import restrictions on certain archaeological material and the imposition of import restrictions on ethnological material of the Arab Republic of Egypt (Egypt). The restrictions on archaeological material, which were originally imposed by CBP Dec. 16-23, were extended and amended on November 30, 2021. The Acting Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs, United States Department of State, has made the requisite determinations for extending and updating the import restrictions that previously existed, and the Governments of the United States and Egypt entered into a new agreement to reflect the extension of these import restrictions. Additionally, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs, United States Department of State, has made the requisite determinations for adding import restrictions on certain categories of ethnological material. The new agreement, which entered into force on November 30, 2021, supersedes the existing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that became effective on November 30, 2016, and enabled the promulgation of the existing import restrictions. Accordingly, the current import restrictions and new import restrictions will be effective until November 30, 2026, and the CBP regulations are being amended to reflect this extension and imposition. To fulfill the terms of the new MOU, the Designated List of cultural property, which was described in CBP Dec. 16-23, is amended in this document to reflect the addition and revision of categories of archaeological material of Egypt ranging in date from approximately 300,000 B.C. to A.D. 1750, and to include certain ethnological material ranging from A.D. 1517 to 1914.

In this notice of proposed rulemaking, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) proposes deregulatory amendments to the regulations to modernize and streamline the permit application for distilled spirits plants and for users and dealers of specially denatured alcohol and tax-free alcohol. The proposed amendments also relax some reporting requirements associated with changes to the business of those holding such permits and registrations. Some of these proposed liberalizing amendments would also apply to all Federal Alcohol Administration Act basic permit holders (including wineries, and importers and wholesalers of distilled spirits, wine, and malt beverages) and to alcohol beverage dealers. The proposed amendments are a result of TTB's evaluation of its permit and registration application requirements and consideration of relevant public comments submitted to the Treasury Department in response to its request for recommendations concerning regulations that can be eliminated, modified, or streamlined in order to reduce burdens. TTB believes the amendments proposed in this document will significantly reduce the time needed to complete an application for a permit or registration.