(a) Designation. The Secretary will review applications for the designation of nominated rural areas to determine the effectiveness of the strategic plans submitted by applicants; such designations of rural empowerment zones and enterprise communities as are made shall be from the applications submitted in response to the notice inviting applications or other applicable notice published in the Federal Register. The Secretary may elect to designate as champion communities those nominated areas which are not designated as either a rural empowerment zone or enterprise community and whose applications meet the criteria contained in §25.301.

(b) Number of rural empowerment zones, enterprise communities and champion communities—(1) Round I. The Secretary may designate up to three rural Empowerment Zones and up to thirty rural Enterprise Communities prior to December 31, 1996.

(2) Round II. The Secretary may, prior to January 1, 1999, designate up to five rural empowerment zones in addition to those designated in Round I.

(3) Round IIS. The Secretary may designate up to 20 rural enterprise communities in addition to those designated in Round I.

(4) Round III. The Secretary may, prior to January 1, 2002, designate up to two rural empowerment zones in addition to those designated in Round I and Round II.

(5) Champion communities. The number of champion communities is limited to the number of applicants which are not designated empowerment zones or enterprise communities.

(c) Period of designation. The designation of a rural area as an Empowerment Zone or Enterprise Community shall remain in effect during the period beginning on the designation date and ending on the earliest of the:

(1) End of the tenth calendar year beginning on or after the designation date;

(2) Termination date designated by the state and local governments in their application for nomination;

(3) Date the Secretary revokes the designation; or

(4) Date the Empowerment Zone or Enterprise Community modifies its boundary without first obtaining the written approval of the Secretary.

[63 FR 19114, Apr. 16, 1998, as amended at 67 FR 13556, Apr. 24, 2002]