(a) Licensing Authority. The Licensing Authority will issue historical, nonhistorical and designated licenses.

(b) Historical licenses for the 2016 and subsequent quota years (Appendix 1). A person issued a historical license for the current quota year will be issued a historical license in the same amount for the same article from the same country for the next quota year except that beginning with the 2023 quota year, a person who has surrendered more than 50 percent of such historical license in at least three of the prior 5 quota years will thereafter be issued a license in an amount equal to the average annual quantity entered during those 5 quota years.

(c) Nonhistorical licenses (Appendix 2). The Licensing Authority will allocate nonhistorical licenses on the basis of a rank-order lottery system, which will operate as follows:

(1) The minimum license size shall be:

(i) Where the article is cheese or cheese product:

(A) The total amount available for nonhistorical license where such amount is less than 9,500 kilograms;

(B) 9,500 kilograms where the total amount available for nonhistorical license is between 9,500 kilograms and 500,000 kilograms, inclusive;

(C) 19,000 kilograms where the total amount available for nonhistorical license is between 500,001 kilograms and 1,000,000 kilograms, inclusive;

(D) 38,000 kilograms where the total amount available for nonhistorical license is greater than 1,000,000 kilograms; or

(E) An amount less than the minimum license size established in paragraphs (c)(1)(i) (A) through (D) of this section, if requested by the licensee;

(ii) Where the article is not cheese or cheese product:

(A) The total amount available for nonhistorical license where such amount is less than 19,000 kilograms;

(B) 19,000 kilograms where the total amount available for nonhistorical license is between 19,000 kilograms and 550,000 kilograms, inclusive;

(C) 38,000 kilograms where the total amount available for nonhistorical license is between 550,001 kilograms and 1,000,000 kilograms, inclusive; and

(D) 57,000 kilograms where the total amount available for nonhistorical license is greater than 1,000,000 kilograms;

(E) An amount less than the minimum license sizes established in paragraphs (c)(1)(i)(A) through (D) of this section, if requested by the licensee.

(2) Taking into account the order of preference expressed by each applicant, as required by §6.24(c), the Licensing Authority will allocate licenses for an article from a country by a series of random draws. A license of minimum size will be issued to each applicant in the order established by such draws until the total amount of such article in Appendix 2 has been allocated. An applicant that receives a license for an article will be removed from the pool for subsequent draws until every applicant has been allocated at least one license, provided that the licenses for which they applied are not already fully allocated. Any amount remaining after the random draws which is less than the applicable minimum license size may, at the discretion of the licensing Authority, be prorated equally among the licenses awarded for that article.

(d) Designated licenses (Appendix 3).

(1) With respect to an article listed in Appendix 3, the government of the applicable country may, not later than October 31 prior to the beginning of a quota year, submit directly by email to the Licensing Authority:

(i) The names, addresses and emails of the importers that it is designating to receive licenses; and

(ii) The amount, in kilograms, of such article for which each such importer is being designated. Where quantities for designation result from both Tokyo Round concessions and Uruguay Round concessions, the designations should be made in terms of each.

(2) To the extent practicable, the Licensing Authority will issue designated licenses to those importers, and in those amounts, indicated by the government of the applicable country, provided that the importer designated meets the eligibility requirements set forth in §6.23. Consistent with the international obligations of the United States, the Licensing Authority may disregard a designation if the Licensing Authority determines that the person designated is not eligible for any of the reasons set forth in §6.23(c)(1) or (2).

(3) If a government of a country which negotiated in the Uruguay Round for the right to designate importers has not done so, but determines to designate importers for the next quota year, it shall indicate its intention to do so directly and in writing to the Licensing Authority not later than July 1 prior to the beginning of such next quota year. Furthermore, if a government that has designated importers for a quota year determines that it will not continue to designate importers for the next quota year, it shall so indicate directly and in writing to the Licensing Authority, not later than July 1 prior to such next quota year.

[80 FR 44254, July 27, 2015]