On Monday, November 26, 2018, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) published a lengthy 132 page Notice No. 176:  Modernization of the Labeling and Advertising Regulations for Wine, Distilled Spirits, and Malt Beverages in the Federal Register.  The TTB is proposing to make significant changes to its regulations governing the labeling and advertising of wine, distilled spirits, and malt beverages by reorganizing and recodifying their regulations in order to simplify and clarify regulatory standards, incorporate guidance documents and current policy into the regulations, and reduce the regulatory burden on industry members where possible.    As proposed, 27 CFR parts 4, 5, and 7 continue to contain the labeling regulations for wine, distilled spirits, and malt beverages, respectively, while the current subparts of parts 4, 5, and 7 that relate to advertising would be removed from those parts and consolidated into a new part 14. The new amendments range from the inclusion of “agave spirits”  as a class of distilled spirits  recognizing ‘‘Mezcal’’ as a type within that class, to adding a new standard of identity for Absinthe.  In addition, to mirror a proposed change in the part 5 regulations, the TTB is also proposing to amend 27 CFR part 19 to increase the alcohol content tolerance for distilled spirits to 0.3 percent alcohol by volume above or below the labeled alcohol content in order to allow greater flexibility and business efficiencies for bottlers. The TTB is encouraging comments, suggestions, and feedback from industry members. To view the proposed rule and…

On October 16th, 2018, the CBP issued additional guidance for importers which revised previous CBP guidance on the implementation of the Craft Beverage Modernization Act (CBMA) and provided importers with pointed specifics on how to take advantage of reduced tax rates on imported alcohol beverages.   PROCEDURES AND REQUIREMENTS First, the CBMA flag should be used to identify entry lines for which the importer has received a CBMA assignment from a foreign producer/assigning entity and for which the CBMA rate is claimed.  Effective immediately, importers claiming a reduced tax rate or tax rate incorporating applicable tax credits as permitted by the CBMA (hereinafter “CBMA rate”) should do so at the time of entry summary. If and importer has not already been using the CBMA flag to flag entries, going forward, importers will use the CBMA flag to identify entry lines for which the CBMA rate is claimed and declare the lower tax rate. Additionally, importers should only use the CBMA flag when claiming the CBMA rate, whether at the time of entry summary filing or the filing of a Post Summary Corrections (“PSC”). For entries filed since January 1, 2018 that have not liquidated and for which an importer wants to make a CBMA claim, effective immediately: If not flagged, importers should file a PSC with the CBMA flag and the CBMA rate. If flagged but the CBMA rate has not been claimed, importers should file another PSC with the CBMA rate and the CBMA flag. For any entries filed since…

For some suggestions, please see Malkin Law’s latest for SevenFiftyDaily.