ROMANIA AGREES TO GLOBALIZE THE ITALIAN CHEESE

UNCLAS BUCHAREST 001533 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/NCE - WILLIAM SILKWORTH USDA PASS FAS FOR ITP/ROBERT CURTIS/BETTYANN GONZALES SOFIA FOR AGRICULTURAL ATTACHE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAGR RO BU SUBJECT: ROMANIA AGREES TO GLOBALIZE THE ITALIAN CHEESE TARIFF RATE QUOTA ¶1. Bucharest's Agricultural Office received consent of Romanian Government to globalize the remaining Italian cheese Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) granted to Romania. ¶2. Romania was granted a tariff-rate quota (TRQ) allocation for Italian-type cheese in the Uruguay Round for 500 tons. Under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) import licensing regulation, licenses were issued to U.S. importers to enter this allocation amount. The regulation also provides that if the licensing authority determines that imports from a country are likely to fall short of its TRQ allocations, the remaining license balances may be globalized for the remainder of the year. ¶3. To date, zero kilograms of Italian-type cheese has entered from Romania. The GOR's consent to globalize its quota will permit exports from other countries to fulfill the amount of Romania's Italian-cheese 500 MT TRQ. If supplies were to become available domestically, Romania could still export to the United States under a globalized TRQ allocation as long as the allocation remains unfilled. TAPLIN