PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

People can get a basic permit if they apply and meet the rules. Anyone who held a basic permit on May 25, 1935 can get one by applying. Other applicants may be denied if, within five years before applying they (or a company’s officers or big stockholders) were convicted of a felony, or within three years were convicted of a liquor-related misdemeanor; or if the Secretary of the Treasury decides their business record, money, or connections mean they probably will not start or run the business lawfully; or if the planned business would break the law of the State where it will operate. The Secretary of the Treasury sets the application and permit forms and may require separate permits for distilled spirits, wine, and malt beverages. If the Secretary doubts an applicant’s fitness, the applicant must be told and given a hearing. Permits must follow rules about unfair practices, bottling and bulk sales, the Twenty-first Amendment, taxes, and other federal laws. After notice and a hearing, the Secretary may suspend (first offense), revoke, or annul a permit for fraud, long inactivity (more than two years), or willful violations; the Secretary must explain the reasons. Orders are handed to the person in person or sent by registered mail. A permit stays valid until it is surrendered, suspended, revoked, annulled, or automatically ends if sold, leased, or transferred; a transfer by law or change of control ends the permit after 30 days unless a new application is filed in that time, in which case the old permit continues until the new one is decided. The permittee or applicant can appeal the Secretary’s order in a U.S. court of appeals within 60 days; the court reviews the Secretary’s record, may allow more evidence in some cases, and its decision is final except for possible Supreme Court review. No proceeding to suspend or revoke a permit for a federal-law violation may start more than 18 months after a conviction or more than three years after the violation if there was no conviction, and no suspension or revocation can be based on a violation that government officials have lawfully compromised.

Title 27, §204

Intoxicating Liquors, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Who entitled thereto

The following persons shall, on application therefor, be entitled to a basic permit:

(1)Any person who, on May 25, 1935, held a basic permit as distiller, rectifier, wine producer, or importer issued by an agency of the Federal Government.

(2)Any other person unless the Secretary of the Treasury finds (A) that such person (or in case of a corporation, any of its officers, directors, or principal stockholders) has, within five years prior to the date of application, been convicted of a felony under Federal or State law or has, within three years prior to date of application, been convicted of a misdemeanor under any Federal law relating to liquor, including the taxation thereof; or (B) that such person is, by reason of his business experience, financial standing, or trade connections, not likely to commence operations within a reasonable period or to maintain such operations in conformity with Federal law; or (C) that the operations proposed to be conducted by such person are in violation of the law of the State in which they are to be conducted.

(b)Refusal of permit; hearing

If upon examination of any application for a basic permit the Secretary of the Treasury has reason to believe that the applicant is not entitled to such permit, he shall notify the applicant thereof and, upon request by the applicant, afford him due notice and opportunity for hearing on the application. If the Secretary of the Treasury, after affording such notice and opportunity for hearing, finds that the applicant is not entitled to a basic permit hereunder, he shall by order deny the application stating the findings which are the basis for his order.

(c)Form of application

The Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe the manner and form of all applications for basic permits (including the facts to be set forth therein) and the form of all basic permits, and shall specify in any basic permit the authority conferred by the permit and the conditions thereof in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter. To the extent deemed necessary by the Secretary of the Treasury for the efficient administration of this subchapter, separate applications and permits shall be required by the Secretary of the Treasury with respect to distilled spirits, wine, and malt beverages, and the various classes thereof, and with respect to the various classes of persons entitled to permits hereunder. The issuance of a basic permit under this subchapter shall not operate to deprive the United States of its remedy for any violation of law.

(d)Conditions

A basic permit shall be conditioned upon compliance with the requirements of section 205 of this title (relating to unfair competition and unlawful practices) and of section 206 of this title (relating to bulk sales and bottling), with the twenty-first amendment and laws relating to the enforcement thereof, and with all other Federal laws relating to distilled spirits, wine, and malt beverages, including taxes with respect thereto.

(e)Revocation, suspension, and annulment

A basic permit shall by order of the Secretary of the Treasury, after due notice and opportunity for hearing to the permittee, (1) be revoked, or suspended for such period as the Secretary of the Treasury deems appropriate, if the Secretary finds that the permittee has wilfully violated any of the conditions thereof, provided that for a first violation of the conditions thereof the permit shall be subject to suspension only; or (2) be revoked if the Secretary finds that the permittee has not engaged in the operations authorized by the permit for a period of more than two years; or (3) be annulled if the Secretary finds that the permit was procured through fraud, or misrepresentation, or concealment of material fact. The order shall state the findings which are the basis for the order.

(f)Service of orders

Orders of the Secretary with respect to any denial of application, suspension, revocation, annulment, or other proceedings, shall be served (1) in person by any officer or employee of the Secretary designated by him or any internal revenue or customs officer authorized by the Secretary for the purpose, or (2) by mailing the order by registered mail, addressed to the applicant or respondent at his last known address in the records of the Secretary.

(g)Duration

A basic permit shall continue in effect until suspended, revoked, or annulled as provided herein, or voluntarily surrendered; except that (1) if leased, sold, or otherwise voluntarily transferred, the permit shall be automatically terminated thereupon, and (2) if transferred by operation of law or if actual or legal control of the permittee is acquired, directly or indirectly, whether by stock-ownership or in any other manner, by any person, then such permit shall be automatically terminated at the expiration of thirty days thereafter: Provided, That if within such thirty-day period application for a new basic permit is made by the transferee or permittee, respectively, then the outstanding basic permit shall continue in effect until such application is finally acted on by the Secretary of the Treasury.

(h)Appeal; procedure

An appeal may be taken by the permittee or applicant for a permit from any order of the Secretary of the Treasury denying an application for, or suspending, revoking, or annulling, a basic permit. Such appeal shall be taken by filing, in the court of appeals of the United States within any circuit wherein such person resides or has his principal place of business, or in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, within sixty days after the entry of such order, a written petition praying that the order of the Secretary be modified or set aside in whole or in part. A copy of such petition shall be forthwith transmitted by the clerk of the court to the Secretary, or any officer designated by him for that purpose, and thereupon the Secretary shall file in the court the record upon which the order complained of was entered, as provided in section 2112 of title 28. Upon the filing of such petition such court shall have exclusive jurisdiction to affirm, modify, or set aside such order, in whole or in part. No objection to the order of the Secretary shall be considered by the court unless such objection shall have been urged before the Secretary or unless there were reasonable grounds for failure so to do. The finding of the Secretary as to the facts, if supported by substantial evidence, shall be conclusive. If any party shall apply to the court for leave to adduce additional evidence, and shall show to the satisfaction of the court that such additional evidence is material and that there were reasonable grounds for failure to adduce such evidence in the proceeding before the Secretary, the court may order such additional evidence to be taken before the Secretary and to be adduced upon the hearing in such manner and upon such terms and conditions as to the court may seem proper. The Secretary may modify his findings as to the facts by reason of the additional evidence so taken, and he shall file with the court such modified or new findings, which, if supported by substantial evidence, shall be conclusive, and his recommendation, if any, for the modification or setting aside of the original order. The judgment and decree of the court affirming, modifying, or setting aside, in whole or in part, any such order of the Secretary shall be final, subject to review by the Supreme Court of the United States upon certiorari or certification as provided in section 1254 of title 28. The commencement of proceedings under this subsection shall, unless specifically ordered by the court to the contrary, operate as a stay of the Secretary’s order.

(i)Limitation

No proceeding for the suspension or revocation of a basic permit for violation of any condition thereof relating to compliance with Federal law shall be instituted by the Secretary more than eighteen months after conviction of the violation of Federal law, or, if no conviction has been had, more than three years after the violation occurred; and no basic permit shall be suspended or revoked for a violation of any such condition thereof if the alleged violation of Federal law has been compromised by any officer of the Government authorized to compromise such violation.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification In subsec. (h) of this section, “section 1254 of title 28” was substituted for “section 239 and 240 of the Judicial Code, as amended”, on authority of act June 25, 1948, ch. 646, 62 Stat. 869, the first section of which enacted Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.

Amendments

1988—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 100–690, § 8001(b)(2), substituted “subchapter” for “chapter” wherever appearing. Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 100–690, § 8001(b)(3), made technical amendment to references to section 205 and 206 of this title to reflect renumbering of corresponding sections of original act. 1958—Subsec. (h). Pub. L. 85–791, in third sentence, substituted “transmitted by the clerk of the court to the Secretary, or” for “served upon, the Secretary, or upon any”, substituted “file in the court” for “certify and file in the court a transcript of”, and inserted “as provided in section 2112 of title 28”, and in fourth sentence, substituted “petition” for “transcript”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

“Court of appeals” was substituted for “circuit court of appeals” pursuant to act

June 25, 1948, as amended by act

May 24, 1949. Applicability of Administrative Procedure Act Pub. L. 85–791, § 35, Aug. 28, 1958, 72 Stat. 951, provided that: “This Act shall not be construed to repeal or modify any provision of the Administrative Procedure Act [see

Short Title

note preceding section 551 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees].”

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

“Secretary of the Treasury” and “Secretary” were substituted in subsecs. (a) to (c) and (e) to (i) for “Administrator”, meaning the Administrator of the Federal Alcohol Administration, pursuant to Reorg. Plan No. III of 1940, see note set out under section 201 of this title.

§204 Permits