(a) Notice of receipt. Within 15 days of receipt of an application for a small plant permit, the appropriate TTB officer will send a written notice of receipt to the applicant. The notice will include a statement as to whether the application meets the requirements of § 19.673. If the application does not meet the requirements of § 19.673, the appropriate TTB officer will return the application to the applicant, and a new 15-day period will commence upon receipt of an amended or corrected application.

(b) Action on application. Within 45 days from the date that the appropriate TTB officer sent the applicant a notice of receipt of a completed application for a small plant permit, the appropriate TTB officer will either issue the permit or give notice in writing to the applicant stating in detail the reason that a permit will not be issued. Denial of an application will not prejudice any later application for a permit by the same applicant.

(c) Failure to give notice. If the notice of receipt required by paragraph (a) is not sent, and the applicant has a receipt indicating that the appropriate TTB officer received the application, the 45-day period provided for in paragraphs (b) and (d) of this section will commence on the fifteenth day after the date the appropriate TTB officer received the application.

(d) Presumption of approval. If, within 45 days from the date of the notice to the applicant of receipt of a completed application for a small plant permit, the appropriate TTB officer has not notified the applicant of issuance of the permit or denial of the application, the application will be deemed approved and the applicant may proceed as if a permit had been issued.

(e) Limitation. The provisions of paragraphs (a) and (c) of this section apply only to the first application submitted for any one small plant in any calendar quarter and to an amended or corrected first application.