Rev. Rul. 54-215

Advice is requested whether it is necessary that Government locks be applied to the stopocks on gauge glasses of bottling tanks.

Section 190.124 of Regulations 15 and section 189.60 of Regulations 11 contain the requirements relative to bottling tanks and provide, in part, that each bottling tank must be closed and any necessary openings therein affording access to the interior or to the contents must be closed and secured with a cover which will be secured by a Government lock or otherwise fastened and sealed.

It is held that the small stopcocks ordinarily attached to gauge glasses on bottling tanks in rectifying plants and taxpaid bottling houses do not constitute openings `affording access to the interior or to the contents' of the tanks within the meaning and contemplation of the regulations. Accordingly, Government locks now in use for securing the stopcocks on the gauge glasses of bottling tanks in rectifying plants and taxpaid bottling houses may be removed.