Does FDA consider a registration renewal expired if it was properly submitted on or prior to the December 31 deadline but was not timely administered or accepted by FDA on or prior to the December 31 deadline?

In the Registration Final Rule, we added 21 CFR 1.241(b) to specify that FDA will consider a
registration for a food facility to be expired if the registration is not renewed, as required by 21
CFR 1.230(b). If a food facility registration or renewal registration is submitted (or
postmarked, for paper submissions) on or before the renewal deadline and includes all required
information, we will not consider such a registration to be expired. Furthermore, 21 CFR
1.241(c) provides that FDA will cancel a registration if the facility’s registration has expired
because the facility has failed to renew its registration in accordance with 21 CFR 1.230(b).
For registrations that we do not consider to be expired, we will not cancel the registrations
under 21 CFR 1.241(c) (see Comment 26 in the Registration Final Rule; 81 FR 45912 at 45927
to 45928).