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Title 7 — AgricultureRelease 119-73

§1586 Certain acts prohibited

Title 7 › Chapter CHAPTER 37— - SEEDS › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER III— - FOREIGN COMMERCE › § 1586

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

It is illegal to sell or offer for sale any seed for planting if that seed was brought in under rules that allowed it only for non-planting uses, to sell seed screenings for planting that were imported for other purposes, or to sell any seed that the law bans from entry. It is also illegal to make false or misleading claims about seeds being imported or offered for import. You are not guilty if the only wrong information is the variety name, the variety looks the same as the seed, and your records show you honestly relied on the shipper’s named variety.

Full Legal Text

Title 7, §1586

Agriculture — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

It shall be unlawful for any person—
(a)To sell or offer for sale—
(1)any seed for seeding purposes if imported under this subchapter for other than seeding purposes;
(2)any screenings of any seeds for seeding purposes if imported under this subchapter for other than seeding purposes; or
(3)any seed which is prohibited entry under the provisions of this chapter.
(b)To make any false or misleading representation with respect to any seed subject to this subchapter being imported into the United States or offered for import: Provided, That this subsection shall not be deemed violated by any person if the false or misleading representation is the name of a variety indistinguishable in appearance from the seed being imported or offered for import and the records and other pertinent facts reveal that such person relied in good faith upon representations with respect to the name of the indistinguishable variety made by the shipper of the seed.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1994—Subsec. (a)(4) to (7). Pub. L. 103–465, § 441(4)(A), struck out pars. (4) to (7) which read as follows: “(4) any seed which has been stained to resemble seed stained in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and the

Rules and Regulations

made and promulgated thereunder; “(5) any seed stained under the provisions of this chapter and the

Rules and Regulations

made and promulgated thereunder, when mixed with seed of the same kind produced in the United States; “(6) any seed stained with different colors; “(7) any seed stained under the provisions of this chapter, the labeling of which states that such seed is adapted.” Subsecs. (b), (c). Pub. L. 103–465, § 441(4)(B), (C), redesignated subsec. (c) as (b) and struck out former subsec. (b) which read as follows: “To change the proportion of seeds stained under the provisions of this chapter and the

Rules and Regulations

made and promulgated thereunder or to alter, modify, conceal, or remove in any manner or by any means the color of such stained seeds.” 1958—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 85–581 added subsec. (c).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1994 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 103–465 effective on the date of entry into force of the WTO Agreement with respect to the United States (Jan. 1, 1995), except as otherwise provided, see section 451 of Pub. L. 103–465, set out as an

Effective Date

note under section 3601 of Title 19, Customs Duties.

Effective Date

See section 1610 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

7 U.S.C. § 1586

Title 7 — Agriculture

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73