Title 7AgricultureRelease 119-73

§2146a Searchable database requirements

Title 7 › Chapter CHAPTER 54— - TRANSPORTATION, SALE, AND HANDLING OF CERTAIN ANIMALS › § 2146a

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Within 60 calendar days, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service must restore on its website the searchable database as it existed on January 30, 2017 and include all records added since then. The agency must make public in that database final Animal Welfare Act inspection reports (including violations and animal inventories), Animal Welfare Act and Horse Protection Act enforcement records, and other USDA violation reports for the current year and the three preceding years. Signatures may be redacted. Final Animal Welfare Act research facility annual reports and attachments must be posted within six months of receipt, with redactions allowed for confidential business information under FOIA Exemption 4.

Full Legal Text

Title 7, §2146a

Agriculture — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service shall, notwithstanding any other provision of law:
(a)within 60 calendar days, restore on its website the searchable database and its contents that were available on January 30, 2017, and all content generated since that date; and
(b)hereafter, make publicly available via searchable database, in their entirety without redactions except signatures, the following records:
(1)all final Animal Welfare Act inspection reports, including all reports documenting all Animal Welfare Act violations and non-compliances observed by USDA officials and all animal inventories for the current year and the preceding three years;
(2)all final Animal Welfare Act and Horse Protection Act enforcement records for the current year and the preceding three years;
(3)all reports or other materials documenting any violations and non-compliances observed by USDA officials for the current year and the preceding three years; and
(4)within six months of receipt by the agency, all final Animal Welfare Act research facility annual reports, including their attachments with appropriate redactions made for confidential business information that USDA could withhold under FOIA Exemption 4.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Animal Welfare Act, referred to in subsec. (b)(1), (2), (4), is Pub. L. 89–544, Aug. 24, 1966, 80 Stat. 350, which is classified generally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 2131 of this title and Tables. The Horse Protection Act, referred to in subsec. (b)(2), is Pub. L. 91–540, Dec. 9, 1970, 84 Stat. 1404, which is classified generally to chapter 44 (§ 1821 et seq.) of Title 15, Commerce and Trade. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 1821 of Title 15 and Tables. Codification Section was enacted as part of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2020, and also as part of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, and not as part of the Animal Welfare Act which comprises this chapter.

Amendments

2022—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 117–103 amended subsec. (b) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (b) read as follows: “hereafter, make publicly available via searchable database, in their entirety without redactions except signatures, the following records after enactment of this Act for a subsequent period of three years: “(1) all final Animal Welfare Act inspection reports, including all reports documenting all Animal Welfare Act non-compliances observed by USDA officials and all animal inventories; “(2) all final Animal Welfare Act and Horse Protection Act

Enforcement

records; “(3) all reports or other materials documenting any non-compliances observed by USDA officials; and “(4) within six months of receipt by the agency, all final Animal Welfare Act research facility annual reports, including their attachments with appropriate redactions made for confidential business information that USDA could withhold under FOIA Exemption 4.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

7 U.S.C. § 2146a

Title 7Agriculture

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73