Title 7 — AgricultureRelease 119-73

§4315 Certification of organizations; applicable criteria and considerations

Title 7 › Chapter CHAPTER 74— - FLORAL RESEARCH AND CONSUMER INFORMATION › § 4315

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary must decide if an organization can officially represent flower and plant growers in any U.S. producing area or companies that import flowers and plants when asking for an order under section 4304 or making nominations under section 4306(2). That decision is based on the group’s factual report and any other useful information. The report must cover eight areas, including the group’s geographic reach; how many members it has and how much production or import volume they account for by State or country; how much producers and importers help set policies; evidence the group is stable and ongoing; where its money comes from; what it does; whether producers and importers make up the majority of its board; and the group’s ability and willingness to carry out the law’s goals.

Full Legal Text

Title 7, §4315

Agriculture — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The eligibility of any organization to represent producers of flowers and plants of any producing area of the United States or importers of flowers and plants, for purposes of requesting the issuance of an order under section 4304 of this title, or making nominations under section 4306(2) of this title, shall be certified by the Secretary. Certification shall be based, in addition to other available information, upon a factual report submitted by the organization which shall contain information deemed relevant and specified by the Secretary for the making of such determination, including, but not limited to, the following:

(1)geographic territory covered by the organization’s active membership;

(2)nature and size of the organization’s active membership, the proportion of such active membership accounted for by producers and importers, and information as to the volume of production by State or the volume of importation by country accounted for by the organization’s producer and importer members;

(3)the extent to which the producer and importer membership of such organization is represented in setting the organization’s policies;

(4)evidence of stability and permanency of the organization;

(5)sources from which the organization’s operating funds are derived;

(6)functions of the organization;

(7)whether the majority of the governing board of the organization is composed of producers and importers; and

(8)the organization’s ability and willingness to further the aims and objectives of this chapter.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

7 U.S.C. § 4315

Title 7 — Agriculture

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73