§87b — Title 7 Agriculture | U.S. Code

Summary

Makes many dishonest acts about grain inspection, weighing, and certification illegal. You must not make, change, or use fake official papers, marks, or samples for grain. You must not tamper with loading, weighing, or sampling to get a false official certificate. You must not alter an official sample or pretend grain was inspected or weighed when it was not. You must not block buyers or their agents from watching loading, weighing, sampling, or inspection. You must not lie that you are licensed to inspect or weigh, try to bribe or improperly influence inspectors, assault or interfere with inspection staff, file false inspection or weighing applications, or lie about the weight of grain moved in interstate or foreign trade. If you find fake certificates or devices, you must quickly tell the Secretary of Agriculture or give them up when asked. People licensed to inspect or weigh grain must follow these rules too. They must not do inspections or weighings badly on purpose, issue false certificates, or take money to ignore duties. An act counts as done “knowingly” if it came from gross carelessness or if the person knew the key facts. Removed dockage or foreign material may not be put back into grain, and such material may not be added to grain, but there are set exceptions (for pest treatment, separate sale or feed use, blending like grain, rejoining broken kernels with the same grain, a temporary 1987 export rule, and adding dust suppressants or identification material). The Secretary may also ban adding nongrain junk, unfit grain, or grain with unsafe residues (FDA or EPA limits) that would hide real quality, but must make rules with public notice and comment, and cannot forbid blending an entire grade.

Title 7, §87b

Agriculture — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)No person shall—

(1)knowingly falsely make, issue, alter, forge, or counterfeit any official certificate or other official form or official mark;

(2)knowingly utter, publish, or use as true any falsely made, issued, altered, forged, or counterfeited official certificate or other official form or official mark, or knowingly possess, without promptly notifying the Secretary or the representative of the Secretary, or fail to surrender to such a representative upon demand, any falsely made, issued, altered, forged, or counterfeited official certificate or other official form, or any device for making any official mark or simulation thereof, or knowingly possess any grain in a container bearing any falsely made, issued, altered, forged, or counterfeited official mark without promptly giving such notice;

(3)knowingly cause or attempt (whether successfully or not) to cause the issuance of a false or incorrect official certificate or other official form by any means, including but not limited to deceptive loading, handling, weighing, or sampling of grain, or submitting grain for official inspection or official weighing or supervision of weighing knowing that it has been deceptively loaded, handled, weighed, or sampled, without disclosing such knowledge to the official inspection personnel before official sampling or official weighing or supervision of weighing;

(4)alter any official sample of grain in any manner or, knowing that an official sample has been altered, thereafter represent it as an official sample;

(5)knowingly use any official grade designation or official mark on any container of grain by means of a tag, label, or otherwise, unless the grain in such container was officially inspected on the basis of an official sample taken while the grain was being loaded into or was in such container or officially weighed, respectively, and the grain was found to qualify for such designation or mark;

(6)knowingly make any false representation that any grain has been officially inspected, or officially inspected and found to be of a particular kind, class, quality, or condition, or that particular facts have been established with respect to grain by official inspection under this chapter, or that any weighing service under this chapter has been performed with respect to grain;

(7)improperly influence, or attempt to improperly influence, any official inspection personnel or personnel of agencies delegated authority or of agencies or other persons designated under this chapter or any officer or employee of the Department of Agriculture with respect to the performance of the duties of the officer, employee, or other person under this chapter;

(8)forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, or interfere with any official inspection personnel or personnel of agencies delegated authority or of agencies or other persons designated under this chapter or any officer or employee of the Department of Agriculture in, or on account of, the performance of the duties of the officer, employee, or other person under this chapter;

(9)falsely represent that the person is licensed or authorized to perform an official inspection or official weighing or supervision of weighing function under this chapter;

(10)use any false or misleading means in connection with the making or filing of an application for official inspection or official weighing or supervision of weighing;

(11)violate section 77, 78, 79, 79a, 79b, 84, 87, 87a, 87e, or 87f–1 of this title;

(12)knowingly engage in falsely stating or falsifying the weight of any grain shipped in interstate or foreign commerce by any means, including, but not limited to, the use of inaccurate, faulty, or defective weighing equipment; or

(13)knowingly prevent or impede any buyer or seller of grain or other person having a financial interest in grain, or the authorized agent of any such person, from observing the loading of the grain inspected under this chapter and the weighing, sampling, and inspection of such grain under conditions prescribed by the Secretary.

(b)No person licensed or authorized to perform any function under this chapter shall—

(1)commit any offense prohibited by subsection (a);

(2)knowingly perform improperly any official sampling or other official inspection or weighing function under this chapter;

(3)knowingly execute or issue any false or incorrect official certificate or other official form; or

(4)accept money or other consideration, directly or indirectly, for any neglect or improper performance of duty.

(c)An offense shall be deemed to have been committed knowingly under this chapter if it resulted from gross negligence or was committed with knowledge of the pertinent facts.

(d)(1)Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), to ensure the quality of grain marketed in or exported from the United States—

(A)no dockage or foreign material, as defined by the Secretary, once removed from grain shall be recombined with any grain; and

(B)no dockage or foreign material of any origin may be added to any grain.

(2)Nothing in paragraph (1) shall be construed to prohibit—

(A)the treatment of grain to suppress, destroy, or prevent insects and fungi injurious to stored grain;

(B)the marketing, domestically or for export, of dockage or foreign material removed from grain if such dockage or foreign material is marketed—

(i)separately and uncombined with any such whole grain;

(ii)in pelletized form; or

(iii)as a part of a processed ration for livestock, poultry, or fish;

(C)the blending of grain with similar grain of a different quality to adjust the quality of the resulting mixture;

(D)the recombination of broken corn or broken kernels, as defined by the Secretary, with grain of the type from which the broken corn or broken kernels were derived;

(E)effective for the period ending December 31, 1987, the recombination of dockage or foreign material, except dust, removed at an export loading facility from grain destined for shipment as a cargo under one export official certificate of inspection if—

(i)the recombination occurs during the loading of the cargo;

(ii)the purpose is to ensure uniformity of dockage or foreign material throughout that specific cargo; and

(iii)the separation and recombination are conducted in accordance with regulations issued by the Secretary; or

(F)the addition to grain of a dust suppressant, or the addition of confetti or any other similar material that serves the same purpose in a quantity necessary to facilitate identification of ownership or origin of a particular lot of grain.

(3)(A)The Secretary may, by regulation, exempt from paragraph (1) the last handling of grain in the final sale and shipment of such grain to a domestic user or processor if such exemption is determined by the Secretary to be in the best economic interest of producers, grain merchants, the industry involved, and the public.

(B)Grain sold under an exemption authorized by this paragraph shall be consumed or processed into one or more products by the purchaser, but may not be resold into commercial channels for such grain or blended with other grain for resale. Neither products nor byproducts derived therefrom (except vegetable oils as defined by the Secretary and used as a dust suppressant) shall be blended with or added to grain in commercial channels.

(e)(1)The Secretary may prohibit the contamination of sound and pure grain, or prohibit disguising the quality of grain, as a result of the introduction of—

(A)nongrain substances;

(B)grain unfit for ordinary commercial purposes; or

(C)grain that exceeds action limits established by the Food and Drug Administration or grain having residues that exceed the tolerance levels established by the Environmental Protection Agency.

(2)No prohibition imposed under this section shall be construed to restrict the marketing of any grain so long as the grade or condition of the grain is properly identified.

(3)Prior to taking action under this subsection, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations after providing for notice and an opportunity for public comment, that identify and define actions and conditions that are subject to prohibition.

(4)In no case shall the Secretary prohibit the blending of an entire grade of grain.

(5)In implementing paragraph (1)(C), the Secretary shall report any prohibitions to other appropriate public health agencies.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2000—Subsec. (e)(1). Pub. L. 106–472 inserted “, or prohibit disguising the quality of grain,” after “sound and pure grain” in introductory provisions. 1994—Subsecs. (a)(2), (13), (d)(2)(D), (E)(iii), (e)(1), (3) to (5). Pub. L. 103–354 substituted “Secretary” for “Administrator” wherever appearing. 1993—Pub. L. 103–156, § 12(l), which directed amendment of “section 13”, without specifying the name of the Act being amended, was executed to this section, which is section 13 of the United States Grain Standards Act, to reflect the probable intent of Congress. Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 103–156, § 12(l)(1), substituted “the representative of the Administrator” for “his representative”. Subsec. (a)(7), (8). Pub. L. 103–156, § 12(l)(2), substituted “the duties of the officer, employee, or other person” for “his duties”. Subsec. (a)(9). Pub. L. 103–156, § 12(l)(3), substituted “the person” for “he”. Subsec. (a)(11). Pub. L. 103–156, § 7, amended par. (11) generally. Prior to amendment, par. (11) read as follows: “violate any provision of section 77; 78; 79(f)(2), (3), or (4); 79a; 79b(c); 84; 87; 87a; or 87f–1 of this title;”. 1990—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 101–624 added subsec. (e). 1986—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 99–641 added subsec. (d). 1977—Subsec. (a)(6). Pub. L. 95–113, §§ 1604(j)(1), 1606(h), substituted “or condition” for “condition, or quantity” and inserted “, or that any weighing service under this chapter has been performed with respect to grain” after “official inspection under this chapter”. Subsec. (a)(11). Pub. L. 95–113, § 1604(j)(2), inserted references to section 79(f)(3) and (4) and 87f–1 of this title. Subsec. (a)(12). Pub. L. 95–113, § 1604(j)(3), substituted “weighing equipment” for “testing equipment”. Subsec. (a)(13). Pub. L. 95–113, § 1604(j)(4), substituted “financial interest in grain” for “financial interest in the grain” and “loading of the grain” for “loading of grain”. 1976—Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 94–582, § 15(a)(1), substituted “official mark” for “official inspection mark”. Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 94–582, § 15(a)(2), substituted “official mark” for “official inspection mark” in three places, “official certificate” for “official inspection certificate” and “Administrator” for “Secretary”. Subsec. (a)(3). Pub. L. 94–582, § 15(a)(2), prohibited deceptive weighing of grain or submitting grain for official weighing or supervision of weighing knowing it has been deceptively weighed without disclosure before official weighing or supervision of weighing. Subsec. (a)(5). Pub. L. 94–582, § 15(a)(3), substituted “official mark” for “official inspection mark” and inserted “or officially weighed, respectively,” after “such container”. Subsecs. (a)(7), (8). Pub. L. 94–582, § 15(a)(4), inserted “or personnel of agencies delegated authority or of agencies or other persons designated under this chapter” after “personnel”. Subsec. (a)(9). Pub. L. 94–582, § 15(a)(5), inserted “or official weighing or supervision of weighing” after “official inspection”. Subsec. (a)(10). Pub. L. 94–582, § 15(a)(5), (6), inserted “or official weighing or supervision of weighing” after “official inspection” and struck out “or” at end. Subsec. (a)(11). Pub. L. 94–582, § 15(a)(5), inserted after “section 77, 78,” references to “79(f)(2), 79a, 79b(c)”. Subsecs. (a)(12), (13). Pub. L. 94–582, § 15(a)(6), added pars. (12) and (13). Subsec. (b)(2). Pub. L. 94–582, § 15(b), substituted “inspection or weighing function” for “inspection function”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1986 Amendment Pub. L. 99–641, title III, § 303(b), Nov. 10, 1986, 100 Stat. 3565, provided that: “The

Amendments

made by this section [amending this section] shall become effective on May 1, 1987.”

Effective Date

of 1977 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 95–113 effective Oct. 1, 1977, see section 1901 of Pub. L. 95–113, set out as a note under section 1307 of this title.

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of 1976 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 94–582 effective 30 days after Oct. 21, 1976, see section 27 of Pub. L. 94–582, as amended, set out as a note under section 74 of this title.

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For

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of section, see section 2 of Pub. L. 90–487, set out as an

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of 1968 Amendment note under section 78 of this title. Benefits and Costs Associated With Improved Grain QualityAdministrator of Federal Grain Inspection Service to estimate economic impact, including benefits and costs and distribution of such benefits and costs, of any major changes necessary to carry out

Amendments

to this section by title XX of Pub. L. 101–624 prior to making such changes, see section 2003 of Pub. L. 101–624, set out as a note under section 76 of this title.

§87b Prohibited acts

Summary

Title 7, §87b

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