7 U.S.C. § 136j: Unlawful acts

Summary

Makes it illegal for anyone in a State to sell or give out certain pesticides or devices and to do many other forbidden acts. You may not sell a pesticide that is not registered, or whose registration was canceled or suspended. You may not sell a registered pesticide if the labels, claims, or the product itself are different from what was described when it was registered. You may not sell pesticides that are not colored as required, or that are adulterated or misbranded, and you may not sell a device that is misbranded. It is also illegal to remove or damage required labels, refuse to keep or give records and reports required under sections 136c, 136d, 136e, 136f, 136i, or 136q, or block inspections and sampling. You must not give a false guaranty. You must keep confidential information secret except for certain government officials, courts, or qualified health professionals. Anyone who registers, sells, or advertises pesticides must show if a product is for restricted use, and may only sell or use restricted pesticides as the law allows (there is a limited rule allowing sale to a noncertified person for use by a certified applicator). You must follow label directions and experimental permits. You must obey suspension, cancellation, and other orders under the law. Producers and applicants must not lie on registration or testing papers, falsify test data, alter products to evade rules, fail to file required reports, or test pesticides on people without fully informed, voluntary consent. Some penalties for selling unregistered pesticides do not apply in narrow cases, such as when a lawful guaranty is provided, when carriers or public officials are acting lawfully, when an experimental permit covers the use, or when shipments are only for testing and not for pest control.

Title 7, §136j

Agriculture, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In general

(1)Except as provided by subsection (b), it shall be unlawful for any person in any State to distribute or sell to any person—

(A)any pesticide that is not registered under section 136a of this title or whose registration has been canceled or suspended, except to the extent that distribution or sale otherwise has been authorized by the Administrator under this subchapter;

(B)any registered pesticide if any claims made for it as a part of its distribution or sale substantially differ from any claims made for it as a part of the statement required in connection with its registration under section 136a of this title;

(C)any registered pesticide the composition of which differs at the time of its distribution or sale from its composition as described in the statement required in connection with its registration under section 136a of this title;

(D)any pesticide which has not been colored or discolored pursuant to the provisions of section 136w(c)(5) of this title;

(E)any pesticide which is adulterated or misbranded; or

(F)any device which is misbranded.

(2)It shall be unlawful for any person—

(A)to detach, alter, deface, or destroy, in whole or in part, any labeling required under this subchapter;

(B)to refuse to—

(i)prepare, maintain, or submit any records required by or under section 136c, 136e, 136f, 136i, or 136q of this title;

(ii)submit any reports required by or under section 136c, 136d, 136e, 136f, 136i, or 136q of this title; or

(iii)allow any entry, inspection, copying of records, or sampling authorized by this subchapter;

(C)to give a guaranty or undertaking provided for in subsection (b) which is false in any particular, except that a person who receives and relies upon a guaranty authorized under subsection (b) may give a guaranty to the same effect, which guaranty shall contain, in addition to the person’s own name and address, the name and address of the person residing in the United States from whom the person received the guaranty or undertaking;

(D)to use for the person’s own advantage or to reveal, other than to the Administrator, or officials or employees of the Environmental Protection Agency or other Federal executive agencies, or to the courts, or to physicians, pharmacists, and other qualified persons, needing such information for the performance of their duties, in accordance with such directions as the Administrator may prescribe, any information acquired by authority of this subchapter which is confidential under this subchapter;

(E)who is a registrant, wholesaler, dealer, retailer, or other distributor to advertise a product registered under this subchapter for restricted use without giving the classification of the product assigned to it under section 136a of this title;

(F)to distribute or sell, or to make available for use, or to use, any registered pesticide classified for restricted use for some or all purposes other than in accordance with section 136a(d) of this title and any regulations thereunder, except that it shall not be unlawful to sell, under regulations issued by the Administrator, a restricted use pesticide to a person who is not a certified applicator for application by a certified applicator;

(G)to use any registered pesticide in a manner inconsistent with its labeling;

(H)to use any pesticide which is under an experimental use permit contrary to the provisions of such permit;

(I)to violate any order issued under section 136k of this title;

(J)to violate any suspension order issued under section 136a(c)(2)(B), 136a–1, or 136d of this title;

(K)to violate any cancellation order issued under this subchapter or to fail to submit a notice in accordance with section 136d(g) of this title;

(L)who is a producer to violate any of the provisions of section 136e of this title;

(M)to knowingly falsify all or part of any application for registration, application for experimental use permit, any information submitted to the Administrator pursuant to section 136e of this title, any records required to be maintained pursuant to this subchapter, any report filed under this subchapter, or any information marked as confidential and submitted to the Administrator under any provision of this subchapter;

(N)who is a registrant, wholesaler, dealer, retailer, or other distributor to fail to file reports required by this subchapter;

(O)to add any substance to, or take any substance from, any pesticide in a manner that may defeat the purpose of this subchapter;

(P)to use any pesticide in tests on human beings unless such human beings (i) are fully informed of the nature and purposes of the test and of any physical and mental health consequences which are reasonably foreseeable therefrom, and (ii) freely volunteer to participate in the test;

(Q)to falsify all or part of any information relating to the testing of any pesticide (or any ingredient, metabolite, or degradation product thereof), including the nature of any protocol, procedure, substance, organism, or equipment used, observation made, or conclusion or opinion formed, submitted to the Administrator, or that the person knows will be furnished to the Administrator or will become a part of any records required to be maintained by this subchapter;

(R)to submit to the Administrator data known to be false in support of a registration; or

(S)to violate any regulation issued under section 136a(a) or 136q of this title.

(b)Exemptions

The penalties provided for a violation of paragraph (1) of subsection (a) shall not apply to—

(1)any person who establishes a guaranty signed by, and containing the name and address of, the registrant or person residing in the United States from whom the person purchased or received in good faith the pesticide in the same unbroken package, to the effect that the pesticide was lawfully registered at the time of sale and delivery to the person, and that it complies with the other requirements of this subchapter, and in such case the guarantor shall be subject to the penalties which would otherwise attach to the person holding the guaranty under the provisions of this subchapter;

(2)any carrier while lawfully shipping, transporting, or delivering for shipment any pesticide or device, if such carrier upon request of any officer or employee duly designated by the Administrator shall permit such officer or employee to copy all of its records concerning such pesticide or device;

(3)any public official while engaged in the performance of the official duties of the public official;

(4)any person using or possessing any pesticide as provided by an experimental use permit in effect with respect to such pesticide and such use or possession; or

(5)any person who ships a substance or mixture of substances being put through tests in which the purpose is only to determine its value for pesticide purposes or to determine its toxicity or other properties and from which the user does not expect to receive any benefit in pest control from its use.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 12 of act

June 25, 1947, was classified to section 135j of this title prior to amendment of act

June 25, 1947, by Pub. L. 92–516.

Amendments

1991—Subsec. (a)(2)(C). Pub. L. 102–237, § 1006(b)(3)(L), substituted “the person’s” for “his” and “the person” for “he” before “received”. Subsec. (a)(2)(D). Pub. L. 102–237, § 1006(b)(3)(M), substituted “the person’s” for “his”. Subsec. (a)(2)(F). Pub. L. 102–237, § 1006(a)(7)(A), substituted “thereunder, except that it” for “thereunder. It”. Subsec. (a)(2)(O). Pub. L. 102–237, § 1006(a)(7)(B), struck out “or” after semicolon at end. Subsec. (a)(2)(P). Pub. L. 102–237, § 1006(a)(7)(C), substituted a semicolon for period at end. Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 102–237, § 1006(b)(3)(N), substituted “the person” for “he” after “from whom” and for “him” after “delivery to”. Subsec. (b)(3). Pub. L. 102–237, § 1006(b)(3)(O), substituted “the official duties of the public official” for “his official duties”. 1988—Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 100–532, § 601(b)(2)(A), in introductory provisions, substituted “distribute or sell to any person” for “distribute, sell, offer for sale, hold for sale, ship, deliver for shipment, or receive and (having so received) deliver or offer to deliver, to any person”. Subsec. (a)(1)(A). Pub. L. 100–532, § 603(1), added subpar. (A) and struck out former subpar. (A) which read as follows: “any pesticide which is not registered under section 136a of this title, except as provided by section 136d(a)(1) of this title;”. Subsec. (a)(2)(B). Pub. L. 100–532, § 603(2)(A), added subpar. (B) and struck out former subpar. (B) which read as follows: “to refuse to keep any records required pursuant to section 136f of this title, or to refuse to allow inspection of any records or establishment pursuant to section 136f or 136g of this title, or to refuse to allow an officer or employee of the Environmental Protection Agency to take a sample of any pesticide pursuant to section 136g of this title;”. Subsec. (a)(2)(F). Pub. L. 100–532, §§ 601(b)(2)(B), 801(g), substituted “to distribute or sell, or to make” for “to make” and “thereunder, It” for “thereunder: Provided, That it”. Subsec. (a)(2)(J). Pub. L. 100–532, § 801(q)(2)(B), made a technical amendment to the reference to section 136a–1 of this title to reflect the renumbering of the corresponding section of the original act. Pub. L. 100–532, § 603(2)(B), added subpar. (J) and struck out former subpar. (J) which read as follows: “to violate any suspension order issued under section 136d of this title;”. Subsec. (a)(2)(K). Pub. L. 100–532, § 603(2)(B), added subpar. (K) and struck out former subpar. (K) which read as follows: “to violate any cancellation of registration of a pesticide under section 136d of this title, except as provided by section 136d(a)(1) of this title;”. Subsec. (a)(2)(M). Pub. L. 100–532, § 603(2)(C), substituted “this subchapter” for “section 136f of this title”. Subsec. (a)(2)(Q), (R), (S). Pub. L. 100–532, § 603(2)(D), added subpars. (Q), (R), and (S). 1978—Subsec. (a)(2)(F). Pub. L. 95–396 inserted proviso exempting from prohibition the sale, under

Regulations

issued by the Administrator, of a restricted use pesticide to a person who is not a certified applicator for application by a certified applicator.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1988 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 100–532 effective on expiration of 60 days after Oct. 25, 1988, see section 901 of Pub. L. 100–532, set out as a note under section 136 of this title.

Effective Date

For

Effective Date

of section, see section 4 of Pub. L. 92–516, set out as a note under section 136 of this title.

§136j Unlawful Acts

Summary

Title 7, §136j

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

Amendments

Regulations

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Effective Date

Effective Date

Citations & Metadata