Title 7 — AgricultureRelease 119-73not60
§1586 Certain Acts Prohibited
Title 7 › Chapter 37— SEEDS › Subchapter III— FOREIGN COMMERCE › § 1586
Summary
It is illegal for anyone to sell or offer for sale seeds for planting, seed screenings for planting, or any seed that is banned from entry when those seeds were imported for something other than planting. It is also illegal to make false or misleading statements about seed being imported, unless the only error is the variety name, the varieties look the same, and the seller honestly relied on the shipper’s name and has records to show it.
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 3, 2026
Release point: 119-73not60