§8790 — Title 7 Agriculture | U.S. Code

Summary

If the Secretary approves a document for the programs under these titles, the Secretary cannot later call that document invalid just because the person who signed it lacked authority — unless the signer knowingly and intentionally lied or forged the signature or the papers that showed they had authority. The Secretary may still ask the proper party to confirm or re-affirm a document. If benefits are denied because someone did not affirm when asked, that denial cannot be made retroactive against third-party producers who were not the ones who misrepresented authority, as long as those third parties relied in good faith on the Secretary’s earlier approval and followed the program rules.

Title 7, §8790

Agriculture — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In carrying out this title and title II and amendments made by those titles, if the Secretary approves a document, the Secretary shall not subsequently determine the document is inadequate or invalid because of the lack of authority of any person signing the document on behalf of the applicant or any other individual, entity, general partnership, or joint venture, or the documents relied upon were determined inadequate or invalid, unless the person signing the program document knowingly and willfully falsified the evidence of signature authority or a signature.

(b)(1)Nothing in this section prohibits the Secretary from asking a proper party to affirm any document that otherwise would be considered approved under subsection (a).

(2)A denial of benefits based on a lack of affirmation under paragraph (1) shall not be retroactive with respect to third-party producers who were not the subject of the erroneous representation of authority, if the third-party producers—

(A)relied on the prior approval by the Secretary of the documents in good faith; and

(B)substantively complied with all program requirements 11 So in original. Probably should be followed by a period.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This title and title II, referred to in subsec. (a), are titles I and II of Pub. L. 110–246, June 18, 2008, 122 Stat. 1664, 1753, which enacted this chapter and enacted, amended, and repealed numerous other sections and notes in the Code. For complete classification of titles I and II to the Code, see Tables. Codification Pub. L. 110–234 and Pub. L. 110–246 enacted identical sections. Pub. L. 110–234 was repealed by section 4(a) of Pub. L. 110–246.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Enactment of this section and repeal of Pub. L. 110–234 by Pub. L. 110–246 effective May 22, 2008, the date of enactment of Pub. L. 110–234, see section 4 of Pub. L. 110–246, set out as a note under section 8701 of this title.

§8790 Signature Authority