21 U.S.C. § 620 : US Code - Section 620: Imports

Search 21 U.S.C. § 620 : US Code - Section 620: Imports

(a) Adulteration or misbranding prohibition; compliance with
inspection, building construction standards, and other
provisions; humane methods of slaughter; treatment as domestic
articles subject to this chapter and food, drug, and cosmetic
provisions; marking and labeling; personal consumption exemption
No carcasses, parts of carcasses, meat or meat food products of
cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, mules, or other equines which
are capable of use as human food, shall be imported into the United
States if such articles are adulterated or misbranded and unless
they comply with all the inspection, building, construction
standards, and all other provisions of this chapter and regulations
issued thereunder applicable to such articles in commerce within
the United States. No such carcasses, parts of carcasses, meat or
meat food products shall be imported into the United States unless
the livestock from which they were produced was slaughtered and
handled in connection with slaughter in accordance with the Act of
August 27, 1958 (72 Stat. 862; 7 U.S.C. 1901-1906). All such
imported articles shall, upon entry into the United States, be
deemed and treated as domestic articles subject to the other
provisions of this chapter and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic
Act [21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.]: Provided, That they shall be marked
and labeled as required by such regulations for imported articles:
Provided further, That nothing in this section shall apply to any
individual who purchases meat or meat products outside the United
States for his own consumption except that the total amount of such
meat or meat products shall not exceed fifty pounds.
(b) Terms and conditions for destruction
The Secretary may prescribe the terms and conditions for the
destruction of all such articles which are imported contrary to
this section, unless (1) they are exported by the consignee within
the time fixed therefor by the Secretary, or (2) in the case of
articles which are not in compliance with the chapter solely
because of misbranding, such articles are brought into compliance
with the chapter under supervision of authorized representatives of
the Secretary.
(c) Payment of storage, cartage, and labor charges by owner or
consignee; liens
All charges for storage, cartage, and labor with respect to any
article which is imported contrary to this section shall be paid by
the owner or consignee, and in default of such payment shall
constitute a lien against such article and any other article
thereafter imported under this chapter by or for such owner or
consignee.
(d) Prohibition
The knowing importation of any article contrary to this section
is prohibited.
(e) Omitted
(f) Inspection and other standards; applicability, enforcement,
etc.; certifications
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all carcasses, parts
of carcasses, meat, and meat food products of cattle, sheep, swine,
goats, horses, mules, or other equines, capable of use as human
food, offered for importation into the United States shall be
subject to the inspection, sanitary, quality, species verification,
and residue standards applied to products produced in the United
States. Any such imported meat articles that do not meet such
standards shall not be permitted entry in to the United States. The
Secretary shall enforce this provision through (1) the imposition
of random inspections for such species verification and for
residues, and (2) random sampling and testing of internal organs
and fat of the carcasses for residues at the point of slaughter by
the exporting country in accordance with methods approved by the
Secretary. Each foreign country from which such meat articles are
offered for importation into the United States shall obtain a
certification issued by the Secretary stating that the country
maintains a program using reliable analytical methods to ensure
compliance with the United States standards for residues in such
meat articles. No such meat article shall be permitted entry into
the United States from a country for which the Secretary has not
issued such certification. The Secretary shall periodically review
such certifications and shall revoke any certification if the
Secretary determines that the country involved is not maintaining a
program that uses reliable analytical methods to ensure compliance
with United States standards for residues in such meat articles.
The consideration of any application for a certification under this
subsection and the review of any such certification, by the
Secretary, shall include the inspection of individual
establishments to ensure that the inspection program of the foreign
country involved is meeting such United States standards.
(g) Administration of animal drugs or antibiotics; terms and
conditions; entry order violations
The Secretary may prescribe terms and conditions under which
amenable species that have been administered an animal drug or
antibiotic banned for use in the United States may be imported for
slaughter and human consumption. No person shall enter amenable
species into the United States in violation of any order issued
under this subsection by the Secretary.
(h) Reciprocal meat inspection requirement
(1) As used in this subsection:
(A) The term "meat articles" means carcasses, meat and meat
food products of cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, mules, or
other equines, that are capable of use as human food.
(B) The term "standards" means inspection, building
construction, sanitary, quality, species verification, residue,
and other standards that are applicable to meat articles.
(2) On request of the Committee on Agriculture or the Committee
on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives or the Committee
on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry or the Committee on Finance
of the Senate, or at the initiative of the Secretary, the Secretary
shall, as soon as practicable, determine whether a particular
foreign country applies standards for the importation of meat
articles from the United States that are not related to public
health concerns about end-product quality that can be substantiated
by reliable analytical methods.
(3) If the Secretary determines that a foreign country applies
standards described in paragraph (2) -
(A) the Secretary shall consult with the United States Trade
Representative; and
(B) within 30 days after the determination of the Secretary
under paragraph (2), the Secretary and the United States Trade
Representative shall recommend to the President whether action
should be taken under paragraph (4).
(4) Within 30 days after receiving a recommendation for action
under paragraph (3), the President shall, if and for such time as
the President considers appropriate, prohibit imports into the
United States of any meat articles produced in such foreign country
unless it is determined that the meat articles produced in that
country meet the standards applicable to meat articles in commerce
within the United States.
(5) The action authorized under paragraph (4) may be used instead
of, or in addition to, any other action taken under any other law.