7 U.S.C. § 87b : US Code - Section 87B: Prohibited acts

Search 7 U.S.C. § 87b : US Code - Section 87B: Prohibited acts

(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) of this
section;
(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.