7 U.S.C. § 2146 : US Code - Section 2146: Administration and enforcement by Secretary

Search 7 U.S.C. § 2146 : US Code - Section 2146: Administration and enforcement by Secretary

(a) Investigations and inspections
The Secretary shall make such investigations or inspections as he
deems necessary to determine whether any dealer, exhibitor,
intermediate handler, carrier, research facility, or operator of an
auction sale subject to section 2142 of this title, has violated or
is violating any provision of this chapter or any regulation or
standard issued thereunder, and for such purposes, the Secretary
shall, at all reasonable times, have access to the places of
business and the facilities, animals, and those records required to
be kept pursuant to section 2140 of this title of any such dealer,
exhibitor, intermediate handler, carrier, research facility, or
operator of an auction sale. The Secretary shall inspect each
research facility at least once each year and, in the case of
deficiencies or deviations from the standards promulgated under
this chapter, shall conduct such follow-up inspections as may be
necessary until all deficiencies or deviations from such standards
are corrected. The Secretary shall promulgate such rules and
regulations as he deems necessary to permit inspectors to
confiscate or destroy in a humane manner any animal found to be
suffering as a result of a failure to comply with any provision of
this chapter or any regulation or standard issued thereunder if (1)
such animal is held by a dealer, (2) such animal is held by an
exhibitor, (3) such animal is held by a research facility and is no
longer required by such research facility to carry out the
research, test, or experiment for which such animal has been
utilized, (4) such animal is held by an operator of an auction
sale, or (5) such animal is held by an intermediate handler or a
carrier.
(b) Penalties for interfering with official duties
Any person who forcibly assaults, resists, opposes, impedes,
intimidates, or interferes with any person while engaged in or on
account of the performance of his official duties under this
chapter shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more
than three years, or both. Whoever, in the commission of such acts,
uses a deadly or dangerous weapon shall be fined not more than
$10,000, or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both. Whoever
kills any person while engaged in or on account of the performance
of his official duties under this chapter shall be punished as
provided under sections 1111 and 1114 of title 18.
(c) Procedures
For the efficient administration and enforcement of this chapter
and the regulations and standards promulgated under this chapter,
the provisions (including penalties) of sections 46, 48, 49 and 50
of title 15 (except paragraph (c) through (h) of section 46 and the
last paragraph of section 49 (!1) of title 15), and the provisions
of Title II of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, are made
applicable to the jurisdiction, powers, and duties of the Secretary
in administering and enforcing the provisions of this chapter and
to any person, firm, or corporation with respect to whom such
authority is exercised. The Secretary may prosecute any inquiry
necessary to his duties under this chapter in any part of the
United States, including any territory, or possession thereof, the
District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The
powers conferred by said sections 49 and 50 of title 15 on the
district courts of the United States may be exercised for the
purposes of this chapter by any district court of the United
States. The United States district courts, the District Court of
Guam, the District Court of the Virgin Islands, the highest court
of American Samoa, and the United States courts of the other
territories, are vested with jurisdiction specifically to enforce,
and to prevent and restrain violations of this chapter, and shall
have jurisdiction in all other kinds of cases arising under this
chapter, except as provided in section 2149(c) of this title.