7 U.S.C. § 2619 : US Code - Section 2619: Assessments

Search 7 U.S.C. § 2619 : US Code - Section 2619: Assessments

(a) Collection and payment; recordkeeping; limitation
(1) Each handler designated by the board, pursuant to regulations
issued under the plan, to make payment of assessments shall be
responsible for payment to the board, as it may direct, of any
assessment levied on potatoes; and such handler may collect from
any producer or deduct from the proceeds paid to any producer, on
whose potatoes such assessment is made, any such assessment
required to be paid by such handler. Such handler shall maintain a
separate record with respect to each producer for whom potatoes
were handled, and such records shall indicate the total quantity of
potatoes handled by him including those handled for producers and
for himself, shall indicate the total quantity of potatoes handled
by him which are included under the terms of a plan as well as
those which are exempt under such plan, and shall indicate such
other information as may be prescribed by the board. To facilitate
the collection and payment of such assessments, the board may
designate different handlers or classes of handlers to recognize
differences in marketing practices or procedures utilized in any
State or area. No more than one such assessment shall be made on
any potatoes.
(2) When importers are subject to a plan, each importer
designated by the board, pursuant to regulations issued under the
plan, to make payment of assessments shall be responsible for
payment to the board, as it may direct, of any assessment levied on
potatoes. The assessment on imported tablestock, frozen, or
processed potatoes for ultimate consumption by humans, and seed
potatoes shall be established by the board so that the effective
assessment shall equal that on domestic production and shall be
paid by the importer to the board at the time of entry into the
United States. Each such importer shall maintain a separate record
including the total quantity of tablestock, frozen, processed
potatoes for ultimate consumption by humans, and seed potatoes
imported into the United States that are included under the terms
of the plan as well as those that are exempt under such plan, and
shall indicate such other information as may be prescribed by the
board. No more than one assessment shall be made on any imported
potatoes.
(b) Records and reports; availability
Handlers and importers responsible for payment of assessments
under subsection (a) of this section shall maintain and make
available for inspection by the Secretary such books and records as
required by the plan and file reports at the times, in the manner,
and having the content prescribed by the plan, to the end that
information and data shall be made available to the board and to
the Secretary which is appropriate or necessary to the
effectuation, administration, or enforcement of this chapter or of
any plan or regulation issued pursuant to this chapter.
(c) Confidential information; disclosure during proceedings;
prohibition inapplicable to general statements and publication of
violations; penalties; removal from office
All information obtained pursuant to subsections (a) and (b) of
this section shall be kept confidential by all officers and
employees of the Department of Agriculture and of the board, and
only such information so furnished or acquired as the Secretary
deems relevant shall be disclosed by them, and then only in a suit
or administrative hearing brought at the direction, or upon the
request, of the Secretary, or to which he or any officer of the
United States is a party, and involving the plan with reference to
which the information to be disclosed was furnished or acquired.
Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit - 
(1) the issuance of general statements based upon the reports
of a number of handlers or importers subject to a plan if such
statements do not identify the information furnished by any
person, or
(2) the publication by direction of the Secretary of the name
of any person violating any plan together with a statement of the
particular provisions of the plan violated by such person.
Any such officer or employee violating the provisions of this
subsection shall upon conviction be subject to a fine of not more
than $1,000 or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both,
and shall be removed from office.