§ 4504. — Required terms in orders.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 7USC4504]
TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
CHAPTER 76--DAIRY RESEARCH AND PROMOTION
SUBCHAPTER I--DAIRY PROMOTION PROGRAM
Sec. 4504. Required terms in orders
Any order issued under this subchapter shall contain terms and
conditions as follows:
(a) The order shall provide for the establishment and administration
of appropriate plans or projects for advertisement and promotion of the
sale and consumption of dairy products, for research projects related
thereto, for nutrition education projects, and for the disbursement of
necessary funds for such purposes. Any such plan or project shall be
directed toward the sale and marketing or use of dairy products to the
end that the marketing and use of dairy products may be encouraged,
expanded, improved, or made more acceptable. No such advertising or
sales promotion program shall make use of unfair or deceptive acts or
practices with respect to the quality, value, or use of any competing
product.
(b) National Dairy Promotion and Research Board.--
(1) The order shall provide for the establishment and
appointment by the Secretary of a National Dairy Promotion and
Research Board that shall consist of not less than thirty-six
members.
(2) Except as provided in paragraph (6), the members of the
Board shall be milk producers appointed by the Secretary from
nominations submitted by eligible organizations certified under
section 4505 of this title, or, if the Secretary determines that a
substantial number of milk producers are not members of, or their
interests are not represented by, any such eligible organization,
then from nominations made by such milk producers in the manner
authorized by the Secretary.
(3) In making such appointments, the Secretary shall take into
account, to the extent practicable, the geographical distribution of
milk production volume throughout the United States.
(4) In determining geographic representation, whole States shall
be considered as a unit.
(5) A region may be represented by more than one director and a
region may be made up of more than one State.
(6) Importers.--
(A) Initial representation.--In making initial appointments
to the Board of importer representatives, the Secretary shall
appoint 2 members who represent importers of dairy products and
are subject to assessments under the order.
(B) Subsequent representation.--At least once every 3 years
after the initial appointment of importer representatives under
subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall review the average volume
of domestic production of dairy products compared to the average
volume of imports of dairy products into the United States
during the previous 3 years and, on the basis of that review,
shall reapportion importer representation on the Board to
reflect the proportional share of the United States market by
domestic production and imported dairy products.
(C) Additional members; nominations.--The members appointed
under this paragraph--
(i) shall be in addition to the total number of members
appointed under paragraph (2); and
(ii) shall be appointed from nominations submitted by
importers under such procedures as the Secretary determines
to be appropriate.
(7) The term of appointment to the Board shall be for three
years with no member serving more than two consecutive terms, except
that initial appointments shall be proportionately for one-year,
two-year, and three-year terms.
(8) The Board shall appoint from its members an executive
committee whose membership shall equally reflect each of the
different regions in the United States in which milk is produced as
well as importers of dairy products.
(9) The executive committee shall have such duties and powers as
are conferred upon it by the Board.
(10) Board members shall serve without compensation, but shall
be reimbursed for their reasonable expenses incurred in performing
their duties as members of the Board including a per diem allowance
as recommended by the Board and approved by the Secretary.
(c) The order shall define the powers and duties of the Board that
shall include only the powers enumerated in this section. These shall
include, in addition to the powers set forth elsewhere in this section,
the powers to (1) receive and evaluate, or on its own initiative
develop, and budget for plans or projects to promote the use of fluid
milk and dairy products as well as projects for research and nutrition
education and to make recommendations to the Secretary regarding such
proposals, (2) administer the order in accordance with its terms and
provisions, (3) make rules and regulations to effectuate the terms and
provisions of the order, (4) receive, investigate, and report to the
Secretary complaints of violations of the order, and (5) recommend to
the Secretary amendments to the order. The Board shall solicit, among
others, research proposals that would increase the use of fluid milk and
dairy products by the military and by persons in developing nations, and
that would demonstrate the feasibility of converting surplus nonfat dry
milk to casein for domestic and export use.
(d) The order shall provide that the Board shall develop and submit
to the Secretary for approval any promotion, research, or nutrition
education plan or project and that any such plan or project must be
approved by the Secretary before becoming effective.
(e) Budgets.--
(1) Preparation and submission.--The order shall require the
Board to submit to the Secretary for approval budgets on a fiscal
period basis of its anticipated expenses and disbursements in the
administration of the order, including projected costs of dairy
products promotion and research projects.
(2) Foreign market efforts.--The order shall authorize the Board
to expend in the maintenance and expansion of foreign markets an
amount not to exceed the amount collected from United States
producers for a fiscal year. Of those funds, for each of the 2002
through 2007 fiscal years, the Board's budget may provide for the
expenditure of revenues available to the Board to develop
international markets for, and to promote within such markets, the
consumption of dairy products produced or manufactured in the United
States.
(f) The order shall provide that the Board, with the approval of the
Secretary, may enter into agreements for the development and conduct of
the activities authorized under the order as specified in subsection (a)
of this section and for the payment of the cost thereof with funds
collected through assessments under the order. Any such agreement shall
provide that (1) the contracting party shall develop and submit to the
Board a plan or project together with a budget or budgets that shall
show estimated costs to be incurred for such plan or project, (2) the
plan or project shall become effective upon the approval of the
Secretary, and (3) the contracting party shall keep accurate records of
all of its transactions, account for funds received and expended, and
make periodic reports to the Board of activities conducted, and such
other reports as the Secretary or the Board may require.
(g) Assessments.--
(1) The order shall provide that each person making payment to a
producer for milk produced in the United States and purchased from
the producer shall, in the manner as prescribed by the order,
collect an assessment based upon the number of hundredweights of
milk for commercial use handled for the account of the producer and
remit the assessment to the Board.
(2) The assessment shall be used for payment of the expenses in
administering the order, with provision for a reasonable reserve,
and shall include those administrative costs incurred by the
Department after an order has been promulgated under this
subchapter.
(3) The rate of assessment for milk produced in the United
States and imported dairy products prescribed by the order shall be
15 cents per hundredweight of milk for commercial use or the
equivalent thereof, as determined by the Secretary.
(4) A milk producer or the producer's cooperative who can
establish that the producer is participating in active, ongoing
qualified State or regional dairy product promotion or nutrition
education programs intended to increase consumption of milk and
dairy products generally shall receive credit in determining the
assessment due from such producer for contributions to such programs
of up to 10 cents per hundredweight of milk marketed or, for the
period ending six months after November 29, 1983, up to the
aggregate rate in effect on November 29, 1983, of such contributions
to such programs (but not to exceed 15 cents per hundredweight of
milk marketed) if such aggregate rate exceeds 10 cents per
hundredweight of milk marketed.
(5) Any person marketing milk of that person's own production
directly to consumers shall remit the assessment directly to the
Board in the manner prescribed by the order.
(6) Importers.--
(A) In general.--The order shall provide that each importer
of imported dairy products shall pay an assessment to the Board
in the manner prescribed by the order.
(B) Time for payment.--The assessment on imported dairy
products shall be paid by the importer to Customs at the time
the entry documents are filed with Customs. Customs shall remit
the assessments to the Board. For purposes of this subparagraph,
the term ``importer'' includes persons who hold title to
foreign-produced dairy products immediately upon release by
Customs, as well as persons who act on behalf of others, as
agents, brokers, or consignees, to secure the release of dairy
products from Customs.
(C) Use of assessments on imported dairy products.--
Assessments collected on imported dairy products shall not be
used for foreign market promotion.
(h) The order shall require the Board to (1) maintain such books and
records (which shall be available to the Secretary for inspection and
audit) as the Secretary may prescribe, (2) prepare and submit to the
Secretary, from time to time, such reports as the Secretary may
prescribe, and (3) account for the receipt and disbursement of all funds
entrusted to it.
(i) The order shall provide that the Board, with the approval of the
Secretary, may invest, pending disbursement under a plan or project,
funds collected through assessments authorized under this subchapter
only in obligations of the United States or any agency thereof, in
general obligations of any State or any political subdivision thereof,
in any interest-bearing account or certificate of deposit of a bank that
is a member of the Federal Reserve System, or in obligations fully
guaranteed as to principal and interest by the United States.
(j) The order shall prohibit any funds collected by the Board under
the order from being used in any manner for the purpose of influencing
governmental policy or action except as provided by subsection (c)(5) of
this section.
(k) The order shall require that each importer of imported dairy
products, each person receiving milk from farmers for commercial use,
and any person marketing milk of that person's own production directly
to consumers, maintain and make available for inspection such books and
records as may be required by the order and file reports at the time, in
the manner, and having the content prescribed by the order. Such
information shall be made available to the Secretary as is appropriate
to the administration or enforcement of this subchapter, or any order or
regulation issued under this subchapter. All information so obtained
shall be kept confidential by all officers and employees of the
Department, and only such information so obtained as the Secretary deems
relevant may be disclosed by them and then only in a suit or
administrative hearing brought at the request of the Secretary, or to
which the Secretary or any officer of the United States is a party, and
involving the order with reference to which the information to be
disclosed was obtained. Nothing in this subsection may be deemed to
prohibit (1) the issuance of general statements, based upon the reports,
of the number of persons subject to an order or statistical data
collected therefrom, which 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 order, together with
a statement of the particular provisions of the order violated by such
person. No information obtained under the authority of this subchapter
may be made available to any agency or officer of the Federal Government
for any purpose other than the implementation of this subchapter and any
investigatory or enforcement action necessary for the implementation of
this subchapter. Any person violating the provisions of this subsection
shall, upon conviction, be subject to a fine of not more than $1,000, or
to imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, and, if an officer
or employee of the Board or the Department, shall be removed from
office.
(l) The order shall provide terms and conditions, not inconsistent
with the provisions of this subchapter, as necessary to effectuate the
provisions of the order.
(Pub. L. 98-180, title I, Sec. 113, Nov. 29, 1983, 97 Stat. 1137; Pub.
L. 104-127, title I, Sec. 152, Apr. 4, 1996, 110 Stat. 922; Pub. L. 107-
171, title I, Sec. 1505(b)-(e), May 13, 2002, 116 Stat. 208, 209.)
Amendments
2002--Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 107-171, Sec. 1505(b), inserted heading,
designated first to ninth sentences as pars. (1) to (5) and (7) to (10),
respectively, and realigned margins, substituted ``Except as provided in
paragraph (6), the members of the Board'' for ``Members of the Board''
in par. (2) and ``is produced as well as importers of dairy products''
for ``is produced'' in par. (8), and added par. (6).
Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 107-171, Sec. 1505(c), inserted heading,
designated existing provisions as par. (1), inserted heading, and struck
out ``For each of fiscal years 1997 through 2001, the Board's budget may
provide for the expenditure of revenues available to the Board to
develop international markets for, and to promote within such markets,
the consumption of dairy products produced in the United States from
milk produced in the United States.'' at end, and added par. (2).
Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 107-171, Sec. 1505(d), inserted heading,
designated first to fifth sentences as pars. (1) to (5), respectively,
and realigned margins, inserted ``for milk produced in the United States
and imported dairy products'' after ``The rate of assessment'' and ``,
as determined by the Secretary'' before period at end in par. (3), and
added par. (6).
Subsec. (k). Pub. L. 107-171, Sec. 1505(e), substituted ``importer
of imported dairy products, each person receiving milk from farmers''
for ``person receiving milk from farmers'' in first sentence.
1996--Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 104-127 inserted at end ``For each of
fiscal years 1997 through 2001, the Board's budget may provide for the
expenditure of revenues available to the Board to develop international
markets for, and to promote within such markets, the consumption of
dairy products produced in the United States from milk produced in the
United States.''
Transfer of Functions
For transfer of functions, personnel, assets, and liabilities of the
United States Customs Service of the Department of the Treasury,
including functions of the Secretary of the Treasury relating thereto,
to the Secretary of Homeland Security, and for treatment of related
references, see sections 203(1), 551(d), 552(d), and 557 of Title 6,
Domestic Security, and the Department of Homeland Security
Reorganization Plan of November 25, 2002, as modified, set out as a note
under section 542 of Title 6.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in sections 4502, 4505, 6407, 6409 of
this title.