§ 4908. — Assessment procedures.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 7USC4908]
TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
CHAPTER 80--WATERMELON RESEARCH AND PROMOTION
Sec. 4908. Assessment procedures
(a) Persons responsible for remittance of assessments; recordkeeping;
equal and unitary assessments
(1) Each handler required to pay assessments under a plan, as
provided for under section 4906(f) of this title, shall be responsible
for payment to the Board, as it may direct, of the assessments. A
handler also shall collect from any producer, or shall deduct from the
proceeds paid to any producer, on whose watermelons a producer
assessment is made, the assessments required to be paid by the producer.
The handler shall remit producer assessments to the Board as the Board
directs. Such handler shall maintain a separate record with respect to
each producer for whom watermelons were handled. Such records shall
indicate the total quantity of watermelons handled by the handler,
including those handled for producers and for the handler, the total
quantity of watermelons handled by the handler that are included under
the terms of the plan, as well as those that are exempt under the plan,
and such other information as may be prescribed by the Board. To
facilitate the collection and payment of assessments, the Board may
designate different handlers or classes of handlers to recognize
differences in marketing practices or procedures used in any State or
area. The handler shall be assessed an equal amount as the producer. No
more than one assessment on a producer nor more than one assessment on a
handler shall be made on any watermelons.
(2)(A) If importers are subject to the plan, each importer required
to pay assessments under the plan shall be responsible for payment of
the assessment to the Board, as the Board may direct.
(B) The assessment on imported watermelons shall be equal to the
combined rate for domestic producers and handlers and shall be paid by
the importer to the Board at the time of the entry of the watermelons
into the United States.
(C) Each importer required to pay assessments under the plan shall
maintain a separate record that includes a record of--
(i) the total quantity of watermelons imported into the United
States that are included under the terms of the plan;
(ii) the total quantity of watermelons that are exempt from the
plan; and
(iii) such other information as may be prescribed by the Board.
(D) No more than 1 assessment shall be made on any imported
watermelon.
(b) Inspection of records
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 that is
appropriate or necessary to the effectuation, administration, or
enforcement of this chapter or of any plan or regulation issued under
this chapter.
(c) Confidentiality of information; disclosure authority; general or
violation statements; penalties; removal from office
All information obtained under 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 on the request, of the Secretary, or to which the
Secretary 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 subsection shall be deemed to
prohibit--
(1) the issuance of general statements based on 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 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.
(Pub. L. 99-198, title XVI, Sec. 1649, Dec. 23, 1985, 99 Stat. 1626;
Pub. L. 103-189, Sec. 8(g), Dec. 14, 1993, 107 Stat. 2262.)
Amendments
1993--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103-189, Sec. 8(g)(1), designated
existing provisions as par. (1) and added par. (2).
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 103-189, Sec. 8(g)(2), inserted ``and
importers'' after ``Handlers''.
Subsec. (c)(1). Pub. L. 103-189, Sec. 8(g)(3), inserted ``or
importers'' after ``handlers''.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in sections 4907, 4912 of this title.
