§ 7481. — Findings and declaration of policy.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 7USC7481]
TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
CHAPTER 101--AGRICULTURAL PROMOTION
SUBCHAPTER V--POPCORN
Sec. 7481. Findings and declaration of policy
(a) Findings
Congress finds that--
(1) popcorn is an important food that is a valuable part of the
human diet;
(2) the production and processing of popcorn plays a significant
role in the economy of the United States in that popcorn is
processed by several popcorn processors, distributed through
wholesale and retail outlets, and consumed by millions of people
throughout the United States and foreign countries;
(3) popcorn must be of high quality, readily available, handled
properly, and marketed efficiently to ensure that the benefits of
popcorn are available to the people of the United States;
(4) the maintenance and expansion of existing markets and uses
and the development of new markets and uses for popcorn are vital to
the welfare of processors and persons concerned with marketing,
using, and producing popcorn for the market, as well as to the
agricultural economy of the United States;
(5) the cooperative development, financing, and implementation
of a coordinated program of popcorn promotion, research, consumer
information, and industry information is necessary to maintain and
expand markets for popcorn; and
(6) popcorn moves in interstate and foreign commerce, and
popcorn that does not move in those channels of commerce directly
burdens or affects interstate commerce in popcorn.
(b) Policy
It is the policy of Congress that it is in the public interest to
authorize the establishment, through the exercise of the powers provided
in this subchapter, of an orderly procedure for developing, financing
(through adequate assessments on unpopped popcorn processed
domestically), and carrying out an effective, continuous, and
coordinated program of promotion, research, consumer information, and
industry information designed to--
(1) strengthen the position of the popcorn industry in the
marketplace; and
(2) maintain and expand domestic and foreign markets and uses
for popcorn.
(c) Purposes
The purposes of this subchapter are to--
(1) maintain and expand the markets for all popcorn products in
a manner that--
(A) is not designed to maintain or expand any individual
share of a producer or processor of the market;
(B) does not compete with or replace individual advertising
or promotion efforts designed to promote individual brand name
or trade name popcorn products; and
(C) authorizes and funds programs that result in government
speech promoting government objectives; and
(2) establish a nationally coordinated program for popcorn
promotion, research, consumer information, and industry information.
(d) Statutory construction
This subchapter treats processors equitably. Nothing in this
subchapter--
(1) provides for the imposition of a trade barrier to the entry
into the United States of imported popcorn for the domestic market;
or
(2) provides for the control of production or otherwise limits
the right of any individual processor to produce popcorn.
(Pub. L. 104-127, title V, Sec. 572, Apr. 4, 1996, 110 Stat. 1074.)
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in section 7483 of this title.
