Terms Used In 5 CFR Part 430 - Performance Management

• Act: means the Federal Seed Act approved August 9, 1939 (53 Stat. See 7 CFR 201.2
• Act: means the applicable provisions of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (60 Stat. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Administrator: means the Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• agricultural seeds: means the following kinds of grass, forage, and field crop seeds, that are used for seeding purposes in the United States:
  Agrotricum— × Agrotriticum Cif. See 7 CFR 201.2
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Annual percentage rate: The cost of credit at a yearly rate. It is calculated in a standard way, taking the average compound interest rate over the term of the loan so borrowers can compare loans. Lenders are required by law to disclose a card account's APR. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Applicant: means any interested party who requests inspection service under the regulations in this part. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Approved plant: means any plant in which the facilities, sanitation, and methods of operation have been surveyed and approved for specific product(s) by the Administrator as suitable and adequate for inspection or grading service in accordance with §§ 52. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• brand: means a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them that identifies the seed of one seller or group of sellers and differentiates that seed from the seed of other sellers. See 7 CFR 201.2
• Case: means the number of containers (cased or uncased) which, by the particular industry are ordinarily packed in a shipping container. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Case law: The law as laid down in cases that have been decided in the decisions of the courts.
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• coated seed: means any seed unit covered with a coating material. See 7 CFR 201.2
• coating material: means any substance that changes the size, shape, or weight of the original seed. See 7 CFR 201.2
• Collection of information: includes any requirement or request for persons to obtain, maintain, retain, report, or publicly disclose information. See 5 CFR 1320.3
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Community Reinvestment Act: The Act is intended to encourage depository institutions to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. It was enacted by the Congress in 1977. ^{Source: OCC}
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• complete record: means information which relates to the origin, treatment (including but not limited to coating, film coating, encrusting, or pelleting), germination, and purity (including variety) of each lot of agricultural seed transported or delivered for transportation in interstate commerce, or which relates to the treatment (including but not limited to coating, film coating, encrusting, or pelleting), germination, and variety of each lot of vegetable seed transported or delivered for transportation in interstate commerce. See 7 CFR 201.2
• Condition: means the degree of soundness of the product which may affect its merchantability and includes, but is not limited to those factors which are subject to change as a result of age, improper preparation and processing, improper packaging, improper storage or improper handling. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Conference committee: A temporary, ad hoc panel composed of conferees from both chamber of a legislature which is formed for the purpose of reconciling differences in legislation that has passed both chambers. Conference committees are usually convened to resolve bicameral differences on major and controversial legislation.
• consumer: means any person who purchases or otherwise obtains seed for sowing but not for resale. See 7 CFR 201.2
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Controlling the pollination: means to use a method of hybridization which will produce pure seed which is at least 75 percent hybrid seed. See 7 CFR 201.2
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• cottonseed: as used in this part means the seed, after having been put through the usual and customary process known as cotton ginning, of any cotton produced within the continental United States. See 7 CFR 61.2
• country shipper: means any person located in a producing area who purchases seed locally for shipment to seed dealers or to other country shippers. See 7 CFR 201.2
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• dealer: means any person who cleans, processes, sells, offers for sale, transports, or delivers for transportation seeds in interstate commerce. See 7 CFR 201.2
• declaration: means a written statement of a grower, shipper, processor, dealer, or importer giving for any lot of seed the kind, variety, type, origin, or the use for which the seed is intended. See 7 CFR 201.2
• declaration of origin: means a declaration of a grower or country shipper in the United States stating for each lot of agricultural seed (1) kind of seed, (2) lot number or other identification, (3) State where seed was grown and the county where grown if to be labeled showing the origin as a portion of a State, (4) quantity of seed, (5) date shipped or delivered, (6) to whom sold, shipped, or delivered, and (7) the signature and address of the grower or country shipper issuing the declaration. See 7 CFR 201.2
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the United States Department of Agriculture. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• double cross: means the first generation hybrid between two single crosses. See 7 CFR 201.2
• Electronic funds transfer: The transfer of money between accounts by consumer electronic systems-such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic payment of bills-rather than by check or cash. (Wire transfers, checks, drafts, and paper instruments do not fall into this category.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fair Credit Reporting Act: A federal law, established in 1971 and revised in 1997, that gives consumers the right to see their credit records and correct any mistakes. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: A government corporation that insures the deposits of all national and state banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. ^{Source: OCC}
• Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Finance charge: The total cost of credit a customer must pay on a consumer loan, including interest. The Truth in Lending Act requires disclosure of the finance charge. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grace period: The number of days you'll have to pay your bill for purchases in full without triggering a finance charge. ^{Source: Federal Reserve}
• Grade: means a class or rank of quality. See 7 CFR 51.2
• grader: means any employee of the Department authorized by the Secretary or any other person licensed by the Secretary to investigate, sample, inspect, and certify in accordance with the regulations in this part to any interested party the class, quality and condition of processed products covered in this part and to perform related duties in connection with the inspection service. See 7 CFR 52.2
• grower: means any person who produces directly or through a growing contract, or is a seed-crop sharer in seed which is sold, offered for sale, transported, or offered for transportation. See 7 CFR 201.2
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Hearing Clerk: means the Hearing Clerk, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC;

  (e) Respondent. See 7 CFR 201.2

• inbred line: means a relatively true-breeding strain resulting from at least five successive generations of controlled self-fertilization or of backcrossing to a recurrent parent with selection, or its equivalent, for specific characteristics. See 7 CFR 201.2
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• inoculant: means a product consisting of microorganisms applied to the seed for the purpose of enhancing the availability or uptake of plant nutrients through the root system. See 7 CFR 201.2
• Inspection certificate: means a statement, either written or printed, issued pursuant to the regulations in this part, setting forth in addition to appropriate descriptive information relative to a processed product, and the container thereof, the quality and condition, or any part thereof, of the product and may include a description of the conditions under which the product is stored. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Inspector in Charge: means any inspector designated on a plant working shift or in a field office laboratory as the inspector in charge of the inspection work when authorized by the Administrator to act in that capacity. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Interested party: means any person who has a financial interest in the commodity involved. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Licensed sampler: means any person who is authorized by the Secretary to draw samples of processed products for inspection service, to inspect for identification and condition of containers in a lot, and may, when authorized by the Administrator, perform related services under the act and the regulations in this part. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• lot of seed: means a definite quantity of seed identified by a lot number, every portion or bag of which is uniform, within permitted tolerances, for the factors which appear in the labeling. See 7 CFR 201.2
• mixture: means seeds consisting of more than one kind or variety, each present in excess of 5 percent by weight of the whole. See 7 CFR 201.2
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• National Credit Union Administration: The federal regulatory agency that charters and supervises federal credit unions. (NCUA also administers the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, which insures the deposits of federal credit unions.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• off-type: means a plant or seed which deviates in one or more characteristics from that which has been described in accordance with § 201. See 7 CFR 201.2
• Oral argument: An opportunity for lawyers to summarize their position before the court and also to answer the judges' questions.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• person: includes an individual partnership, corporation, company, society, association, receiver, trustee, or agent;

  (c) Secretary. See 7 CFR 201.2

• Person: means any individual, partnership, association, business trust, corporation, any organized group of persons (whether incorporated or not), the United States (including, but not limited to, any corporate agencies thereof), any State, county, or municipal government, any common carrier, and any authorized agent of any of the foregoing. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plant: means the premises, buildings, structure, and equipment (including, but not being limited to machines, utensils, vehicles, and fixtures located in or about the premises) used or employed in the preparation, processing, handling, transporting and storage of fruits and vegetables, or the processed products thereof. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• practical utility: means that actual uses can be demonstrated. See 5 CFR 1320.3
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Pro se: A Latin term meaning "on one's own behalf"; in courts, it refers to persons who present their own cases without lawyers.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Processed product: means any fruit, vegetable, or other food product covered under the regulations in this part which has been preserved by any recognized commercial process, including, but not limited to canning, freezing, dehydrating, drying, the addition of chemical substances, or by fermentation. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public debt: Cumulative amounts borrowed by the Treasury Department or the Federal Financing Bank from the public or from another fund or account. The public debt does not include agency debt (amounts borrowed by other agencies of the Federal Government). The total public debt is subject to a statutory limit.
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• purity: means the name or names of the kind, type, or variety and the percentage or percentages thereof; the percentage of other agricultural seed; the percentage of weed seeds, including noxious-weeds seeds; the percentage of inert matter; and the names of the noxious-weed seeds and the rate of occurrence of each. See 7 CFR 201.2
• Quality: means the combination of the inherent properties or attributes of a product which determines its relative degree of excellence. See 7 CFR 51.2
• Quality: means the inherent properties of any processed product which determine the relative degree of excellence of such product, and includes the effects of preparation and processing, and may or may not include the effects of packing media, or added ingredients. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• regulations: means the rules and regulations promulgated by the Secretary of Agriculture and the joint rules and regulations promulgated by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Agriculture under the Act. See 7 CFR 201.2
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Sample: means any number of sample units to be used for inspection. See 7 CFR 51.2
• Sample: means any number of sample units to be used for inspection. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Sample unit: means a container and/or its entire contents, a portion of the contents of one or more containers or other unit of commodity, or a composite mixture of a product used for inspection. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Sampling: means the act of selecting samples of processed products for the purpose of inspection under the regulations in this part. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States, or any officer or employee of the Department to whom authority has heretofore been delegated, or to whom authority may hereafter be delegated, to act in his stead;

  (d) Hearing Clerk. See 7 CFR 201.2

• Secretary: means the Secretary of the Department or any other officer or employee of the Department authorized to exercise the powers and to perform the duties of the Secretary in respect to the matters covered by the regulations in this part. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• shipping case: means a unit consisting of a given number of primary containers of the same size, the number and arrangement per unit conforming to customary trade practice. See 7 CFR 52.2
• Shipping container: means an individual container designed for shipping a number of packages or cans ordinarily packed in a container for shipping or designed for packing unpackaged processed products for shipping. See 7 CFR 52.2
• single cross: means the first generation hybrid between two inbred lines. See 7 CFR 201.2
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• ten or more persons: refers to the persons to whom a collection of information is addressed by the agency within any 12-month period, and to any independent entities to which the initial addressee may reasonably be expected to transmit the collection of information during that period, including independent State, territorial, tribal or local entities and separately incorporated subsidiaries or affiliates. See 5 CFR 1320.3
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• top cross: means the first generation hybrid of a cross between an inbred line and an open-pollinated variety or the first-generation hybrid between a single cross and an open-pollinated variety. See 7 CFR 201.2
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• vegetable seeds: means the seeds of the following kinds that are or may be grown in gardens or on truck farms and are or may be generally known and sold under the name of vegetable seeds:
  Artichoke—Cynara cardunculus L. See 7 CFR 201.2