7 USC 87 – Conflicts of interest
(a) Prohibition with respect to persons licensed or authorized by Secretary to perform official functions
No person licensed or authorized by the Secretary to perform any official function under this chapter, or employed by the Secretary in otherwise carrying out any of the provisions of this chapter, shall, during the term of such license, authorization, or employment, (a) be financially interested (directly or otherwise) in any business entity owning or operating any grain elevator or warehouse or engaged in the merchandising of grain, or (b) be in the employment of, or accept gratuities from, any such entity, or (c) be engaged in any other kind of activity specified by regulation of the Secretary as involving a conflict of interest: Provided, however, That the Secretary may license qualified employees of any grain elevators or warehouses to perform official sampling functions, under such conditions as the Secretary may by regulation prescribe, and the Secretary may by regulation provide such other exceptions to the restrictions of this section as the Secretary determines are consistent with the purposes of this chapter.
(b) Prohibition with respect to personnel of official or State agencies and business or governmental entities related to such agencies; substantial stockholder; use of official inspection service; authority delegation; report to Congressional committees
Terms Used In 7 USC 87
- 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.
- grain: means corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley, flaxseed, sorghum, soybeans, mixed grain, and any other food grains, feed grains, and oilseeds for which standards are established under section 76 of this title. See 7 USC 75
- officer: includes any person authorized by law to perform the duties of the office. See 1 USC 1
- official agency: means any State or local governmental agency, or any person, designated by the Secretary pursuant to subsection (f) of section 79 of this title for the conduct of official inspection (other than appeal inspection), or subsection (c) of section 79a of this title for the conduct of official weighing or supervision of weighing (other than appeal weighing). See 7 USC 75
- official inspection: means the determination (by original inspection, and when requested, reinspection and appeal inspection) and the certification, by official inspection personnel of the kind, class, quality, or condition of grain, under standards provided for in this chapter, or the condition of vessels and other carriers or receptacles for the transportation of grain insofar as it may affect the quality or condition of such grain. See 7 USC 75
- official sampling: shall be construed accordingly). See 7 USC 75
- official weighing: means the determination and certification by official inspection personnel of the quantity of a lot of grain under standards provided for in this chapter, based on the actual performance of weighing or the physical supervision thereof, including the physical inspection and testing for accuracy of the weights and scales and the physical inspection of the premises at which the weighing is performed and the monitoring of the discharge of grain into the elevator or conveyance (the terms "officially weigh" and "officially weighed" shall be construed accordingly). See 7 USC 75
- person: means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other business entity. See 7 USC 75
- Secretary: means the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States or delegates of the Secretary. See 7 USC 75
- State: means any one of the States (including Puerto Rico) or territories or possessions of the United States (including the District of Columbia). See 7 USC 75
- supervision of weighing: means such supervision by official inspection personnel of the grain-weighing process as is determined by the Secretary to be adequate to reasonably assure the integrity and accuracy of the weighing and of certificates which set forth the weight of the grain and such physical inspection by such personnel of the premises at which the grain weighing is performed as will reasonably assure that all the grain intended to be weighed has been weighed and discharged into the elevator or conveyance. See 7 USC 75
(1) No official agency or a State agency delegated authority under this chapter, or any member, director, officer, or employee thereof, and no business or governmental entity related to any such agency, shall be employed in or otherwise engaged in, or directly or indirectly have any stock or other financial interest in, any business involving the commercial transportation, storage, merchandising, or other commercial handling of grain, or the use of official inspection service (except that in the case of a producer such use shall not be prohibited for grain in which the producer does not have an interest); and no business or governmental entity conducting any such business, or any member, director, officer, or employee thereof, and no other business or governmental entity related to any such entity, shall operate or be employed by or directly or indirectly have any stock or other financial interest in, any official agency or a State agency delegated inspection authority. Further, no substantial stockholder in any incorporated official agency shall be employed in or otherwise engaged in, or be a substantial stockholder in any corporation conducting any such business, or directly or indirectly have any other kind of financial interest in any such business; and no substantial stockholder in any corporation conducting such a business shall operate or be employed by or be a substantial stockholder in, or directly or indirectly have any other kind of financial interest in, any official agency.
(2) A substantial stockholder of a corporation shall be any person holding 2 per centum or more, or one hundred shares or more, of the voting stock of the corporation, whichever is the lesser interest. Any entity shall be considered to be related to another entity if it owns or controls, or is owned or controlled by, such other entity, or both entities are owned or controlled by another entity.
(3) Each State agency delegated official weighing authority under section 79a of this title and each State or local agency or other person designated by the Secretary under such section to perform official weighing or supervision of weighing shall be subject to the provisions of subsection (b) of this section. The term “use of official inspection service” shall be deemed to refer to the use of the services provided under such a delegation or designation.
(4) If a State or local governmental agency is delegated authority to perform official inspection or official weighing or supervision of weighing, or a State or local governmental agency is designated as an official agency, the Secretary shall specify the officials and other personnel thereof to which the conflict of interest provisions of this subsection (b) apply.
(5) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this subsection, the Secretary may delegate authority to a State agency or designate a governmental agency, board of trade, chamber of commerce, or grain exchange to perform official inspection or perform official weighing or supervision of weighing except that for purposes of supervision of weighing only, the Secretary may also designate any other person, if the Secretary determines that any conflict of interest which may exist between the agency or person or any member, director, officer, employee, or stockholder thereof and any business involving the transportation, storage, merchandising, or other handling of grain or use of official inspection or weighing service is not such as to jeopardize the integrity or the effective and objective operation of the functions performed by such agency. Whenever the Secretary makes such a determination and makes a delegation or designation to an agency that has a conflict of interest otherwise prohibited by this subsection, the Secretary shall, within thirty days after making such a determination, submit a report to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate, detailing the factual bases for such determination.
(c) Official agencies or State agencies not prevented from engaging in business of weighing grain
The provisions of this section shall not prevent an official agency or State agency delegated authority under this chapter from engaging in the business of weighing grain.