Words used in the regulations in this subpart in the singular form shall be deemed to import the plural, and vice-versa, as the case may demand.

As used throughout the regulations in this part, unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms shall be construed, respectively to mean:

(a) The act. The applicable provisions of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 1087; 7 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.) or any other act of Congress conferring like authority.

(b) Regulations. Regulations mean the provisions in this subpart.

(c) Department. The United States Department of Agriculture.

(d) Secretary. 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.

(e) Service. The Agricultural Marketing Service of the United States Department of Agriculture.

(f) Administrator. The Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service, or any officer or employee of the Service, to whom authority has heretofore been delegated, or to whom authority may hereafter be delegated, to act in his stead.

(g) Division. The Cotton Division of the Agricultural Marketing Service.

(h) Director. The Director of the Cotton Division, or any officer or employee of the Division to whom authority has heretofore been delegated, or to whom authority may hereafter be delegated, to act in his stead.

(i) Custodian. Person who has possession or control of cottonseed or of samples of cottonseed as agent, controller, broker, or factor, as the case may be.

(j) Owner. Person who through financial interest owns or controls, or has the disposition of either cottonseed or of samples of cottonseed.

(k) Official cottonseed standards. The official standards of the United States for the grading, sampling, and analyzing of cottonseed sold or offered for sale for crushing purposes.

(l) Supervisor of cottonseed inspection. An officer of the Division designated as such by the Director.

(m) License. A license issued under the act by the Secretary.

(n) Licensed cottonseed chemist. A person licensed under the act by the Secretary to make quantitative and qualitative chemical analyses of samples of cottonseed according to the methods prescribed by the Science Division Director of the Agricultural Marketing Service and to certificate the grade according to the official cottonseed standards of the United States.

(o) Licensed cottonseed sampler. A person licensed by the Secretary to draw and to certificate the authenticity of samples of cottonseed in accordance with the regulations in this subpart.

(p) Dispute. A disagreement as to the true grade of a sample of cottonseed analyzed and graded by a licensed chemist.

(q) Party. A party to a dispute.

(r) Commercial laboratory. A chemical laboratory operated by an individual, firm, or corporation in which one or more persons are engaged in the chemical analysis of materials for the public.

(s) Cottonseed. The word “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.

(t) Lot. That parcel or quantity of cottonseed offered for sale or tendered for delivery or delivered on a sale or contract of sale, in freight cars, trucks, wagons, or otherwise in the quantities and within the time limits prescribed from time to time by the Director for the drawing and preparation of official samples by licensed cottonseed samplers.

(u) Official sample. A specimen of cottonseed drawn and prepared by a licensed cottonseed sampler and certified by him as representative of a certain identified lot, in accordance with the regulations in this subpart.

Subsection 203(h) of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, as amended by Pub. L. 272, 84th Congress, provides criminal penalties for various specified offenses relating to official certificates, memoranda, marks, or other identifications, and devices for making such marks or identifications, issued or authorized under section 203 of said act, and certain misrepresentations concerning the inspection or grading of agricultural products under said section. For the purposes of said subsection and the provisions in this part, the terms listed below shall have the respective meanings specified:

(a) Official certificate means any form of certification, either written or printed, used under this part to certify with respect to the inspection, sampling, class, grade, quality, quantity, or condition of products (including the compliance of products with applicable specifications).

(b) Official memorandum means any initial record of findings made by an authorized person in the process of grading, inspecting, or sampling, pursuant to this part, any processing or plant-operation report made by an authorized person in connection with grading, inspecting, or sampling under this part, and any report made by an authorized person of services performed pursuant to this part.

(c) Official mark means the grade mark, inspection mark, and any other mark, approved by the Administrator and authorized to be affixed to any product, or affixed to or printed on the packaging material of any product, stating that the product was graded or inspected or both, or indicating the appropriate U.S. grade or condition of the product, or for the purpose or maintaining the identity of products graded or inspected or both under this part.

(d) Official identification means any United States (U.S.) standard designation of class, grade, quality, quantity, or condition specified in this part, or any symbol, stamp, label, or seal indicating that the product has been officially graded or inspected and/or indicating the class, grade, quality, quantity, or condition of the product, approved by the Administrator and authorized to be affixed to any product, or affixed to or printed on the packaging material of any product.

(e) Official device means a stamping appliance, branding device, stencil, printed label, or any other mechanically or manually operated tool that is approved by the Administrator for the purpose of applying any official mark or other identification to any product or the packaging material thereof.

The Director shall perform for and under the supervision of the Secretary and the Administrator, such duties as the Secretary or the Administrator may require in enforcing the provisions of the act and the regulations.

The Director, whenever he deems necessary, may designate an officer of the Division as supervisor of cottonseed inspection who shall supervise the inspection and sampling of cottonseed and perform such other duties as may be required of him in administering the act and the regulations.

The inspection, sampling, analyzing, and grading of cottonseed in the United States pursuant to the act shall be performed as prescribed in methods approved from time to time by the Director.

Any person, partnership, or corporation that shall have undertaken to utilize the services of licensed cottonseed samplers under these regulations who shall not make available for official sampling and analysis each lot of cottonseed purchased or sold on grade and received by such person or partnership or corporation, may be denied further services under the act and these regulations: Provided, That in cases of persons, partnerships, or corporations operating two or more cottonseed crushing units under separate local managements, such penalty shall apply only to the offending unit, unless it shall be shown that the actions of such unit were at the direction or with the knowledge, approval, or acquiescence of the general management.

Any willful misrepresentation or any deceptive or fradulent practice made or committed by an applicant for a cottonseed sampler's certificate or for a cottonseed chemist's certificate or for an appeal grade certificate in connection with the sampling or grading of cottonseed by persons licensed under the act and the regulations or the issuance or use of a certificate not issued by a person licensed under the regulations in imitation of or that might mislead anyone to believe that such certificate was in fact issued by a person licensed under the act, or that might be otherwise false, misleading, or deceptive, may be deemed sufficient cause for debarring such applicant from any further benefits of the act.

In case of dispute in which a review is desired of the grading of any official sample of cottonseed covered by a valid certificate issued by a licensed cottonseed chemist, application therefor shall be filed with or mailed to a supervisor of cottonseed inspection within ten days after the date of the original certificate, whereupon the licensed chemist issuing the certificate shall immediately surrender to such supervisor the retained portion of the original sample, together with such records as may be required, for the determination of the true grade. The supervisor shall assign to such retained portion an identification number, shall divide such retained portion into two parts and submit the parts to two other licensed cottonseed chemists for reanalysis. Should the supervisor determine that such reanalyses indicate a grade differing from the original by not more than plus or minus one full grade, the original grade shall be considered the true grade. Should he find that such reanalyses indicate a grade differing more than plus or minus one full grade from the original, he shall determine the true grade. In any case, the supervisor shall issue over his name an appeal cottonseed grade certificate showing the true grade as determined in accordance with this section, which shall supersede the licensed chemists' certificates relating to the grade of such seed. Where due solely to errors in calculation or clerical error a grade certificated by a licensed cottonseed chemist is not the true grade, the supervisor shall direct the licensee to cancel the original and to issue a correct certificate. Should such error be found after an application for review has been filed, the supervisor shall nevertheless issue an appeal cottonseed grade certificate showing the true grade of the cottonseed involved.

In cases of review of the grade of any official sample of cottonseed, payment covering the costs of re-analysis shall accompany the application.

(a) Applications for licenses to sample cottonseed shall be made to the Director on forms furnished for the purpose by him.

(b) Each such application shall be in English, shall be signed by the applicant, and shall contain or be accompanied by (1) satisfactory evidence that he is an actual resident of the United States, (2) satisfactory evidence of his experience in the handling and sampling of cottonseed, (3) a statement by the applicant that he agrees to comply with and abide by the terms of the act and these regulations so far as they relate to him, and with instructions issued from time to time governing the sampling of cottonseed, and (4) such other information as may be required.

The period for which a license may be issued under the regulations in §§ 61.25 through 61.42 shall be from the first day of August following receipt of the application, and shall continue for 5 years, ending on the 31st of July in the fifth year. Renewals shall be for 5 years also, beginning with the first day of August and ending on the 31st day of July in the fifth year: Provided, That licenses or renewals issued on and after June 1 of any year shall be for the period ending July 31 of the fifth year following.

Each applicant for a license as a sampler and each licensed sampler whenever requested by an authorized representative of the Director, shall submit to an examination or test to show his ability properly to perform the duties for which he is applying for a license or for which he has been licensed, and each such applicant or licensee shall furnish the Division any information requested at any time in regard to his sampling of cottonseed.

Each licensed sampler shall keep his license conspicuously posted at the place where he functions as a sampler or in such other place as may be approved by the Director.

Each licensed sampler, when requested, shall without discrimination, as soon as practicable and upon reasonable terms, sample any cottonseed if the same be made available to him at his place of business, under conditions that will permit proper sampling. Each such licensee shall give preference to those who request his services as such over persons who request his services in any other capacity.

Each licensed sampler shall have available suitable triers or sampling tools, sample containers, scales, seed cleaners, seed mixers, and air-tight containers for enclosing and forwarding the official samples to licensed chemist, and with tags and samplers' certificates approved or furnished by the Director or his representative for identifying the samples of cottonseed and for certificating the condition of the cottonseed represented by such samples. There shall be clearly written or printed on the face of such certificate—

(a) A suitable caption;

(b) The location of the cottonseed involved and its point of origin;

(c) The identification of the lot from which the sample was drawn;

(d) The date on which the sample was drawn;

(e) The gross weight of the original sample, and the net weight of the cleaned sample;

(f) A statement indicating that the sample was drawn in accordance with sampling methods prescribed by the Director of the Cotton Division; and

(g) The signature of the licensed sampler as such. The use of such tags and certificates shall be in conformity with instructions issued from time to time by the Division.

Each licensed cottonseed sampler shall draw, prepare, and identify one official sample of cottonseed and a duplicate thereof from each lot made available to him in such manner as may be required by the Director, and shall promptly prepare it for forwarding to a licensed cottonseed chemist for analysis and grading. The duplicate shall be sealed and retained by the sampler until the original official sample shall have been analyzed by a licensed chemist. If the original official sample shall become lost or destroyed before having been analyzed the duplicate shall become the official sample; otherwise the licensed sampler shall immediately remove the identification marks from the duplicate and discard it. In no case shall the duplicate be offered for analysis unless the original shall have been lost or destroyed before analysis.

The failure or refusal of any cottonseed sampled, duly licensed as such under the regulations in this subpart, to draw, prepare, identify, and to forward an official sample of every lot of cottonseed made available to him for the purpose, in accordance with these regulations, shall be cause for the suspension or revocation of his license. A sampler's license may also be suspended when the sampler (a) has ceased to perform services as a licensed cottonseed sampler, (b) has knowingly or carelessly sampled cottonseed improperly, (c) has violated or evaded any provision of the Act, these regulations, or the sampling methods prescribed by the Director, (d) has used his license or allowed it to be used for any fraudulent or improper purposes, or (e) has in any manner become incompetent or incapacitated to perform the duties of a licensed sampler.

The Director may, without a hearing, suspend or revoke the license issued to a licensed sampler upon written request and a satisfactory statement of reasons therefor submitted by such licensed sampler. Pending final action by the Secretary, the Director may, whenever he deems such action necessary, suspend the license of any licensed sampler by giving notice of such suspension to the licensee, accompanied by a statement of the reasons therefor. Within 10 days after the receipt of the aforesaid notice and statement of reasons by such licensee, he may file an appeal, in writing, with the Secretary, supported by any argument or evidence that he may wish to offer as to why his license should not be suspended or revoked. After the expiration of the aforesaid 10-day period and consideration of such argument and evidence, the Secretary will take such action as he deems appropriate with respect to such suspension or revocation. When no appeal is filed within the prescribed 10 days, the license shall be automatically revoked.

In case a license issued to a sampler is suspended or revoked such license shall be returned to the Division. At the expiration of any period of suspension of such license, unless in the meantime it be revoked, the dates of beginning and termination of such suspension shall be endorsed thereon, it shall be returned to the person to whom it was originally issued, and its shall be posted as prescribed in § 61.31.

Upon satisfactory proof of the loss or destruction of a license issued to a sampler hereunder, a new license may be issued under the same or a new number.

Each licensed sampler, when requested, shall make reports on forms furnished for the purpose by the Division bearing upon his activity as such licensee.

No person shall in any way represent himself to be a sampler licensed under the act unless he holds an unsuspended and unrevoked license issued thereunder.

Every person licensed under the act as a sampler of cottonseed shall keep confidential all information secured by him relative to shipments of cottonseed sampled by him. He shall not disclose such information to any person except an authorized representative of the Department.