§ 4307. — Permissive terms in orders.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 7USC4307]
TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
CHAPTER 74--FLORAL RESEARCH AND CONSUMER INFORMATION
Sec. 4307. Permissive terms in orders
Orders issued pursuant to this chapter may contain one or more of
the following terms and conditions:
(1) Providing for the establishment, issuance, effectuation, and
administration of appropriate plans or projects for advertising, sales
promotion, urban beautification, and consumer education with respect to
the use of flowers and plants, and for the disbursement of necessary
funds for such purposes: Provided, That any such plan or project shall
be directed toward increasing the general demand for flowers and plants
and shall make no reference to a private brand or trade name: Provided
further, That no such advertising, consumer education, urban
beautification, or sales promotion program shall make use of unfair or
deceptive acts or practices with respect to the quality, value, or use
of any competing product.
(2) Providing for establishing and carrying on research, marketing,
and development projects, and studies with respect to the sale,
distribution, marketing, or utilization of flowers and plants, to the
end that the marketing and utilization of flowers and plants may be
encouraged, expanded, improved, or made more acceptable, for the
dissemination of the data collected by such activities and for the
disbursement of necessary funds for such purposes.
(3) Providing that producers, wholesalers, retailers, and importers
of flowers and plants maintain and make available for inspection such
books and records as are specified in the order and that such persons
file reports at the time, in the manner, and having the content
prescribed by the order, to the end that information and data shall be
made available to the Floraboard and to the Secretary which is
appropriate or necessary to the effectuation, administration, or
enforcement of this chapter, or any order or regulation issued pursuant
to this chapter: Provided, That all information so obtained shall be
kept confidential by employees of the Department of Agriculture and the
Floraboard, and only such information as the Secretary deems relevant
shall be disclosed by them, and then only in a suit or administrative
hearing brought at the direction, or upon the request, of the Secretary,
or in a suit or administrative hearing to which the Secretary or any
officer of the United States is a party, and involving the order with
reference to which the information to be disclosed was furnished or
acquired. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit (A) the
issuance of general statements based upon the reports of the number of
persons subject to an order, or statistical data collected therefrom,
which statements do not identify the information furnished by any
person, (B) the publication by the Floraboard of general statements
relating to refunds made by the Floraboard during any specific period,
including regional information on refunds, (C) the publication by the
Floraboard of information on the amount of assessments collected from
each commodity group and the rate of refund in each commodity group, or
(D) the publication by direction of the Secretary of the name of any
person violating any order, together with a statement of the particular
provisions of the order violated by such persons. No information
obtained pursuant to the authority of this chapter may be made available
to any agency or officer of the Federal Government for any purpose other
than the implementation of this chapter and any investigatory or
enforcement actions necessary for the implementation of this chapter.
Any person violating the provisions of this paragraph shall, upon
conviction, be subject to a fine of not more than $1,000 or to
imprisonment for not more than one year, or to both, and, if an officer
or employee of the Floraboard or the Department of Agriculture, shall be
removed from office.
(4) Terms and conditions incidental to and not inconsistent with the
terms and conditions specified in this chapter and necessary to
effectuate the other provisions of such order.
(Pub. L. 97-98, title XVII, Sec. 1708, Dec. 22, 1981, 95 Stat. 1352.)
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in section 4306 of this title.
