View all text of Subchapter III [§ 608 - § 627]
§ 610. Administration
(a) Appointment of officers and employees; impounding appropriations
(b) State and local committees or associations of producers; handlers’ share of expenses of authority or agency
(1) The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to establish, for the more effective administration of the functions vested in him by this chapter, State and local committees, or associations of producers, and to permit cooperative associations of producers, when in his judgment they are qualified to do so, to act as agents of their members and patrons in connection with the distribution of payments authorized to be made under section 608 of this title. The Secretary, in the administration of this chapter, shall accord such recognition and encouragement to producer-owned and producer-controlled cooperative associations as will be in harmony with the policy toward cooperative associations set forth in existing Acts of Congress, and as will tend to promote efficient methods of marketing and distribution.
(2)
(i) Each order relating to milk and its products issued by the Secretary under this chapter shall provide that each handler subject thereto shall pay to any authority or agency established under such order such handler’s pro rata share (as approved by the Secretary) of such expenses as the Secretary may find will necessarily be incurred by such authority or agency, during any period specified by him, for the maintenance and functioning of such authority or agency, other than expenses incurred in receiving, handling, holding, or disposing of any quantity of milk or products thereof received, handled, held, or disposed of by such authority or agency for the benefit or account of persons other than handlers subject to such order. The pro rata share of the expenses payable by a cooperative association of producers shall be computed on the basis of the quantity of milk or product thereof covered by such order which is distributed, processed, or shipped by such cooperative association of producers.
(ii) Each order relating to any other commodity or product issued by the Secretary under this chapter shall provide that each handler subject thereto shall pay to any authority or agency established under such order such handler’s pro rata share (as approved by the Secretary) of such expenses as the Secretary may find are reasonable and are likely to be incurred by such authority or agency, during any period specified by him, for such purposes as the Secretary may, pursuant to such order, determine to be appropriate, and for the maintenance and functioning of such authority or agency, other than expenses incurred in receiving, handling, holding, or disposing of any quantity of a commodity received, handled, held, or disposed of by such authority or agency for the benefit or account of persons other than handlers subject to such order. The pro rata share of the expenses payable by a cooperative association of producers shall be computed on the basis of the quantity of the agricultural commodity or product thereof covered by such order which is distributed, processed, or shipped by such cooperative association of producers. The payment of assessments for the maintenance and functioning of such authority or agency, as provided for herein, may be required under a marketing agreement or marketing order throughout the period the marketing agreement or order is in effect and irrespective of whether particular provisions thereof are suspended or become inoperative.
(iii) Any authority or agency established under an order may maintain in its own name, or in the name of its members, a suit against any handler subject to an order for the collection of such handler’s pro rata share of expenses. The several district courts of the United States are vested with jurisdiction to entertain such suits regardless of the amount in controversy.
(c) Regulations; penalty for violation
(d) Regulations of Secretary of the Treasury
(e) Review of official acts
(f) Geographical application
(g) Officers; dealing or speculating in agricultural products; penalties
(h) Adoption of Federal Trade Commission Act; hearings; report of violations to Attorney General
(i) Cooperation with State authorities; imparting information
(j) Definitions
(May 12, 1933, ch. 25, title I, § 10, 48 Stat. 37; June 16, 1933, ch. 98, title VIII, § 86, 48 Stat. 273; May 9, 1934, ch. 263, § 7, 48 Stat. 675; Aug. 24, 1935, ch. 641, §§ 16–18, 49 Stat. 767; Aug. 26, 1935, ch. 685, 49 Stat. 801; June 22, 1936, ch. 690, § 601(a), 49 Stat. 1739; June 3, 1937, ch. 296, §§ 1, 2(g)–(i), 50 Stat. 246, 248; Proc. No. 2695, eff. July 4, 1946, 11 F.R. 7817, 60 Stat. 1352; Aug. 1, 1947, ch. 425, § 3, 61 Stat. 709; Oct. 28, 1949, ch. 782, title XI, § 1106(a), 63 Stat. 972.)