7 U.S.C. § 7445 — Assessments

(a) In general: (1) First purchasers: Assessments are charged on all canola or rapeseed grown in the United States and marketed. The first purchaser deducts the assessment from the payment it makes to the producer. (2) Direct processing: Someone who processes their own canola or rapeseed and markets it, or products made from it, must remit an assessment directly to the Board or to a state organization certified under section 7444(b)(6), at a rate equal to the rate set under subsection (d), in the way the order prescribes. (b) Limitation on assessments: No more than one assessment can be charged under subsection (a) on any batch of canola or rapeseed, as remitted by a first purchaser. (c) Remitting of assessments: (1) First purchasers remit assessments to the Board. The Board uses state organizations certified under section 7444(b)(6) to collect the assessments; if no appropriate certified state organization exists, the Board collects the assessment itself. Only one certified state organization is allowed per state. (2) Each first purchaser must remit the assessment to the Board on the schedule the order sets. (d) Assessment rate: (1) The starting assessment rate is 4 cents per hundredweight of canola or rapeseed produced and marketed. (2) The Board can recommend raising the rate, up to 10 cents per hundredweight of canola or rapeseed produced and marketed in a state — and it can go above 10 cents only if, after the initial referendum under section 7446(a), the Board recommends the higher rate and a referendum under section 7446(b) approves it. (3) A producer who shows the Board they're participating in a certified state organization's program gets credit, toward what they owe in assessments, for up to 2 cents per hundredweight of what they contributed to that program. (e) Late payment charge: (1) Anyone who doesn't remit the full amount they owe to the Board by the date the order sets owes a late payment charge. (2) The Board, with the Secretary's approval, sets the amount of that charge. (f) Refund of assessments from escrow account: (1) From the date an order is first issued under section 7443(b)(3) until the referendum under section 7446(a) is conducted, the Board must set up and maintain an escrow account for assessment refunds, and put money into it under paragraph (2). (2) The Board must place into the account an amount equal to 10 percent of the total assessments collected during that period. (3) A producer gets back the assessments they paid if: (A) they were required to pay the assessment; (B) they don't support the program created by this subchapter; and (C) they ask for the refund before the referendum under section 7446(a) is held. (4) The refund request must follow the form, timing, and other rules the Board sets. (5) The Board pays the refund once the producer submits satisfactory proof they paid the assessment being refunded. (6) If the escrow account doesn't hold enough money to pay every refund eligible producers ask for, and the order isn't approved in the referendum under section 7446(a), the Board must prorate the refunds among all the eligible producers who asked for one. (7) If the plan is approved in the referendum under section 7446(a), all the money in the escrow account goes back to the Board, for the Board to use under this subchapter.