7 U.S.C. § 7702 — Definitions

This section defines terms used throughout this chapter, the federal law on plant pest and noxious weed control: (1) Article. Any material or object that could harbor plant pests or noxious weeds. (2) Biological control organism. Any enemy, competitor, or antagonist used to control a plant pest or noxious weed. (3) Enter and entry. Moving, or the act of moving, into U.S. commerce. (4) Export and exportation. Moving, or the act of moving, from the U.S. to somewhere outside the U.S. (5) Import and importation. Moving, or the act of moving, into U.S. territory. (6) Interstate. Either from one state into or through another state, or within D.C., Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or another U.S. territory. (7) Interstate commerce. Trade or traffic between a point in one state and a point in another (including passing through a third state along the way), or trade within D.C., Guam, the Virgin Islands, or another U.S. territory. (8) Means of conveyance. Any personal property used, or meant to be used, to move other personal property. (9) Move, moving, movement. Carrying, entering, importing, mailing, shipping, or transporting something; helping, causing, or inducing any of those; offering to do any of those; receiving something in order to do any of those; releasing something into the environment; or allowing any of the above to happen. (10) Noxious weed. Any plant or plant product that can directly or indirectly hurt crops, livestock, poultry, farming, irrigation, shipping, U.S. natural resources, public health, or the environment. (11) Permit. A written or oral authorization (including by electronic means) from the Secretary to move plants, plant products, biological control organisms, plant pests, noxious weeds, or articles, under conditions the Secretary sets. (12) Person. Any individual, partnership, corporation, association, joint venture, or other legal entity. (13) Plant. Any plant or plant part capable of being propagated — including trees, tissue or plantlet cultures, pollen, shrubs, vines, cuttings, grafts, scions, buds, bulbs, roots, and seeds. (14) Plant pest. Any living stage of a protozoan, nonhuman animal, parasitic plant, bacterium, fungus, virus or viroid, other infectious agent or pathogen, or similar organism, that can directly or indirectly injure, damage, or cause disease in a plant or plant product. (15) Plant product. Either a flower, fruit, vegetable, root, bulb, seed, or other plant part not already covered by the definition of "plant," or any manufactured or processed plant or plant part. (16) Secretary. The Secretary of Agriculture. (17) State. Any of the 50 states, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, D.C., Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or any other U.S. territory or possession. (18) Systems approach. For purposes of section 7712(e), a defined set of at least two pest-control procedures that each independently reduce the pest risk from moving a commodity. (19) This chapter. Except where this section itself uses the term, "this chapter" also includes any regulation or order the Secretary issues under this chapter's authority. (20) United States. All of the states (as defined in paragraph 17).