7 U.S.C. § 7714 — General remedial measures for new plant pests and noxious weeds

submitted 26 years ago by Pub. L. 106-224 to r/title-7-AGRICULTURE · 524 words · no verdicts yet

in plain englishAI-generated · not legal advice

If a new plant pest or weed threatens to spread, the Secretary can hold, quarantine, treat, or destroy affected plants and items. The Secretary can also order the owner to fix or destroy them, and bill the owner if they refuse. But nothing this drastic can happen if a milder fix would work just as well.

(a) Authority to hold, treat, or destroy items: If the Secretary decides it's necessary to stop a new or not-yet-widespread plant pest or noxious weed from spreading, the Secretary may hold, seize, quarantine, treat, apply other fixes to, destroy, or otherwise dispose of any plant, pest, weed, biological control organism, plant product, article, or means of conveyance that (1) is moving, or has moved, into, through, or between states, and either (A) the Secretary believes is a pest/weed or is infested with one, or (B) has otherwise broken this chapter's rules; (2) hasn't followed a post-entry quarantine requirement; or (3) is the offspring of anything described above that moved illegally. (b) Authority to order an owner to treat or destroy: (1) The Secretary may order the owner of an item covered by (a) to treat, fix, destroy, or dispose of it, at no cost to the government, in whatever way the Secretary thinks appropriate. (2) If the owner refuses, the Secretary may do it directly and recover the costs from the owner. (c) Classification system: (1) The Secretary may create a system to describe the status and threat level of noxious weeds, considering how widespread they are, how dangerous they are, and what's being done to control them. (2) The Secretary may also develop management plans for weeds in the regions where they're found. (d) Application of least drastic action: Nothing may be destroyed, exported, or sent back to its origin under this section unless the Secretary believes there's no milder option that would still be enough to stop the pest or weed from spreading.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

(a) Authority to hold, treat, or destroy items

If the Secretary considers it necessary in order to prevent the dissemination of a plant pest or noxious weed that is new to or not known to be widely prevalent or distributed within and throughout the United States, the Secretary may hold, seize, quarantine, treat, apply other remedial measures to, destroy, or otherwise dispose of any plant, plant pest, noxious weed, biological control organism, plant product, article, or means of conveyance that—

(1)

is moving into or through the United States or interstate, or has moved into or through the United States or interstate, and—

(A)

the Secretary has reason to believe is a plant pest or noxious weed or is infested with a plant pest or noxious weed at the time of the movement; or

(B)

is or has been otherwise in violation of this chapter;

(2)

has not been maintained in compliance with a post-entry quarantine requirement; or

(3)

is the progeny of any plant, biological control organism, plant product, plant pest, or noxious weed that is moving into or through the United States or interstate, or has moved into the United States or interstate, in violation of this chapter.

(b) Authority to order an owner to treat or destroy

(1) In general

The Secretary may order the owner of any plant, biological control organism, plant product, plant pest, noxious weed, article, or means of conveyance subject to action under subsection (a) to treat, apply other remedial measures to, destroy, or otherwise dispose of the plant, biological control organism, plant product, plant pest, noxious weed, article, or means of conveyance, without cost to the Federal Government and in the manner the Secretary considers appropriate.

(2) Failure to comply

If the owner fails to comply with the Secretary’s order under this subsection, the Secretary may take an action authorized by subsection (a) and recover from the owner the costs of any care, handling, application of remedial measures, or disposal incurred by the Secretary in connection with actions taken under subsection (a).

(1) Development required

To facilitate control of noxious weeds, the Secretary may develop a classification system to describe the status and action levels for noxious weeds. The classification system may include the current geographic distribution, relative threat, and actions initiated to prevent introduction or distribution.

(2) Management plans

In conjunction with the classification system, the Secretary may develop integrated management plans for noxious weeds for the geographic region or ecological range where the noxious weed is found in the United States.

(d) Application of least drastic action

No plant, biological control organism, plant product, plant pest, noxious weed, article, or means of conveyance shall be destroyed, exported, or returned to the shipping point of origin, or ordered to be destroyed, exported, or returned to the shipping point of origin under this section unless, in the opinion of the Secretary, there is no less drastic action that is feasible and that would be adequate to prevent the dissemination of any plant pest or noxious weed new to or not known to be widely prevalent or distributed within and throughout the United States.

Source credit: (Pub. L. 106–224, title IV, § 414, June 20, 2000, 114 Stat. 444; Pub. L. 107–171, title X, § 10418(b)(1), May 13, 2002, 116 Stat. 508.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

2000Enacted · Pub. L. 106-224 · 114 Stat. 444
2002Amended · Pub. L. 107-171 · 116 Stat. 508

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 106-224 on 2000-06-20.

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