7 U.S.C. § 136m — Indemnities

(a) General indemnification. (1) In general: If (A) EPA notifies a registrant it intends to suspend a registration, or issues an emergency suspension order under section 136d(c)(3); (B) that registration, once suspended under 136d(c), is then canceled under 136d(b), (d), or (f); and (C) someone who owned any of that pesticide right before EPA's notice suffered a loss because of the suspension or cancellation — then EPA must pay that person an indemnity. (2) Exception: This doesn't apply if EPA finds the person knew facts showing the pesticide didn't meet section 136a(c)(5)'s registration requirements, and kept producing it anyway without promptly telling EPA. (3) Report: If EPA's action requires an indemnity payment, it must report to the House and Senate Agriculture Committees and both Appropriations Committees on the action taken, why, the estimated cost, and a request for funding. (4) Appropriation: EPA can't actually make the payment unless Congress has specifically appropriated funds for it in advance. (b) Indemnification of end users, dealers, and distributors. (1) End users: If the same conditions as (a)(1)(A)-(B) apply, and someone who owned the pesticide right before the notice — as an end user applying or using it, not reselling or reprocessing it — suffered a loss from the suspension or cancellation, that person is entitled to an indemnity payment under this subsection. (2) Dealers and distributors: (A) A registrant, wholesaler, dealer, or other seller who sells a registered pesticide directly to someone who isn't an end user under (1)(C) must reimburse that buyer for what they paid to first get the pesticide (not counting transportation) for any quantity they can no longer use or resell because of suspension or cancellation — unless the seller gave the buyer written notice at the time of sale that the pesticide isn't eligible for that reimbursement. (B) If (i)-(ii) the same suspension-then-cancellation sequence occurs, and (iii) a buyer who, right before the notice, hadn't gotten that written no-reimbursement notice and owned pesticide for resale or further processing suffered a loss, and (iv) EPA finds — based on a submitted claim — that the seller didn't give that notice and is, and will remain, unable to pay the reimbursement because of the seller's insolvency or bankruptcy, then that buyer is entitled to an indemnity payment under this subsection. (C) If the U.S. pays an indemnity this way, it steps into the shoes of any seller who couldn't make the reimbursement, for whatever rights that seller would otherwise have had. (3) Source: Payments under (1) or (2) come from the appropriation under 31 U.S.C. § 1304. (4) Administrative settlement: A claim under this subsection can be administratively settled the same way certain judgment-fund claims are settled under 28 U.S.C. § 2414, and is treated as such a claim for purposes of 31 U.S.C. § 1304. (c) Amount of payment. (1) In general: The indemnity payment under (a) or (b) is based on what the pesticide cost the person (not counting transportation) right before the notice was issued — but it can never exceed the pesticide's fair market value right before that notice. (2) Special rule: Despite anything else in this law, EPA may give a reasonable time to use up or otherwise dispose of the pesticide. In figuring the quantity eligible for payment, proper adjustment is made for any of the pesticide the owner already used or disposed of.