7 U.S.C. § 198b — Report on the Secretary’s jurisdiction, power, duties, and authorities

(a) Definition of packer: In this section, "packer" has the same meaning it has in section 191 of this title. (b) Report: Within 90 days after October 22, 1999, the Comptroller General — the head of the Government Accountability Office — had to give a report to the House Agriculture Committee and the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee. The report had to describe the Secretary of Agriculture's jurisdiction, powers, duties, and authority over meatpackers and others who buy, slaughter, or process hogs, pork, or pork products, covered by this law and other laws, including: (1) the Federal Trade Commission Act, especially sections 6, 8, 9, and 10 of that Act; and (2) the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946. (c) Contents: The Comptroller General's report also had to analyze: (1) whether burdens or obstructions on trade in swine, pork, and pork products — caused by packers and people who deal with packers — go against, or fail to protect, the public interest; (2) noncompetitive pricing deals between packers, or between packers and others in pork processing, distribution, or sales, including terms found in hog-purchase contracts; (3) how well contracts between packers and hog producers are being monitored; (4) investigations into disclosing (A) how packers conduct their business, and (B) how much packers pay producers for hogs and how pork products are priced along the supply chain; (5) whether the Secretary has enough legal power to stop a packer from unfairly or arbitrarily refusing to offer a producer a contract, or kicking a producer out of eligibility for one; and (6) whether the Secretary can work with, and help enforce, actions that other federal agencies take to protect trade in pork products from illegal restraints and monopolies.