7 U.S.C. § 7760 — State terminal inspection; transmission of mailed packages for State inspection; nonmailable matter; punishment for violations; rules and regulations by United States Postal Service

submitted 111 years ago by ch. 144 to r/title-7-AGRICULTURE · 441 words · no verdicts yet

in plain englishAI-generated · not legal advice

States can ask the Postal Service to route mailed plants to a state inspector. Infected plants are disinfected, returned to sender, or destroyed if not fixable. Mailers must clearly mark packages containing plants, or face a fine up to $100.

When a state sets up its own terminal inspection of plants and plant products — paying for it entirely itself — state officials can send the Secretary of Agriculture a list of plants, plant products, and the pests they can carry that the state thinks should go through this inspection, to keep harmful pests out of the state. If the Secretary approves the list, in whole or in part, the Secretary sends it to the United States Postal Service. After that, any mailed package containing a listed plant or plant product must be forwarded — once postage is paid — by the postmaster at its destination to the nearest state inspector. If inspection shows the plants or products (including seeds) are free of harmful pests and don't break any USDA or state plant-quarantine rule, or if an infected item gets properly disinfected, the package is sent back to the original postmaster and on to the addressee, once postage is paid. If the plants or products are infected with pests that can't be properly disinfected, or if they break a plant-quarantine rule, the state inspector must tell the postmaster at the inspection site. The postmaster then tells the sender that the package will be returned at the sender's request and expense — or, if the sender doesn't request its return, that it will be handed to state authorities for destruction. It is illegal to mail a package containing a plant or plant product to a state that runs this kind of inspection without clearly marking the outside of the package so its contents can be identified without opening it. Anyone who fails to mark a package this way can be fined up to $100. The U.S. Postal Service is required to write whatever rules are needed to carry out these requirements.

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

When any State shall provide for terminal inspection of plants and plant products, and shall establish and maintain, at the sole expense of the State, such inspection at one or more places therein, the proper officials of said State may submit to the Secretary of Agriculture a list of plants and plant products and the plant pests transmitted thereby, that in the opinion of said officials should be subject to terminal inspection in order to prevent the introduction or dissemination in said State of pests injurious to agriculture. Upon his approval of said list, in whole or in part, the Secretary of Agriculture shall transmit the same to the United States Postal Service, and thereafter all packages containing any plants or plant products named in said approved lists shall, upon payment of postage therefor, be forwarded by the postmaster at the destination of said package to the proper State official at the nearest place where inspection is maintained. If the plants or plant products (including seed) are found upon inspection to be free from injurious pests and not in violation of a plant-quarantine law or plant-quarantine regulation of the United States Department of Agriculture or of the State of destination pertaining to such injurious pests, or if infected shall be disinfected by said official, they shall upon payment of postage therefor be returned to the postmaster at the place of inspection to be forward 1 to the person to whom they are addressed; but if found to be infected with injurious pests and incapable of satisfactory disinfection or in violation of a plant-quarantine law or plant-quarantine regulation of the United States Department of Agriculture or of the State of destination pertaining to such injurious pests, the State inspector shall so notify the postmaster at the place of inspection who shall promptly notify the sender of said plants or plant products that they will be returned to him upon his request and at his expense, or in default of such request that they will be turned over to the State authorities for destruction.

It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to deposit in the United States mails any package containing any plant or plant product addressed to any place within a State maintaining inspection thereof, as herein defined, without plainly marking the package so that its contents may be readily ascertained by an inspection of the outside thereof. Whoever shall fail to so mark said packages shall be punished by a fine of not more than $100.

The United States Postal Service is authorized and directed to make all needful rules and regulations for carrying out the purposes hereof.

Source credit: (Mar. 4, 1915, ch. 144, 38 Stat. 1113; June 4, 1936, ch. 495, 49 Stat. 1461; Pub. L. 91–375, § 4(a), Aug. 12, 1970, 84 Stat. 773.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

1915Enacted · Act of Mar. 4, 1915, ch. 144 · 38 Stat. 1113
1936Amended · Act of June 4, 1936, ch. 495 · 49 Stat. 1461
1970Amended · Pub. L. 91-375 · 84 Stat. 773

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by ch. 144 on 1915-03-04.

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