7 U.S.C. § 79a — Weighing authority

(a) Official weighing in accordance with prescribed regulations. The Secretary must cause official weighing — under the standards in section 76 — of all grain that section 77 requires to be officially weighed, following the Secretary's regulations. (b) Official weighing or supervision of weighing at non-export locations. The Secretary may order official weighing or supervision of weighing, under section 76 standards, at any grain elevator, warehouse, or storage facility other than an export elevator at an export port, wherever official inspection already happens there, in whatever way and under whatever rules the Secretary sets. (c) Personnel performing official weighing or supervision of weighing. Where the Secretary provides the inspection directly, the Secretary's own staff must also do the weighing or supervise it. Where inspection is provided by someone else, the Secretary may delegate weighing authority — to the state agency doing inspection at export ports, or to whatever agency or person does inspection elsewhere — as long as they qualify the same way agencies qualify for inspection duty under section 79 (reading "official inspection" there as "official weighing"). If no qualified agency is available, the Secretary's own staff does export-port weighing, and elsewhere the Secretary may use its own staff or designate another qualified state, local agency, or person, under the same qualifying standards. Delegations and designations under this subsection follow the same rules as inspection delegations in section 79(e) and (g). (d) Official weighing in Canadian ports. The Secretary may arrange, as under section 77(a), official weighing at Canadian ports for U.S. export grain shipped through Canada, through an agreement with Canada. This is done by Secretary staff or contractors, except appeals, unless the agreement with Canada says otherwise. (e) Official weighing or supervision of weighing upon request. The Secretary may also provide official weighing, under section 76 standards, at facilities not already covered by subsection (a) or (b), if the facility operator asks and under the Secretary's regulations. (f) Requirements before weighing is provided. No facility gets official weighing until its operator shows the Secretary that it has and will keep suitable, accurate scales and grain-handling equipment; will only let honest, approved people run the scales and handle grain; when non-inspection staff weigh, will make sure grain is fully unloaded from and loaded onto each conveyance without avoidable waste; will help the Secretary with any inspections or other duties at the facility; and will follow all other rules of this chapter. (g) Official certificates as evidence. A valid, uncanceled official weighing certificate must be accepted by every U.S. court and official as first-round proof of the facts in it. (h) Weighing prohibited when not in accordance with prescribed procedures. No state, local agency, or person may weigh grain, or state its weight in any document, at a location requiring official weighing, except by following this section's procedures. (i) Unauthorized weighing prohibited. Only the Secretary's own authorized staff, or someone with a current, valid delegation or designation, may perform official weighing. Generally, only one designated agency operates per geographic area at a time, but the Secretary may let an agency cross into another area if the current agency cannot weigh in time, a customer there is not being served, or the current and neighboring agencies agree in writing. Certain boundary exceptions revoked between September 30, 2015, and December 20, 2018, must be restored within 90 days of a request, if the facility and former agency agree and the facility gave notice within 90 days of December 20, 2018. (j) Authority under United States Warehouse Act not limited. This section does not limit any power the Secretary has under the United States Warehouse Act. (k) Access to elevators, warehouses, or their storage or handling facilities. The Secretary's representatives must be allowed into any elevator, warehouse, or facility that ships or receives grain in interstate or foreign commerce, and to all its weighing equipment. (l) Fees. The Secretary must charge reasonable fees to cover the costs of this section's functions, except as paragraph (2) provides. Fees must, as closely as practical, cover the Secretary's related administrative and supervisory costs, and go into the same fund created under section 79(j). For export-facility weighing the Secretary performs, the export-tonnage portion of the fee uses a rolling 5-year average of export volume. Each delegated or designated agency must pay the Secretary fees covering the Secretary's supervision costs, except certain listed costs, due after service and deposited into the section 79(j) fund. Failure to pay within 30 days automatically ends the delegation or designation, restored once overdue fees, interest, and extra costs are paid within a set time; interest is at least the current market yield on comparable U.S. government debt, plus up to 1 percent a year. The Secretary must adjust these fees at least yearly, to keep a 3-to-6-month operating reserve. The Secretary's fee authority and agencies' duty to pay supervision fees expire September 30, 2025. After that, the Secretary must still charge reasonable fees covering the costs of official weighing and supervision — except when a designated agency or delegated state does it — covering costs in the United States and Canadian ports but excluding administrative and supervisory costs, deposited into a fund usable without yearly limits for the Secretary's expenses.