7 U.S.C. § 9096 — Signature authority
submitted 12 years ago by Pub. L. 113-79 to r/title-7-AGRICULTURE · 185 words · no verdicts yet
The section protects an approved farm-program document from later rejection based only on signature authority, with an exception for knowing falsification.
(a) If the Secretary approves a document while carrying out this title, title II, or amendments to them, the Secretary may not later reject it as inadequate or invalid because the signer lacked authority, or because relied-on documents were inadequate or invalid, unless the signer knowingly and willfully falsified evidence of authority or a signature. (b) (1) The Secretary may still ask the proper party to affirm a document otherwise approved. (2) A denial based on failure to affirm cannot apply retroactively to a third-party producer who was not the subject of the false authority claim if the producer relied in good faith on the approval and substantially followed all program requirements.
In carrying out this title and title II and amendments made by those titles, if the Secretary approves a document, the Secretary shall not subsequently determine the document is inadequate or invalid because of the lack of authority of any person signing the document on behalf of the applicant or any other individual, entity, general partnership, or joint venture, or the documents relied upon were determined inadequate or invalid, unless the person signing the program document knowingly and willfully falsified the evidence of signature authority or a signature.
Nothing in this section prohibits the Secretary from asking a proper party to affirm any document that otherwise would be considered approved under subsection (a).
A denial of benefits based on a lack of affirmation under paragraph (1) shall not be retroactive with respect to third-party producers who were not the subject of the erroneous representation of authority, if the third-party producers—
relied on the prior approval by the Secretary of the documents in good faith; and
substantively complied with all program requirements.
Source credit: (Pub. L. 113–79, title I, § 1613, Feb. 7, 2014, 128 Stat. 710.)
- 2014Enacted · Pub. L. 113-79 · 128 Stat. 710
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 113-79 on 2014-02-07.
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