Voluntary Inspection and Certification Service (9 CFR 156.1-156.8)

997 SUBCHAPTER I—VOLUNTARY INSPECTION AND CERTIFICATION SERVICE PART 156—VOLUNTARY INSPEC TION AND CERTIFICATION SERV ICE Sec. 156.1 Meaning of words. 156.2 Definitions. 156.3 Kind of service; records. 156.4 Application for service. 156.5 Availability of service. 156.6 Certificates. 156.7 User fees under 9 CFR part 130. 156.8 Refusal of service; denial or with drawal of service. AUTHORITY: 7 U.S.C. 1622 and 1624; 21 U.S.C. 136a; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.4. SOURCE: 23 FR 10111, Dec. 23, 1958, unless otherwise noted. § 156.1 Meaning of words. Words used in this part in the sin gular form shall import the plural, and vice versa, as the case may demand. § 156.2 Definitions. For the purposes of this part, unless the context otherwise requires, the fol lowing terms shall be construed, re spectively, to mean: Administrator. The Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, or any person authorized to act for the Administrator. Animal product. Anything made of, derived from, or containing any mate rial of animal origin. Applicant. Any person who requests service under this part. Department. The United States De partment of Agriculture. Inspector. Any officer or employee of the Department of cooperating agency authorized to perform any duties at any plant furnished service under this part. Inspector in charge. An inspector of the Department assigned by the Ad ministrator to supervise, review, and perform official work pertaining to a plant furnished service under this part. Person. Any individual, corporation, company, association, firm, partner ship, society, joint stock company, or other form of organization. [23 FR 10111, Dec. 23, 1958, as amended at 57 FR 30899, July 13, 1992; 62 FR 19040, Apr. 18, 1997; 72 FR 70766, Dec. 13, 2007] § 156.3 Kind of service; records. Laws, regulations or other require ments of foreign countries and speci fications of contracts for the purchase and sale of animal products, on occa sion require vendors of such products to furnish official certificates con cerning the class, quality, quantity, or condition of such products to be im ported into such countries or to be de livered under the contracts. The serv ice under this part, shall consist of the inspection of the processing, handling, and storage of the products at any plant at which service is furnished and the certification, on the basis of such requirements of foreign countries or such contract specifications, of the class, quality, quantity, or condition of such of the products as are found to conform to such requirements or speci fications as the case may be. Proc essing procedures will be actually su pervised. The operator of the plant shall fully inform the inspector with respect to, and the inspector shall ac tually observe, the processing proce dures, handling, and storage of the products intended for certification. The inspector shall keep such records of the temperatures reached, the dura tion of time the temperatures are maintained, and the pounds of pressure under which the products are cooked in the course of processing, and such other information, as are needed to jus tify the issuance of the certificates re quired. [23 FR 10111, Dec. 23, 1958, as amended at 62 FR 19040, Apr. 18, 1997] § 156.4 Application for service. Any person who is eligible to receive service under this part may apply therefor to the Administrator, upon an VerDate Sep<11>2014 13:56 Feb 14, 2018 Jkt 244028 PO 00000 Frm 01007 Fmt 8010 Sfmt 8010 Q:\09\9V1.TXT 31kp a yn e o n D S K 5 4 D X V N 1 O F R w ith $ $ JO B 998 9 CFR Ch. I (1–1–18 Edition) § 156.5 application form which will be fur nished by the Administrator upon re quest. The application form shall re quire the applicant to state, among other things, the forms of certificates desired. (Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 0579–0008) [23 FR 10111, Dec. 23, 1958, as amended at 48 FR 57473, Dec. 30, 1983; 57 FR 30899, July 13, 1992; 72 FR 70766, Dec. 13, 2007] § 156.5 Availability of service. Subject to § 156.8, service under this part will be furnished, upon applica tion, within the limits of available De partment personnel and facilities, at any plant the operator of which applies for or endorses the application for the service if the Administrator finds that: the forms of certificates desired by the applicant require the certification of class, quality, quantity, or condition; the plant and its methods of proc essing, handling and storage of the products intended for certification are adequate to warrant the issuance of the desired certificates; the require ments of part 130 of this title are met; and the requirements of § 156.7 are met. [23 FR 10111, Dec. 23, 1958, as amended at 57 FR 30899, July 13, 1992; 62 FR 19040, Apr. 18, 1997; 72 FR 70766, Dec. 13, 2007] § 156.6 Certificates. The inspector shall sign and issue certificates in forms approved by the Administrator for animal products, if the inspector finds that the require ments as stated in the certification have been met. The original and one copy of each certificate shall be fur nished to the applicant, and one copy of each certificate shall be retained by the Department until disposal is au thorized in accordance with law. Addi tional copies may be furnished the ap plicant at his request upon payment of the fees prescribed in § 156.7. Copies of the certificates may be furnished with out charge to other properly interested Federal agencies or under compulsory process. [23 FR 10111, Dec. 23, 1958, as amended at 57 FR 30899, July 13, 1992; 62 FR 19040, Apr. 18, 1997] § 156.7 User fees under 9 CFR part 130. User fees under part 130 of this chap ter for service (including travel and other expenses incurred in connection with the furnishing of service) under this part shall be paid by the applicant. If required by the Administrator, the user fees under part 130 of this chapter shall be paid in advance. Since the user fees under part 130 of this chapter are for the purpose of reimbursing the De partment for all costs incurred in con nection with the furnishing of service under this part, the appropriate user fees under part 130 of this chapter to cover any such costs shall be paid even if service is withheld pursuant to § 156.8. [72 FR 70766, Dec. 13, 2007] § 156.8 Refusal of service; denial or withdrawal of service. (a) Service under this part will be re fused if the conditions stated in §§ 156.5 and 156.6 are not met. (b) Service under this part may be withdrawn from, or denied to, any ap plicant by the Administrator, for such period as the Administrator may pre scribe, when the Administrator is sat isfied, after opportunity for hearing be fore a proper official has been accorded the applicant, that the applicant or other operator of the plant where serv ice has been or would be furnished under the application, or the agent or employee of such applicant or operator within the scope of his employment, has persistently failed to give the in spector full and correct information with respect to the processing proce dures, handling, and storage of animal products intended for certification or certified; or has given to any employee of the Department false information in connection with service under this part; or has altered or imitated any certificate, mark, or device provided for under this part; or has used any such certificate, mark, or device with out authority from the Administrator, or any imitation of any such certifi cate, mark, or device, on or with re spect to any animal products; or has knowingly and without promptly noti fying the Administrator retained pos session of any such device or imitation VerDate Sep<11>2014 13:56 Feb 14, 2018 Jkt 244028 PO 00000 Frm 01008 Fmt 8010 Sfmt 8010 Q:\09\9V1.TXT 31kp a yn e o n D S K 5 4 D X V N 1 O F R w ith $ $ JO B 999 Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA § 156.8 thereof or altered or imitation certifi cate or of any animal products marked with any such device without author ity from the Administrator or marked with any imitation of such device; or has given or attempted to give, for any purpose whatsoever, any money, favor, or other thing of value, to any em ployee of the Department authorized to perform any function under this part; or has interfered with or obstructed, or attempted to interfere with or to ob struct, any employee of the Depart ment in or with respect to the perform ance of his duties under this part by in timidation, threats, assaults, or any other improper means. The inspector assigned to any plant may suspend service at such plant for any of the rea sons set forth in this paragraph, with out hearing, and in that event shall re port his actions to the Administrator, and the Administrator may continue such suspension or otherwise deny or suspend service at any plant for any of such reasons, without hearing, pending final disposal of the matter under this paragraph. (c) All final orders in any proceeding to deny or withdraw the service for any of the reasons set forth in paragraph (b) of this section (except orders re quired for good cause to be held con fidential and not cited as precedents) shall be filed with the Hearing Clerk of the Department and be available to public inspection. [23 FR 10111, Dec. 23, 1958, as amended at 57 FR 30899, July 13, 1992; 62 FR 19040, Apr. 18, 1997] VerDate Sep<11>2014 13:56 Feb 14, 2018 Jkt 244028 PO 00000 Frm 01009 Fmt 8010 Sfmt 8010 Q:\09\9V1.TXT 31kp a yn e o n D S K 5 4 D X V N 1 O F R w ith $ $ JO B