US Code

Public Law 119-83 (04/13/2026)

7 U.S.C. § 75

Definitions

When used in this chapter, except where the context requires otherwise—
(a)
the term “Secretary” means the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States or delegates of the Secretary;
(b)
the term “Department of Agriculture” means the United States Department of Agriculture;
(c)
the term “person” means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other business entity;
(d)
the term “United States” means the States (including Puerto Rico) and the territories and possessions of the United States (including the District of Columbia);
(e)
the term “State” means any one of the States (including Puerto Rico) or territories or possessions of the United States (including the District of Columbia);
(f)
the term “interstate or foreign commerce” means commerce from any State to or through any other State, or to or through any foreign country;
(g)
section 76 of this title the term “grain” means corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley, flaxseed, sorghum, soybeans, mixed grain, and any other food grains, feed grains, and oilseeds for which standards are established under ;
(h)
the term “export grain” means grain for shipment from the United States to any place outside thereof;
(i)
the term “official inspection” means the determination (by original inspection, and when requested, reinspection and appeal inspection) and the certification, by official inspection personnel of the kind, class, quality, or condition of grain, under standards provided for in this chapter, or the condition of vessels and other carriers or receptacles for the transportation of grain insofar as it may affect the quality or condition of such grain; or other facts relating to grain under other criteria approved by the Secretary under this chapter (the term “officially inspected” shall be construed accordingly);
(j)
section 84 of this title the term “official inspection personnel” means persons licensed or otherwise authorized by the Secretary pursuant to to perform all or specified functions involved in official inspection, official weighing, or supervision of weighing, or in the supervision of official inspection, official weighing or supervision of weighing;
(k)
the term “official mark” means any symbol prescribed by regulations of the Secretary to show the official determination of official inspection or official weighing;
(l)
the term “official grade designation” means a numerical or sample grade designation, specified in the standards relating to kind, class, quality, and condition of grain, provided for in this chapter;
(m)
section 79 of this titlesection 79a of this title the term “official agency” means any State or local governmental agency, or any person, designated by the Secretary pursuant to subsection (f) of for the conduct of official inspection (other than appeal inspection), or subsection (c) of for the conduct of official weighing or supervision of weighing (other than appeal weighing);
(n)
the terms “official certificate” and “official form” mean, respectively, a certificate or other form prescribed by regulations of the Secretary under this chapter;
(o)
the term “official sample” means a sample obtained from a lot of grain by, and submitted for official inspection by, official inspection personnel (the term “official sampling” shall be construed accordingly);
(p)
the term “submitted sample” means a sample submitted by or for an interested person for official inspection, other than an official sample;
(q)
the term “lot” means a specific quantity of grain identified as such;
(r)
the term “interested person” means any person having a contract or other financial interest in grain as the owner, seller, purchaser, warehouseman, or carrier, or otherwise;
(s)
the verb “ship” with respect to grain means transfer physical possession of the grain to another person for the purpose of transportation by any means of conveyance, or transport one’s own grain by any means of conveyance;
(t)
the terms “false”, “incorrect”, and “misleading” mean, respectively, false, incorrect, and misleading in any particular;
(u)
the term “deceptive loading, handling, weighing, or sampling” means any manner of loading, handling, weighing, or sampling that deceives or tends to deceive official inspection personnel, as specified by regulations of the Secretary under this chapter;
(v)
the term “export elevator” means any grain elevator, warehouse, or other storage or handling facility in the United States as determined by the Secretary, from which grain is shipped from the United States to an area outside thereof;
(w)
the term “export port location” means a commonly recognized port of export in the United States or Canada, as determined by the Secretary, from which grain produced in the United States is shipped to any place outside the United States;
(x)
the term “official weighing” means the determination and certification by official inspection personnel of the quantity of a lot of grain under standards provided for in this chapter, based on the actual performance of weighing or the physical supervision thereof, including the physical inspection and testing for accuracy of the weights and scales and the physical inspection of the premises at which the weighing is performed and the monitoring of the discharge of grain into the elevator or conveyance (the terms “officially weigh” and “officially weighed” shall be construed accordingly);
(y)
the term “supervision of weighing” means such supervision by official inspection personnel of the grain-weighing process as is determined by the Secretary to be adequate to reasonably assure the integrity and accuracy of the weighing and of certificates which set forth the weight of the grain and such physical inspection by such personnel of the premises at which the grain weighing is performed as will reasonably assure that all the grain intended to be weighed has been weighed and discharged into the elevator or conveyance; and
(z)
the term “intracompany shipment” means the shipment, within the United States, of grain lots between facilities owned or controlled by the person owning the grain. The shipment of grain owned by a cooperative, from a facility owned by that cooperative, to an export facility which it jointly owns with other cooperatives, qualifies as an intracompany shipment.

Aug. 11, 1916, ch. 313 39 Stat. 483 Pub. L. 90–487, § 182 Stat. 761 Pub. L. 94–582, § 390 Stat. 2867 Pub. L. 95–113, title XVI91 Stat. 1026 Pub. L. 96–437, § 194 Stat. 1870 Pub. L. 102–237, title X, § 1007(1)105 Stat. 1897 Pub. L. 103–156, § 12(a)107 Stat. 1528 Pub. L. 103–354, title II, § 293(a)(1)108 Stat. 3237 (, pt. B, § 3, ; , , ; , , ; , §§ 1604(a), 1606(a), , , 1030; , , ; , , ; , , ; , (7), , .)

Editorial Notes

Amendments

Pub. L. 103–3541994— substituted “Secretary” for “Administrator” wherever appearing in subsecs. (i) to (k), (m), (n), (u) to (w), and (y), redesignated subsec. (bb) as (z), and struck out former subsecs. (z) and (aa) which read as follows:

“(z) the term ‘Administrator’ means the Administrator of the Federal Grain Inspection Service or delegates of the Administrator;

“(aa) the term ‘Service’ means the Federal Grain Inspection Service; and”.

Pub. L. 103–156, § 12(a)1993—, which directed amendment of “Section 3”, without specifying the name of the Act being amended, was executed to this section, which is section 3 of the United States Grain Standards Act, to reflect the probable intent of Congress.

Pub. L. 103–156, § 12(a)(1)Subsec. (a). , substituted “delegates of the Secretary” for “his delegates”.

Pub. L. 103–156, § 12(a)(2)Subsec. (z). , substituted “delegates of the Administrator” for “his delegates”.

Pub. L. 102–2371991—Subsecs. (i) to (k), (u) to (x), (z), (aa). substituted “the” for “The” before “term”.

Pub. L. 96–4371980—Subsec. (bb). added subsec. (bb).

Pub. L. 95–113, § 1604(a)(1)1977—Subsec. (g). , substituted “sorghum” for “grain sorghum”.

Pub. L. 95–113, § 1606(a)Subsec. (i). , struck out reference to the determination of the quantity of sacks of grain upon the request of the interested party applying for inspection.

Pub. L. 95–113, § 1604(a)(2)section 79a of this titlesection 79a of this titleSubsec. (m). , substituted “or subsection (c) of for the conduct of official weighing or supervision of weighing (other than appeal weighing)” for “or subsection (b) of for the conduct of supervision of weighing”.

Pub. L. 95–113, § 1604(a)(3)Subsec. (x). , substituted “under standards provided for in this chapter” for “under standards provided in this chapter”.

Pub. L. 95–113, § 1604(a)(4)Subsec. (y). , substituted “such supervision by official inspection personnel of the grain-weighing process as is determined by the Administrator to be adequate to reasonably assure the integrity and accuracy of the weighing and of certificates which set forth the weight of the grain and such physical inspection by such personnel of the premises at which the grain weighing is performed as will reasonably assure that all the grain intended to be weighed has been weighed and discharged into the elevator or conveyance” for “the supervision of the weighing process and of the certification of the weight of grain, and the physical inspection of the premises at which the weighing is performed to assure that all the grain intended to be weighed has been weighed and discharged into the elevator or conveyance represented on the weight certificate or other document”.

Pub. L. 94–582, § 3(a)1976—Subsec. (i). , substituted “Administrator” for “Secretary”, and expanded definition of “official inspection” to include determination “(by original inspection, and when requested, reinspection and appeal inspection)” and determination and certification of the condition of vessels and other carriers or receptacles for the transportation of grain insofar as it may affect the quality or condition of the grain.

Pub. L. 94–582, § 3(b)section 84 of this titleSubsec. (j). , in redefining “official inspection personnel”, substituted provision declaring term to mean “persons licensed or otherwise authorized by the Administrator pursuant to to perform all or specified functions involved in official inspection, official weighing, or supervision of weighing, or in the supervision of official inspection, official weighing or supervision of weighing” for “employees of State or other governmental agencies or commercial agencies or other persons who are licensed to perform all or specified functions involved in official inspection under this chapter; employees of the Department of Agriculture who are authorized to supervise official inspection and to conduct appeal inspection or initial inspection of United States grain in Canadian ports”.

Pub. L. 94–582, § 3(c)Subsec. (k). , substituted “Administrator” for “Secretary” and “official inspection or official weighing” for “an official inspection”.

lPub. L. 94–582, § 3(d)Subsec. (). , substituted “standards relating to kind, class, quality, and condition of grain,” for “standards”.

Pub. L. 94–582, § 3(e)section 79 of this titlesection 79a of this titleSubsec. (m). , substituted definition of “official agency” meaning “any State or local governmental agency, or any person, designated by the Administrator pursuant to subsection (f) of for the conduct of official inspection (other than appeal inspection), or subsection (b) of for the conduct of supervision of weighing” for definition of “official inspection agency” meaning “the agency or person located at an inspection point designated by the Secretary for the conduct of official inspection under this chapter”.

Pub. L. 94–582, § 3(f)Subsec. (n). , substituted “Administrator” for “Secretary”.

Pub. L. 94–582, § 3(g)Subsec. (u). , included within term defined and its definition the concept of “weighing” and substituted “Administrator” for “Secretary”.

Pub. L. 94–582, § 3(h)Subsecs. (v) to (aa). , added subsecs. (v) to (aa).

Pub. L. 90–4871968— substituted provisions defining terms used in the chapter for provisions that the standards fixed and established by the Secretary of Agriculture be known as the official grain standards of the United States.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date of 1993 Amendment

Pub. L. 103–156, § 16107 Stat. 1530

“(a)

In General .—

section 79 of this titleExcept as provided in subsection (b), the amendments made by this Act [amending this section and sections 75a to 77, 79 to 79b, 79d, 84 to 87e, 87f, 87f–1, 87h, 87j, and 87k of this title and repealing provisions set out as a note under ] shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act [].
“(b)

Special Effective Date for Certain Provisions .—

section 79 of this titleThe amendments made by sections 2, 3, and 13(a) [amending sections 79d and 87h of this title and repealing provisions set out as a note under ] shall take effect as of .”
, , , provided that:

Effective Date of 1977 Amendment

Pub. L. 95–113section 1901 of Pub. L. 95–113section 1307 of this titleAmendment by effective , see , set out as a note under .

Effective Date of 1976 Amendment

Pub. L. 94–582section 27 of Pub. L. 94–582section 74 of this titleAmendment by effective 30 days after , see , as amended, set out as a note under .

Effective Date of 1968 Amendment

Pub. L. 90–487section 2 of Pub. L. 90–487section 78 of this titleFor effective date of amendment by , see , set out as a note under .