of cattle, sheep, or swine in carcass form only, except upon approval by the Director upon his determination of good cause and provided that the meat can be identified in conformance with the standards. Acceptance service under the regulations shall consist of the determination of the conformity of products to specifications approved by the Director or Chief and the certification and other identification of such livestock or products in accordance with specifications, upon request by the applicant. Determination as to product compliance with specifications for ingredient content or method of preparation may be based upon information received from the inspection system having jurisdiction over the products involved. The Carcass Data Service, under the regulations, shall consist of the evaluation of carcass characteristics, in accordance with applicable official United States Standards which appear in Subpart B of this part, of carcasses of animals identified with the official eartag as shown in § 54.17, the recording of such data, and transmittal of the data to, or as directed by, the applicant for the service.

[42 FR 53921, Oct. 4, 1977, as amended at 45 FR 51762, Aug. 5, 1980. Redesignated at 46 FR 63203, Dec. 31, 1981]

§ 54.5 Availability of service.

Service under these regulations may be made available with respect to products shipped or received in interstate commerce, and with respect to the products not so shipped or received if the Director or Chief determines that the furnishing of service for such products would facilitate the marketing, distribution, processing, or utilization of agricultural products through commercial channels. Also, such service may be made available under a cooperative agreement. Service under these regulations shall be provided without discrimination as to race, color, sex, creed, or national origin. Service will be furnished for products only if they were derived from animals slaughtered in federally inspected establishments or operated under State meat inspection in a State other than one designated in 9 CFR 331.2. Service under these regulations

will be furnished for imported meat only if it is marked so that the name of the country of origin appears on most of the major retail cuts. The mark of foreign origin shall be imprinted by roller brand or handstamp and shall be applied so that the imprint is at least 2 inches from the backbone of lamb, 3 inches from the backbone of veal and calf, and 4 inches from the backbone of beef carcasses. The mark of foreign origin shall be repeated parallel to the backbone of the carcass so as to appear on each round, rump, full loin, rib, and chuck of each bovine and ovine carcass in letters at least one-fourth of an inch high, with no more than three-fourths of an inch space between impressions. Imprints of each such brand shall be submitted to the Chief for the determination of compliance with these regulations prior to use of the brand on meats offered for Federal grading. It shall be the responsibility of the applicant to notify the meat grade performing the service whenever imported meat is offered for grading.

§ 54.6 How to obtain service.

(a) Application. Any person may apply to the Director or Chief for service under the regulations with respect to products in which the applicant is financially interested. The application shall be made on a form approved by the Director. In any case in which the service is intended to be furnished at an establishment not operated by the applicant, the application shall be approved by the operator of such establishment and such approval shall constitute an authorization for any employees of the Department to enter the establishment for the purpose of performing their functions under the regulations. The application shall state:

(1) The name and address of the establishment at which service is desired; (2) the name and post office address of the applicant; (3) the financial interest of the applicant in the products, except where application is made by an official of a Government agency in his official capacity; and (4) the signature of the applicant (or the signature and title of his representative).

The application shall indicate the legal status of the applicant as an individual, partnership, corporation, or other form of legal entity. Any change in such status, at any time while service is being received, shall be promptly reported to the Director or Chief by the person receiving the service.

(b) Notice of eligibility for service. The applicant for service at any establishment will be notified whether his application is approved.

(c) Request by applicant for service(1) Noncommitment. Upon notification of the approval on an application for service, the applicant may, from time to time as desired, make oral or written requests for service under the regulations with respect to specific products for which the service is to be furnished under such application. Such requests shall be made at an office for grading either directly or through any employee of the Agricultural Marketing Service who may be designated for such purposes.

(2) Commitment. If desired, the applicant may request to enter into an agreement with the Agricultural Marketing Service for the furnishing of service on a weekly commitment basis, whereby the applicant agrees to pay for 8 hours of service per day, 5 days per week, Monday through Friday, excluding Federal legal holidays occurring Monday through Friday on which no grading and certification services are performed, as provided in § 54.27(b), and the Agricultural Marketing Service agrees to make an official grader available to perform such service for the applicant. However, the Agricultural Marketing Service serves the right to use any grader assigned to a plant under such a commitment to perform service for other applicants when, in the opinion of the Chief, the grader is not needed to perform service for the commitment applicant. An applicant who terminates a commitment, and within 1 year after cancellation is granted a new commitment at his request, shall pay for the moving costs actually incurred by the Agricultural Marketing Service to cover the transfer of the grader who will service the applicant's new commitment. If more than one applicant is involved in the reapplication for a can

re

celed meat grading and certification commitment requiring the transfer of the grader, the moving costs will be prorated among the applicants according to each applicant's committed portion of the grader's services. However, the moving costs will be charged only to those applicants who were parties to the previously canceled commitment. An applicant may, for periods of 3 months or less, enter into an agreement by memorandum with the Agricultural Marketing Service for the furnishing of service on a weekly basis. In the latter case, transfer of graders would not be involved and charges will be made in accordance with § 54.27.

[42 FR 53921, Oct. 4, 1977. Redesignated at 46 FR 63203, Dec. 31, 1981, as amended at 47 FR 44704, Oct. 12, 1982]

§ 54.7 Order of furnishing service.

Service under the regulations shall be furnished to applicants in the order in which requests therefor are received, insofar as consistent with good management, efficiency and economy. Precedence will be given, when necessary, to requests made by any government agency or any regular user of the service, and to requests for appeal service under § 54.20.

§ 54.8 When request for service deemed made.

A request for service under the regulations shall be deemed to be made when received by an office of grading. Records showing the date and time of the request shall be made and kept in such office. However, in the case of the Carcass Data Service, the purchase of official USDA eartags shall constitute a request for such service and the requisition form used to purchase the eartags shall be kept in the designated office of record.

§ 54.9 Withdrawal of application or request for service.

An application or a request for service under the regulations may be withdrawn by the applicant at any time before the application is approved or prior to performance of service, upon payment, in accordance with §§ 54.27 and 54.28, of any expenses already in

§ 54.11

Denial or withdrawal of service.

(a) For misconduct—(1) Bases for denial or withdrawal. An application or a request for service may be rejected, or the benefits of the service may be otherwise denied to, or withdrawn from, any person who, or whose employee or agent in the scope of his employment or agency:

(i) Has wilfully made any misrepresentation or has committed any other fraudulent or deceptive practice in connection with any application or request for service under the regulations;

(ii) has given or attempted to give, as a loan or for any other purpose, any money, favor, or other thing of value, to any employee of the Department authorized to perform any function under the regulations;

(iii) has interfered with or obstructed, or attempted to interfere with or to obstruct, any employee of the Department in the performance of his duties under the regulations by intimidation, threats, assaults, abuse, or any other improper means;

(iv) has knowingly falsely made, issued, altered, forged, or counterfeited any official certificate, memorandum, mark, or other identification, or device for making any such mark or identification;

(v) has knowingly uttered, published, or used as true any such falsely made, issued, altered, forged, or counterfeited certificate, memorandum, mark, identification, or device;

(vi) has knowingly obtained or retained possession of any such falsely made, issued, altered, forged, or counterfeited certificate, memorandum, mark, identification, or device, or of any such official device, or of any

product bearing any such falsely made, issued, altered, forged, or counterfeited mark or identification, or of any carcass or wholesale or retail cut bearing any designation specified in paragraph (a)(1)(vii) of this section which has not been federally graded or derived from a carcass graded as being of the indicated grade;

(vii) has applied the designation "Prime," "Choice," "Select," "Good," "Standard," "Commercial," "Utility," "Cutter," "Canner," "Cull," "Medium," "No. 1," "No. 2," "No. 3," "No. 4," "Yield Grade 1," "Yield Grade 2," "Yield Grade 3," "Yield Grade 4," or "Yield Grade 5" by stamp, or brand directly on any carcass, wholesale cut, or retail cut of any carcass, as part of a grade designation;

(viii) has applied to immediate containers or shipping containers of carcasses, wholesale cuts, or retail cuts, grade designations specified in paragraph (a)(1)(vii) of this section, when such carcasses, wholesale cuts, or retail cuts contained therein have not been federally graded;

(ix) has knowingly used, moved, or otherwise altered, in any manner, meat or meat products identified by an official product control device, mark, or other identification as specified in § 54.17, or has removed such official device, mark, or identification from the meat or meat products so identified without the express permission of an authorized representative of the USDA; or

(x) has in any manner not specified in this paragraph violated subsection 203(h) of the AMA: Provided, That paragraph (a)(1)(vi) of this section shall not be deemed to be violated if the person in possession of any item mentioned therein notifies the Director or Chief without such delay that he has possession of such item and, in the case of an official device, surrenders it to the Chief, and, in the case of any other item, surrenders it to the Director or Chief or destroys it or brings it into compliance with the regulations by obliterating or removing the violative features under supervision of the Director or Chief: And provided further, That paragraphs (a)(1) (ii) through (ix) of this section shall not be deemed to be violated by any

act committed by any person prior to the making of an application of service under the regulations by the principal person. An application or a request for service may be rejected or the benefits of the service may be otherwise denied to, or withdrawn from, any person who operates an establishment for which he has made application for service if, with the knowledge of such operator, any other person conducting any operations in such establishment has committed any of the offenses specified in paragraphs (a)(1) (i) through (x) of this section after such application was made. Moreover, an application or a request for service made in the name of a person otherwise eligible for service under the regulations may be rejected, or the benefits of the service may be otherwise denied to, or withdrawn from, such a person (A) in case the service is or would be performed at an establishment operated (1) by a corporation, partnership, or other person from whom the benefits of the service are currently being withheld under this paragraph, or (2) by a corporation, partnership, or other person having an officer, director, partner, or substantial investor from whom the benefits of the service are currently being withheld and who has any authority with respect to the establishment where service is or would be performed; or (B) in case the service is or would be performed with respect to any product in which any corporation, partnership, or other person within paragraph (a)(1)(x)(A)(1) of this section has a contract or other financial interest.

(2) Procedure. All cases arising under this paragraph shall be conducted in accordance with the rules of practice governing withdrawal of inspection and grading service under the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 as contained in Part 2850 of this chapter and/or the Rules of Practice Governing Formal Adjudicatory Administrative Proceedings Instituted by the Secretary as contained in 7 CFR Part 1, Subpart H, as applicable.

(b) For miscellaneous reasons. An application or a request for service may be rejected, or the benefits of the service may be otherwise denied to, or withdrawn from, any person, without

a hearing by the official in charge of the appropriate office of grading, with the concurrence of the Director or Chief (1) for administrative reasons such as the nonavailability of personnel to perform the service; (2) for the failure to pay for service; (3) in case the application or request relates to products which are not eligible for service under § 54.5 or which are unclean or are in an unclean establishment; (4) for other noncompliance with the conditions on which service is available as provided in the regulations, except matters covered by paragraph (a) of this section; or (5) in case the person is a partnership, corporation, or other person from whom the benefits of the service are currently being withheld under paragraph (a) of this section. Notice of such denial or withdrawal, and the reasons therefor, shall promptly be given to the person involved.

(c) Filing of records. The final orders in formal proceedings under paragraph (a) of this section to deny or withdraw the service under the regulations (except orders required for good cause to be held confidential and not cited as precedents) and other records in such proceedings (except those required for good cause to be held confidential) shall be filed with the Hearing Clerk and shall be available for inspection by persons having a proper interest therein.

[42 FR 53921, Oct. 4, 1977. Redesignated at 46 FR 63203, Dec. 31, 1981, and amended at 50 FR 14366, Apr. 12, 1985; 52 FR 35683, Sept. 23, 1987]

§ 54.12 Financial interest of official grader.

No official grader shall grade or determine compliance of any products in which he or any of his relatives by blood or marriage is directly or indirectly financially interested.

§ 54.13 Accessibility and refrigeration of products; access to establishments.

(a) The applicant shall cause products, with respect to which service is requested, to be made easily accessible for examination and to be so placed, with adequate illuminating facilities, as to disclose their class, grade, other

quality, and compliance. Supervisors of grading and other employees of the Department responsible for maintaining uniformity and accuracy of service under the regulations shall have access to all parts of establishments covered by approved applications for service under the regulations, for the purpose of examining all products in the establishments which have been or are to be graded or examined for compliance with specifications or which bear any marks of grade or compli

ance.

(b) Grading service will only be furnished for meat that a USDA grader determines is chilled so that grade factors are developed to the extent that a proper grade determination can be made in accordance with the official standards (Subpart B of Part 54 (7 CFR 54.102 et seq.)). To be eligible for grading, beef carcasses must be ribbed at least 10 minutes prior to being offered for grading. Meat that is presented in a frozen condition shall not be eligible for a grade determination. Meat of all eligible species shall be graded only in the establishment where the animal was slaughtered or initially chilled (except for veal and calf carcasses, which shall be graded only after the hide is removed and

only in the establishment where such removal occurs). The Director may grant prior approval for grading at a location other than the establishment of slaughter or initial chill upon notification to the Division if the Branch was unable to provide grading service in a timely manner and that the meat can be identified in conformance with the standards.

[42 FR 53921, Oct. 4, 1977, as amended at 45 FR 51762, Aug. 5, 1980. Redesignated at 46 FR 63203, Dec. 31, 1981]

§ 54.14 Official certificates.

(a) Required; exception. The official grader shall prepare, sign, and issue either (1) an official Agricultural Products Grading Certificate for products graded by him, or (2) an official Agricultural Products Acceptance Certificate covering products for which he has determined compliance except in the Beef Carcass Data Service as provided for in § 54.4. In the latter case, complete records of the services shall be furnished to the office of grading.

(b) Form. The following forms (Figures 1 and 2) constitute forms of official certificates for products under the regulations. Where weight is certified, the word "Not" shall be deleted from the phrase "Wts. Not Verified."