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U.S. Code as of:
01/03/05
Section 4601. Findings and purposes
(a) Findings
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Honey is produced by many individual producers in every
State in the United States.
(2) Honey and honey products move in large part in the channels
of interstate and foreign commerce, and honey which does not move
in such channels directly burdens or affects interstate commerce.
(3) In recent years, large quantities of low-cost, imported
honey have been brought into the United States, replacing
domestic honey in the normal trade channels.
(4) The maintenance and expansion of existing honey markets and
the development of new or improved markets or uses are vital to
the welfare of honey producers and those concerned with
marketing, using, and processing honey, along with those engaged
in general agricultural endeavors requiring bees for pollinating
purposes.
(5) The honey production industry within the United States is
comprised mainly of small- and medium-sized businesses.
(6) The development and implementation of coordinated programs
of research, promotion, consumer education, and industry
information necessary for the maintenance of markets and the
development of new markets have been inadequate.
(7) Without cooperative action in providing for and financing
such programs, honey producers, honey handlers, wholesalers, and
retailers are unable to implement programs of research,
promotion, consumer education, and industry information necessary
to maintain and improve markets for these products.
(8) The ability to develop and maintain purity standards for
honey and honey products is critical to maintaining the consumer
confidence, safety, and trust that are essential components of
any undertaking to maintain and develop markets for honey and
honey products.
(9) Research directed at improving the cost effectiveness and
efficiency of beekeeping, as well as developing better means of
dealing with pest and disease problems, is essential to keeping
honey and honey product prices competitive and facilitating
market growth as well as maintaining the financial well-being of
the honey industry.
(10) Research involving the quality, safety, and image of honey
and honey products and how that quality, safety, and image may be
affected during the extraction, processing, packaging, marketing,
and other stages of the honey and honey product production and
distribution process, is highly important to building and
maintaining markets for honey and honey products.
(b) Purposes
The purposes of this chapter are -
(1) to authorize the establishment of an orderly procedure for
the development and financing, through an adequate assessment, of
an effective, continuous, and nationally coordinated program of
promotion, research, consumer education, and industry information
designed to -
(A) strengthen the position of the honey industry in the
marketplace;
(B) maintain, develop, and expand domestic and foreign
markets and uses for honey and honey products;
(C) maintain and improve the competitiveness and efficiency
of the honey industry; and
(D) sponsor research to develop better means of dealing with
pest and disease problems;
(2) to maintain and expand the markets for all honey and honey
products in a manner that -
(A) is not designed to maintain or expand any individual
producer's, importer's, or handler's share of the market; and
(B) does not compete with or replace individual advertising
or promotion efforts designed to promote individual brand name
or trade name honey or honey products; and
(3) to authorize and fund programs that result in government
speech promoting government objectives.
(c) Administration
Nothing in this chapter -
(1) prohibits the sale of various grades of honey;
(2) provides for control of honey production;
(3) limits the right of the individual honey producer to
produce honey; or
(4) creates a trade barrier to honey or honey products produced
in a foreign country.
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