I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2400 

To amend the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 to require recordkeeping 

and authorize investigations and enforcement actions for violations of 

such Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 17, 2013 

Mrs. CAPPS (for herself, Mr. HANNA, Mr. DEFAZIO, and Mr. FARR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 to 

require recordkeeping and authorize investigations and 

enforcement actions for violations of such Act, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Organic Standards 

5 Protection Act’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. RECORDKEEPING, INVESTIGATIONS, AND ENFORCE2 MENT. 

3 The Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 is amend4 ed by inserting after section 2120 (7 U.S.C. 6519) the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 2120A. RECORDKEEPING, INVESTIGATIONS, AND EN7 FORCEMENT. 

8 ‘‘(a) RECORDKEEPING.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro10 vided in this title, all persons, including producers, 

11 handlers, and certifying agents, required to report 

12 information to the Secretary under this title shall 

13 maintain, and make available to the Secretary on 

14 the request of the Secretary, all contracts, agree15 ments, receipts, and other records associated with 

16 the organic certification program established by the 

17 Secretary under this title. 

18 ‘‘(2) DURATION OF RECORDKEEPING REQUIRE19 MENT.—A record covered by paragraph (1) shall be 

20 maintained— 

21 ‘‘(A) by a person covered by this title, ex22 cept for a certifying agent, for a period of 5 

23 years beginning on the date of the creation of 

24 the record; and 

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1 ‘‘(B) by a certifying agent, for a period of 

2 10 years beginning on the date of the creation 

3 of the record. 

4 ‘‘(b) CONFIDENTIALITY.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

6 and except as provided in section 2107(a)(9) and as 

7 otherwise directed by the Secretary or the Attorney 

8 General for enforcement purposes, no officer, em9 ployee, or agent of the United States shall make 

10 available to the public information, statistics, or doc11 uments obtained from or made available by any per12 son under this title, other than in a manner that en13 sures that confidentiality is preserved regarding the 

14 identity of persons, including parties to a contract, 

15 and proprietary business information. 

16 ‘‘(2) VIOLATORS AND NATURE OF ACTIONS.— 

17 The Secretary may release the name of the violator 

18 and the nature of the actions triggering an order or 

19 revocation under subsection (e). 

20 ‘‘(c) INVESTIGATION.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may take 

22 such investigative actions as the Secretary considers 

23 to be necessary to carry out this title— 

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1 ‘‘(A) to verify the accuracy of any informa2 tion reported or made available under this title; 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(B) to determine, with regard to actions, 

5 practices, or information required under this 

6 title, whether a person covered by this title has 

7 committed, or will commit, a violation of any 

8 provision of this title, including an order or reg9 ulation promulgated by the Secretary. 

10 ‘‘(2) INVESTIGATIVE POWERS.—The Secretary 

11 may administer oaths and affirmations, subpoena 

12 witnesses, compel attendance of witnesses, take evi13 dence, and require the production of any records re14 quired to be maintained under subsection (a) or sec15 tion 2112(d) or 2116(c) that are relevant to the in16 vestigation. 

17 ‘‘(d) UNLAWFUL ACT.—It shall be unlawful and a 

18 violation of this title for any person covered by this title— 

19 ‘‘(1) to fail or refuse to provide, or delay the 

20 timely provision of, accurate information required by 

21 the Secretary under this section; 

22 ‘‘(2) to violate— 

23 ‘‘(A) an order of the Secretary; 

24 ‘‘(B) a revocation of the organic certifi25 cation of a producer or handler; or 

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1 ‘‘(C) a revocation of the accreditation of a 

2 certifying agent; or 

3 ‘‘(3) to sell, or attempt to sell, a product that 

4 is represented as being organically produced under 

5 this title (including an order or regulation promul6 gated under this title) if in fact the product has 

7 been produced or handled by an operation that is 

8 not yet a certified organic producer or handler under 

9 this title. 

10 ‘‘(e) ENFORCEMENT.— 

11 ‘‘(1) ORDER.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 

13 issue an order to stop the sale of an agricul14 tural product that is labeled or otherwise rep15 resented as being organically produced in cases 

16 of suspected fraudulent or otherwise unlawful 

17 acts as described in subsection (d) that are will18 ful, noncorrectable, or the subject of a com19 bined noncompliance and adverse action until 

20 the product can be verified— 

21 ‘‘(i) as meeting the national and State 

22 standards for organic production and han23 dling as provided in sections 2105 through 

24 2114; 

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1 ‘‘(ii) as having been produced or han2 dled without the use of a prohibited sub3 stance listed under section 2118; and 

4 ‘‘(iii) as being produced and handled 

5 by a certified organic operation. 

6 ‘‘(B) AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE TO STOP

7 SALE ORDER.— 

8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If a producer or 

9 handler has a valid organic certification 

10 from the Department of Agriculture, the 

11 burden shall shift to the Secretary to prove 

12 fraud or unlawful activity that is willful, 

13 noncorrectable, or the subject of a com14 bined noncompliance and adverse action 

15 before a stop sale order under subpara16 graph (A) may be implemented. 

17 ‘‘(ii) INFORMATION.— 

18 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The producer 

19 or handler shall comply with any re20 quests of the Secretary for documents 

21 and other information not later than 

22 30 days after a request is made. 

23 ‘‘(II) NONCOMPLIANCE.—If the 

24 producer or handler fails to comply 

25 within the period described in submstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 clause (I), the Secretary may issue a 

2 stop sale order. 

3 ‘‘(C) APPEAL OF STOP SALE ORDER.— 

4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary 

5 proves fraud or unlawful activity that is 

6 willful, noncorrectable, or the subject of a 

7 combined noncompliance and adverse ac8 tion, the determination may be appealed 

9 through an expedited administrative appeal 

10 process. 

11 ‘‘(ii) DEADLINE.—The expedited ap12 peal process shall be completed not later 

13 than 30 days after the date of the issuance 

14 of the stop sale order. 

15 ‘‘(iii) STAY.—Any stop sale order 

16 shall be stayed pending the 30 day-expe17 dited appeal under this subparagraph. 

18 ‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION OR ACCREDITATION.— 

19 After notice and opportunity for an administrative 

20 appeal under section 2121, if a violation described in 

21 subparagraph (A)(ii) is determined to have occurred 

22 and is an unlawful act under subsection (d), the Sec23 retary shall revoke the organic certification of the 

24 producer or handler, or the accreditation of the cer25 tifying agent. 

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1 ‘‘(3) VIOLATION OF ORDER OR REVOCATION.— 

2 A person who violates an order to stop the sale of 

3 a product as an organically produced product under 

4 paragraph (1), or a revocation of certification or ac5 creditation under paragraph (2), shall be subject to 

6 1 or more of the penalties provided under sub7 sections (a) and (b) of section 2120. 

8 ‘‘(f) APPEAL.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An order under subsection 

10 (e)(1), or a revocation of certification or accredita11 tion under subsection (e)(2)(B), shall be final and 

12 conclusive unless the affected person files an appeal 

13 of the order— 

14 ‘‘(A) first, to the administrative appeals 

15 process established under section 2121(a); and 

16 ‘‘(B) after a final decision of the Secretary, 

17 if the affected person so elects, to a United 

18 States district court as provided in section 

19 2121(b) not later than 30 days after the date 

20 of the determination under subparagraph (A). 

21 ‘‘(2) STANDARD.—An order under subsection 

22 (e)(1)(A), or a revocation of certification or accredi23 tation under subsection (e)(2), shall be set aside if 

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1 creditation, fails to comply with section 706 of title 

2 5, United States Code. 

3 ‘‘(g) NONCOMPLIANCE.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If a person covered by this 

5 title fails to obey an order, or a revocation of certifi6 cation or accreditation, described in subsection (f)(2) 

7 after the order or revocation has become final and 

8 conclusive or after the appropriate United States 

9 district court has entered a final judgment in favor 

10 of the Secretary, the United States may apply to the 

11 appropriate United States district court for enforce12 ment of the order, or the revocation of certification 

13 or accreditation. 

14 ‘‘(2) ENFORCEMENT.—If the court determines 

15 that the order or revocation was lawfully made and 

16 duly served and that the person violated the order 

17 or revocation, the court shall enforce the order or 

18 revocation. 

19 ‘‘(3) CIVIL PENALTY.—If the court finds that 

20 the person violated the order or revocation, the per21 son shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more 

22 than $10,000 for each offense.’’. 

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