Arkansas Administrative Code › Agency 209 - Arkansas Agriculture Department › Division 02 - State Plant Board › Rule 209.02.18-004 - Regulations on the Industrial Hemp Research Program in Arkansas

Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 6, June, 2024
SECTION 1.
A
DEFINITIONS.
When used in
			 these regulations.
(1)
			 "
Applicant
" means a person, or a person who is authorized to sign
			 for a business entity, who submits an application.
(2) "
Approved cultivar
" means
			 any variety of industrial hemp designated by the Arkansas State Plant Board in
			 a published list and may be amended from time to time.
(3) "
Arkansas State Plant Board
			 (ASPB)
" means an Agency of the AR Agriculture Department.
(4)
Association of Official Seed
			 Certifying Agencies (AOSCA)
"AOSCA Certified seed"
,
"AOSCA Registered seed",
and
"AOSCA
			 Foundation seed"
mean seed that has been produced and labeled
			 in accordance with the procedures and in compliance with the rules and
			 regulations of an AOSCA seed certifying agency or by the Organization for
			 Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Seed Schemes. AOSCA Certified Seed
			 programs provide standards and procedures approved by the United States
			 Secretary of Agriculture to maintain and make available to the public high
			 quality seed and propagating materials of superior crop plant varieties grown
			 & distributed to insure genetic identity and purity.
(5) "
Cannabis
" means all parts
			 of the cannabis plant, whether growing or not, including its seeds, resin,
			 compounds, salts, derivatives, and extracts. Cannabis does not include publicly
			 marketable hemp products, as defined in this regulation.
(6) "
CBD
" means
			 cannabidiol.
(7) "
DEA
"
			 means the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.
(8) "
Decarboxylated
" means the
			 completion of the chemical reaction that converts THC-acid into delta-9-THC,
			 the intoxicating component of cannabis. The decarboxylated value may also be
			 calculated using a conversion formula that sums delta-9-THC and
			 THC-acid.
(9)
			 "
Delta-9-THC
" means delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol concentration
			 (the primary intoxicating component of cannabis).
(10) "
Grower Licensing
			 Agreement
" means a document executed by a person and ASPB authorizing
			 the person to grow, handle and store hemp at one or more specified locations in
			 Arkansas under the terms set forth in the document, Arkansas Industrial Hemp
			 Act 2-15-401 -
			 2-15-412, and this
			 regulation.
(11) "
GPS
"
			 means Global Positioning System.
(12) "
Handling
" means possessing
			 or storing industrial hemp for any period of time on premises owned, operated,
			 or controlled by a person licensed to cultivate or process industrial hemp.
			 "Handling" also includes possessing or storing industrial hemp in a vehicle for
			 any period of time other than during its actual transport from the premises of
			 a licensed person to cultivate or process industrial hemp to the premises of
			 another licensed person.
(13)
			 "
Industrial hemp
" means all parts and varieties of the plant
			 Cannabis sativa L. and any part of such plant cultivated or possessed by a
			 licensed grower, whether growing or not, with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol
			 (THC) concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.
			 (Adopted by federal law in the Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S. C. & 801
			 et seq. "Industrial hemp" has the same meaning as in 7 U.S.C. sec. 5940 as it
			 currently exists or as it may be subsequently amended;
(14) "
Industrial hemp products
"
			 or "hemp products" means products derived from, or made by, processing
			 industrial hemp plants or plant parts, including without limitation:(A)
			 Certified seed for cultivation if the seeds originate from industrial hemp
			 varieties; (B) Cloth; (C) Cordage; (D) Fiber; (E) Food; (F) Fuel; (G) Paint;
			 (H) Paper; (I) Particleboard; (J) Plastics; and (K) Seed, seed meal, and seed
			 oil for consumption.
(15)
			 "
Law enforcement agency
" means the Arkansas State Police, DEA, or
			 other federal, state, or local law enforcement agency or drug suppression
			 unit.
(16) "
Licensed
			 Grower
" means an individual or business entity possessing a license
			 issued by ASPB under the authority of this chapter to grow, handle, cultivate,
			 process, or market industrial hemp or industrial hemp products.
(17) "
Licensed Processer
" means
			 a person in the state authorized by ASPB to process, handle, store, and market
			 industrial hemp under the terms set forth in a Processor Licensing Agreement,
			 as set forth in the policies developed under these regulations.
(18) "
Location ID
" means the
			 unique identifier established by the applicant for each unique set of GPS
			 coordinates where industrial hemp will be grown, handled, stored, or processed,
			 which may include a field name or building name.
(19) "
Marketing
" means promoting
			 or selling a product within Arkansas, in another state, or outside of the
			 United States. "Marketing" includes efforts to advertise and gather information
			 about the needs or preferences of potential consumers or suppliers;
(20) "
Nonviable seed
" means a
			 seed that has been crushed, dehulled, or otherwise rendered to have a zero
			 percent germination rate.
(21)
			 "
Person
" includes any individual, partnership, corporation,
			 company, society, or association.
(22) "
Pesticide
" means any
			 substance or mixture of substances intended to prevent, destroy, control,
			 repel, attract, or mitigate any pest; intended to be used as a plant regulator,
			 defoliant, or desiccant; or intended to be used as a spray adjuvant, once they
			 have been mixed with a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency registered
			 product.
(23)
			 "
Phytocannabinoids
" are cannabinoids that occur naturally in the
			 cannabis plant. The classical cannabinoids are formed through decarboxylation
			 of their respective 2-carboxylic acids (2-COOH), a process which is catalyzed
			 by heat, light or alkaline conditions.
(24) "
Plot
" means a contiguous
			 area in a field, greenhouse, or indoor growing structure containing the same
			 variety or strain of hemp throughout the area.
(25) "
ppm
" means parts per
			 million.
(26) "
Post-Harvest
			 Sample
" means a sample taken from the harvested industrial hemp material
			 from a particular plot's harvest in accordance with the procedures as defined
			 in the policies developed under these regulations; the entire plot's harvest
			 must be in the same form (intact-plant, flowers, ground materials, etc.),
			 homogenous, and not mixed with non-hemp materials or industrial hemp materials
			 from another plot.
(27)
			 "
Pre-Harvest Sample
" means a composite, representative portion
			 from plants in an industrial hemp plot collected prior to harvest in accordance
			 with the procedures as defined in the policies developed under these
			 regulations.
(28) "
Prohibited
			 Variety
" means a variety or strain of cannabis excluded from the ASPB
			 Industrial Hemp Research Program.
(29) "
Processing
" means
			 converting an agricultural commodity into a marketable form.
(30) "
Processor Licensing
			 Agreement
" means a document executed by a person and ASPB authorizing
			 the person to process, handle, and store industrial hemp at one or more
			 specified locations in Arkansas under the terms set forth in the document,
			 Arkansas Industrial Hemp Act
			 2-15-401 -
			 2-15-412, and this
			 regulation.
(31)
"Program
" means a research pilot program conducted by ASPB in
			 collaboration with one (1) or more licensees or universities to study methods
			 of cultivating, processing, or marketing industrial hemp under the authority of
			 7 U.S.C. sec. 5940 as it currently exists or as it may be subsequently
			 amended.
(32)
			 "
Propagule
" means a plant or plant part that can be utilized to
			 grow a new plant.
(33)
			 "
Publicly marketable hemp product
" means a hemp product that meets
			 one or more of the following descriptions:
(a)
			 the product does not include any living hemp plants, viable seeds, leaf
			 materials, floral materials, or decarboxylated delta-9-THC content above 0.3
			 percent; and does include, without limitation, the following products: bare
			 stalks, bast fiber, hurd fiber, nonviable roots, nonviable seeds, seed oils,
			 and plant extracts (excluding products containing decarboxylated delta-9-THC
			 above 0.3 percent).
(b) the product
			 is CBD that was derived from industrial hemp, as defined in this regulation;
			 or
(c) the product is CBD that is
			 approved as a prescription medication by the United States Food and Drug
			 Administration.
(34)
			 "
Secondary Post-Harvest Sample
" means a post-harvest sample that
			 is taken in a given plot or processing, handling or storage location after the
			 first post-harvest sample is taken. A Secondary Post-Harvest Sample is taken on
			 a different day than the initial post-harvest sample.
(35) "
Secondary Pre-Harvest
			 Sample
" means a pre-harvest sample that is taken in a given plot after
			 the first pre-harvest sample is taken. A Secondary Pre-Harvest Sample is taken
			 on a different day than the initial pre-harvest sample.
(36) "
Seed source
" means the
			 origin of the seed or propagules as determined by ASPB.
(37) "
Signing authority
" means
			 an officer or agent of the organization with the written power to commit the
			 legal entity to a binding agreement.
(38) "
University
" means an
			 accredited institution of higher education located in Arkansas.
(39)
"Variety"
means a subdivision of a kind characterized by growth, yield,
			 plant, fruit, seed, or other characteristics by which it can be differentiated
			 from other plants of the same kind. A variety also is "uniform" & "stable"
			 - uniform in the sense that variations in essential and distinctive
			 characteristics are describable; and "stable" in the sense that the variety
			 will remain unchanged in its essential and distinctive characteristics and its
			 uniformity when reproduced or reconstituted as required by the different
			 categories of varieties.
(40)
			 "
Variety of Concern
" means any variety of hemp in ASPB's program
			 that tests above 3000 parts per million (ppm) or 0.3000% decarboxylated
			 delta-9-THC in one (1) or more pre-harvest samples from diverse locations and
			 production conditions. A hemp variety designated as a "Variety of Concern" may
			 be subject to restrictions and additional testing. Materials testing at a
			 decarboxylated delta-9-THC concentration above 0.3 percent may be subject to
			 law enforcement action.
(41)
			 "
Volunteer hemp plant
means an industrial hemp plant that was not
			 intentionally planted, but results from a previous crop, growing on its own
			 accord from seeds or roots in the years following an intentionally planted
			 industrial hemp crop.