The following are some basic responsibilities for swine contractors. Please refer to the
Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921, as amended and supplemented, and the Regulations issued there under, for a complete list of legal responsibilities.
Scales. All scales used by those subject to the Act to weigh livestock, livestock carcasses, or feed for the purposes of purchase, sale, acquisition, payment, or settlement, must be installed, maintained, and operated to ensure accurate weights, in accordance with the applicable requirements in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Handbook 44, "Specifications, Tolerances, and Other Technical Requirements for Weighing and Measuring Devices." All such scales must be tested for accuracy by a competent agency at least twice during each calendar year—once between January 1 and June 30 and once between July 1 and December 31. You must have a minimum of 120 days between these two tests. Except that if you use such scales on a limited seasonal basis (during any continuous 8-month period) for purposes of purchase, sale, acquisition, payment or settlement, you may use such scales within an 8-month period following each test. The certification form must be filed with the regional P&SP office. Such scales must be equipped with a printing device which will record weight values on a scale ticket or other document. Any scale known to be inaccurate may not be used.
Unfair Practices. It shall be unlawful for any swine contractor to engage in or use any unfair, unjustly discriminatory, or deceptive practice or device.
Records. Every swine contractor shall keep such accounts, records, and memoranda as fully and correctly disclose all transactions involved in his/her business, including the true ownership of such business. The records must be maintained for two full years, or longer if instructed by the Administrator.
Inspection of Business Records and Facilities. Each swine contractor, upon proper request, shall permit authorized representatives of the Secretary of Agriculture to enter its place of business during normal business hours and to examine records pertaining to its business subject to the P&S Act.
Information About Business. Each swine contractor, upon proper request, shall give the Secretary of Agriculture or his authorized representatives, within a reasonable time (specified in the request), any information about its business, in writing or otherwise, and under oath or affirmation, which may be required in order to carry out the provisions of the P&S Act and regulations.
Disclosure of Producer Right to Cancel. Each swine contractor must disclose in its swine production contracts the swine production contract grower?s right to cancel the contract; the method in which the grower may cancel the contract; and the deadline for canceling the contract. Swine production contract growers have until the later of (a) the date that is 3 business days after the date when the swine production contract is executed, or (b) any cancellation date specified in the contract to mail a cancellation notice to the swine contractor.
Disclosure of Additional Capital Investments. Each swine contractor must disclose on the first page of its swine production contracts a statement identified as 'Additional Capital Investments Disclosure Statement, which conspicuously states that additional large capital investments may be required of the swine production contract grower during the term of the contract. (1)
Forum for Resolving Disputes and Choice of Law. The forum for resolving any dispute among the parties to a swine production or marketing contract that arises out of that contract must be located in the Federal judicial district in which the principle part of the performance takes place under the contract. A swine production or marketing contract may specify which State's law is to apply to issues governed by State law in any dispute arising out of the contract, except to the extent that doing so is prohibited by the law of the State in which the principal part of the performance takes place under the contract.
Arbitration. Any livestock contract that contains a provision requiring the use of arbitration to resolve any controversy that arises under the contract must contain a provision disclosing that a swine production contract grower, prior to entering the contract, may opt out of the arbitration provision. Any swine production contract grower that opts out of an arbitration requirement prior to entering the contract has the right to seek to resolve any controversy that may arise under the contract, if, after the controversy arises, both parties consent in writing to use arbitration to settle the controversy. Any action by or on behalf of a swine contractor with the intent or effect of limiting the ability of a swine production contract grower to opt out of the arbitration provision is an unlawful practice under the P&S Act. (2)
End Notes
(1) The provision related to disclosure of additional capital investments in Section 208 (b)(1) of the P&S Act (7 U.S.C. 197a) applies to any swine production contract entered into, amended, altered, modified, renewed, or extended after June 18, 2008.
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(2) The provisions related to arbitration in Section 210 (a), (b), and (c) (7 U.S.C 197c) apply to any contract entered into, amended, altered, modified, renewed, or extended after June 18, 2008.
