1 This announcement was published as Service and Regulatory Announcements No. 127 of the Production and Marketing Administration, in November 1947. The administration of these regulations is now a function of Agricultural Marketing Service.

By virtue of the authority vested in the Secretary of Agriculture by the United States Warehouse Act, approved August 11, 1916 (39 U. S. Stat. L., pp. 446, 486), as amended, I, Arthur M. Hyde, Secretary of Agriculture, do make, prescribe, publish, and give public notice of the following rules and regulations, to be known as the regulations for grain warehousemen, and to be in force and effect until amended or superseded by rules and regulations hereafter made by the Secretary of Agriculture. These rules and regulations shall supersede all rules and regulations issued under said act heretofore for grain warehousemen. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the official seal of the Department of Agriculture to be affixed in the City of Washington this 9th day of May 1931.

102.1 Meaning of words.-Words used in these regulations in the singular form shall be deemed to import the plural, and vice versa, as the case may demand.

102.2 Terms defined.-For the purpose of these regulations, unless the context otherwise require, the following terms shall be construed, respectively, to mean: (a) The act.-The United States Warehouse Act, approved August 11, 1916 (39 Stat. 486; 7 U. S. C. 241-273), as amended.

(b) Person.-An individual, corporation, partnership, or two or more persons having a joint or common interest.

(c) Department.-The United States Department of Agriculture.

(d) Secretary.-"Secretary" means the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States, or any officer or employee of the Department to whom authority has heretofore been delegated, or to whom authority may hereafter be delegated, to act in his stead.

(e) Designated representative.-The Administrator.

(f) Administrator.-The Administrator of the Service, or any other officer or employee of the Service to whom authority has heretofore lawfully been delegated, or may hereafter lawfully be delegated, to act in his stead.

(g) Service.-The Agricultural Marketing Service of the Department. (h) Regulations.-Rules and regulations made under the act by the Secretary. (i) Dockage.-Dockage in grain as defined by the official grain standards of the United States.

(j) Grain. All products commonly classed as grain, such as wheat, corn, oats, barley, rye, flaxseed, rough, brown, and milled rice, sunflower seeds, field peas, soybeans, emmer, grain sorghums, and such other products as are ordinarily stored in grain warehouses, subject to the disapproval of the Administrator.

(k) Nonstorage grain.—Grain received temporarily into a warehouse for conditioning, transferring, assembling for shipment, or lots of grain moving through

DEPOSITED BY THE

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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a warehouse for current merchandising or milling use, against which no receipts are issued and no storage charges assessed, provided that merchandising or milling stocks held in storage as reserve stocks, or stored for use at an indefinite future date, may not be treated as nonstorage grain.

(1) Warehouse.-Unless the context otherwise clearly indicates, any building, structure, or other protected inclosure licensed or to be licensed under the act, in which grain is or may be stored for interstate or foreign commerce, or, if located within any place under the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States in which grain is or may be stored.

(m) Bin.-A bin, tank, interstice, or other container in a warehouse in which bulk grain may be stored.

(n) Warehouseman.-Any person lawfully engaged in the business of storing grain, who holds an effective warehouseman's license under the act, or who has applied for such a license.

(o) License.-A license issued under the act by the Secretary, or his designated representative.

(p) Warehouseman's bond.-The bond required by the act to be given by a warehouseman.

(q) Inspector.-A person licensed under the act by the Secretary, or his designated representative, to inspect and grade and/or certificate the grade of grain stored or to be stored in a warehouse licensed under the act.

(r) Weigher. A person licensed under the act by the Secretary, or his designated representative, to weigh and/or certificate the weight of grain stored or to be stored in a warehouse licensed under the act.

(8) Grain standards act.-The United States grain standards act, approved August 11, 1916 (39 Stat. 482; 7 U. S. C. 71-87), as amended.

(t) Official grain standards of the United States.-The standards of quality or condition for grain, fixed and established by the Secretary under the grain standards act.

(u) Receipt.-A licensed warehouse receipt issued under the act.

WAREHOUSE LICENSES

102.3 Application form.-Applications for licenses and for amendments of licenses under the act shall be made to the Secretary upon prescribed forms furnished by the Service, shall be in English, shall truly state the information therein contained, and shall be signed by the applicant. The applicant shall at any time furnish such additional information as the Secretary, or his designated representative, shall find to be necessary to the consideration of his application. 102.3a All facilities to be licensed or exempted.-All facilities within the same city or town used for the storage of grain by an applicant for a warehouse license must qualify for a license and be licensed under the act if the applicant is to be licensed to operate as a grain warehouseman in such city or town, unless the facilities which are not to be covered by a license are exempted by the Secretary or his designated representative upon a finding that, due to the exercise of adequate controls by some independent agency over the operation of the nonfederally licensed facilities, there would be no likelihood of interchange, substitution, or commingling of grain stored in such facilities with grain stored in the federally licensed facilities. If all such facilities do not qualify for a license or for an exemption under this section, the applicant shall not be licensed under the act as a grain warehouseman in the city or town in which the facilities in question are located. Each applicant for a grain warehouse license must apply for a license covering all facilities operated by him for the storage of grain within the same city or town or for exemption as provided in this section. If a licensed grain warehouseman acquires any additional grain storage facilities within the same city or town in which his licensed warehouse is located, he shall file promptly an application for a license or an exemption of the additional facilities. No grain storage facility acquired by a licensed grain warehouseman, subsequent to the issuance of his license, in the same city or town as his licensed facilities, shall be used for the storage of grain until it qualifies for license and is licensed or is exempted as provided in this section. If any one of the licensed grain storage facilities operated by a warehouseman in the same city or town becomes ineligible for a license at any time for any reason, it shall not thereafter be used for the storage of grain until the condition making it ineligible is removed or an exemption is granted as provided in this section. The use for the storage of

grain by a licensed warehouseman of a facility which is in the same city or town as his licensed facilities and is neither licensed nor exempted, or other violation of the provisions of this section, shall be cause for suspension or revocation of any license issued to the warehouseman for the storage of grain.

102.4 Scales; bin numbers.-(a) Each warehouse must be equipped with suitable scales in good order, and so arranged that all grain, whether for storage or for nonstorage purposes, can be weighed in and out of the warehouse. The scales in any warehouse shall be subject to examination by representatives of the Department and to disapproval by the Administrator. If he disapproves any weighing apparatus, it shall not thereafter be used in ascertaining the weight of grain for the purposes of this act, until such disapproval be withdrawn.

(b) Both bulk grain bins and compartments for sacked grain of all warehouses licensed under the act shall be identified by means of clearly discernible numbers securely affixed thereto. The series of numbers to be used shall be approved by the service. Bulk grain bins shall be numbered so as to be easily identified at the openings on top and also on or near the outlet valves underneath. Compartments shall be numbered in such a manner as to clearly show the space covered by each number.

102.5 Signs of tenancy; posting.-(a) Every warehouseman operating a "field" or "custodian" warehouse shall, during the life of his license, display and maintain appropriate signs on the licensed warehouse, both on the inside and on the exterior walls of the warehouse, and particularly on doors and usual places of entry, in such a manner as will ordinarily be calculated to give the public correct notice of his tenancy of all buildings or parts thereof included in his license.

(b) Such signs shall be of such size and design as to readily attract the attention of the public and shall include the following: (1) The name and license number of the licensee, (2) the name of the warehouse, (3) whether the warehouseman is owner or lessee, and (4) the words "public warehouse."

(c) Such other wording or lettering may appear in the sign or signs not inconsistent with the purpose of the act and these regulations as may be approved by the Administrator.

(d) Immediately upon its expiration or suspension or revocation all reference to the license shall be removed from the warehouse.

(e) No sign indicating control, tenancy, or ownership of a licensed warehouse by any person other than the licensee shall appear on any such warehouse.

102.6 Net Assets. (a) Each warehouseman conducting a warehouse licensed, or for which application for a license has been made, under these regulations, shall have and maintain above all exemptions and liabilities, total net assets liable for the payment of any indebtedness arising from the conduct of the warehouse equal to at least 4 percent of the total value of the maximum number of bushels of wheat that the warehouse could accommodate when stored in the manner customary to the warehouse, as determined by the Administrator, calcu lated upon the basis of the unit price for wheat announced annually by the Administrator: Provided, That if the commodity normally stored or to be stored in the warehouse in greatest quantity over the period of a year has a unit price, as announced annually by the Administrator, higher than wheat, the maximum number of bushels and the unit price of such commodity shall be used in calculating the amount of net assets required: Provided, That no person may be licensed as a warehouseman under these regulations, unless he has a net worth of at least $10,000.00; and Provided further, that any deficiency in the net assets required above the $10,000.00 minimum may be supplied by an increase in the amount of the warehouseman's bond in accordance with paragraph (c) of section 102.14. In determining total net assets, credit may be given for insurable property such as buildings, machinery, equipment, and merchandise inventory, only to the extent that such property is protected by insurance against loss or damage by fire. Such insurance shall be in the form of lawful policies issued by one or more insurance companies authorized to do such business and subject to service of process in suits brought in the State in which the warehouse is located.

(b) In case a warehouseman is licensed or is applying for a license to operate two or more warehouses in the same State, under these regulations, and his total assets are subject to the liabilities of each warehouse, the maximum number of bushels which all such warehouses will accommodate when stored in the manner customary to the warehouses as determined by the Administrator, shall