Where the service rendered is or includes acceptance service, the word "Grade" shall be deleted from the heading "Meat Grade Certificate." Where weight is certified, the word "Not" shall be deleted from the phrase "Weights Not Verified."

(2) Where determination of ingredient content or method of preparation of products in acceptance service is based upon a certification of the facts by the inspection system having jurisdiction of the products, this fact shall be stated on the certificate.

(c) Distribution. The original certificate and not to exceed two copies shall be delivered or mailed to the applicant or other person designated by him. One copy shall be filed in the office of the official grader, and one copy shall be forwarded to a central office designated by the Chief, and such copies shall be kept on file until other disposition is ordered by the Administrator. Additional copies will be furnished to any person financially interested in the products involved upon the payment of fees as provided in § 53.29 (g).

§ 53.17 Advance information concerning service rendered.

Upon request of any applicant, all or any part of the contents of any certificate issued to him under the regulations, or other notification concerning the determination of class, grade, other quality, or compliance of products for such applicant may be transmitted by telegraph or telephone to him, or to any person designated by him, at his expense.

§ 53.18 Marking of products.

All products for which class and grade under the standards in Subpart B of this part, or compliance, is determined under the regulations, or the immediate and shipping containers thereof, shall be stamped, branded, or otherwise marked with an appropriate official identification: Provided, That except as otherwise directed by the Chief, such marking will not be required when an applicant only desires official certificates. The marking of products, or their containers, as required by this section shall be done by official graders or under their immediate supervision.

mercial," "Utility," "Cutter," "Canner," or "Cull," as provided in the standards in Subpart B of this part, also enclosed in the shield, and accompanied when necessary by the class designation "Stag," "Bull," "Veal," "Calf," "Yearling Mutton" or "Mutton," constitutes a form of official identification under the regulations to show the grade, and where necessary the class, under said standards, of steer, heifer and cow beef, stag beef, bull beef, veal, calf, lamb, yearling mutton, and mutton.

USDA

(b) The following constitute forms of official identifications under the regulations to show compliance of products:

USDA

FIGURE 1.

U.S. VET. ADM. DEC 27 1955 CHICAGO U.S. D. A. DN

FIGURE 2.

USDA ACCEPTED AS SPECIFIED AC

FIGURE 3.

USDA EXAMINED

AS CERTIFIED AC

FIGURE 4.

The date, location, and letters "DN" and "AC" shown in figures 2, 3, and 4 are examples, respectively, of the date and place of service and the code identification of the grader performing the service. § 53.20 Custody of identification devices.

All identification devices used in marking products or the containers thereof under the regulations, including those indicating compliance with specifications approved by the Chief, shall be kept in the custody of the Branch, and accurate records shall be kept by the Branch of all such devices. Each office of grading shall keep a record of the devices assigned to it. Such devices shall be distributed only to authorized employees of the Branch who shall keep the devices in their possession or control at all times and maintain complete records of such devices.

§ 53.21

APPEAL SERVICE

What is appeal service; marking products on appeal; requirements for appeal; certain determinations not appealable.

(a) Appeal service is a redetermination of the class, grade, other quality, or compliance of product when the applicant for the appeal service formally challenges the correctness of the original determination. Only a person who has title to, or is a party to a contract for the sale of, a product may request appeal service with respect to such product and if the original determination of class, grade, other quality or compliance is found on appeal to have been in error all incorrect marks of class, grade, other quality and compliance will be removed from the product, and if the person having title to the product so requests, correct marks as determined on the appeal will be applied to the product. Examination requested to determine the class, grade, other quality, or compliance of a product which has been altered or has undergone a material change since the original service, or examination of product requested for the purpose of obtaining an up-to-date certificate and not involving any question as to the correctness of the original service for the product involved, shall be considered equivalent to original service and not appeal service.

(b) Grade determinations for the following cannot be appealed: any lot of a product consisting of less than ten similar units; wholesale cuts, or other subdivisions of meat originally graded

as larger units; and veal and calf carcasses originally graded with hides on. Moreover, appeal service will not be furnished with respect to product that has been altered or has undergone any material change since the original service. § 53.22 Request for appeal service.

Except as otherwise provided in § 53.21, a request for appeal service with respect to any product under the regulations may be made by any person who is financially interested in the product when he disagrees with the determination as to class, grade, other quality, or compliance of the product as shown by the markings on the product or its containers, or as stated in the applicable certificate. A request for appeal service shall be filed with the Chief, directly or through the official grader who performed the original service or the official in charge of the office of grading to which such grader was assigned at the time of the service, or through the nearest office of grading. The request shall state the reasons therefor and may be accompanied by a copy of any previous certificate or report, or any other information which the applicant may have received regarding the product at the time of the original service. Such request may be made orally (including by telephone) or in writing (including by telegram). If made orally, the person receiving the request may require that it be confirmed in writing. Requests for appeal service received through an official grader or an office of grading shall be transmitted promptly to the Chief for instructions.

§ 53.23 When request for appeal service may be withdrawn.

A request for appeal service may be withdrawn by the applicant at any time before the appeal service has been performed, upon payment of any expenses already incurred under the regulations by the Branch in connection therewith. § 53.24 Denial or withdrawal of appeal

service.

A request for appeal service may be rejected or such service may be otherwise denied to or withdrawn from any person, without a hearing, in accordance with the procedure set forth in § 53.13(b), if it shall appear that the person or product involved is not eligible for appeal service under § 53.21, or that the identity of the product has been lost; or for any of the causes set forth in

§ 53.27

Superseded certificates.

The appeal certificate shall supersede the original certificate which, thereupon, shall become null and void and shall not thereafter be deemed to show the class, grade, other quality, or compliance of the products described therein. However, the fees charged for the original service shall not be remitted. If the original and all copies of the superseded certificate are not delivered to the official with whom the request for appeal service is filed, the official graders issuing the appeal certificate shall forward notice of such issuance and of the cancellation of the original certificate to such persons as they may deem necessary to prevent fraudulent use of the superseded certificate.

dered shall be assessed and collected from applicants in accordance with the following provisions unless otherwise provided in the cooperative agreement under which the services are furnished, or as provided in § 53.8.

(a) Fees based on hourly rates. Except as otherwise provided in this section, fees for service shall be based on the time required to render the service, calculated to the nearest 15 minute period, including the time required for the preparation of certificates and travel of the official grader in connection with the performance of the service, and shall be at the base rate of $6.00 per hour for work performed on days other than Sundays or legal holidays; and at one and one-half times the base rate for work performed on Sundays, and at double the base rate for work performed on legal holidays. A minimum charge for onehalf hour shall be made for service pursuant to each request notwithstanding that the time required to perform the service may be less than thirty minutes.

(b) Fees for service on weekly commitment basis. Minimum fees for service performed under a weekly commitment shall be on the basis of 40 hours of work on days other than Sundays or legal holidays calculated at the base rate in accordance with paragraph (a) of this section. Hours worked in excess of such 40 hours will be charged at the same base rate, except charges will be made for work performed on Sundays and legal holidays as stated in paragraph (a) of this section. The Agricultural Marketing Service reserves the right under such a commitment to use any grader assigned to the plant on a weekly basis to perform service for other applicants as provided in § 53.8(c), crediting the commitment applicant with the number of hours charged to the other applicants, provided the allowable credit hours, plus hours actually worked for the applicant, do not exceed 40 in any week.

(c) Travel charges. (1) When service is requested at a place so distant from an official grader's headquarters or place of prior assignment on a circuit routing, that a total of one-half hour or more is required for the grader to travel to such place and back to the headquarters or to the next place of assignment on a circuitous routing, the charge for such service shall include a mileage charge at 8 cents per mile, and travel tolls if applicable, for such travel pro

rated against all the applicants furnished the service involved on an equitable basis, or, where the travel is made by public transportation (including hired vehicle), a fee equal to the actual cost thereof.

(d) Per diem charges. When service is requested at a place so distant from an official grader's headquarters that the work and travel required for such service cannot be performed within a calendar day, the fee for such service shall include a per diem charge, at the rate paid the grader which shall not exceed $12.00 per diem, for each full day or quarter portion of a day spent by the grader away from his headquarters in the performance of such work and travel. A fee of $3.00 shall be charged for such work and travel although the time spent therein is less than a quarter portion of a day.

(e) Charges to applicants for recognition of nonfederally inspected establishments. (1) The initial survey conducted to determine the eligibility of a nonfederally inspected establishment for service under § 53.7 shall be without cost to the applicant when the survey is made at the convenience of the Chief. Fees shall be charged, as provided in subparagraph (2) of this paragraph, (i) when the applicant requests in writing that a special trip be made to conduct the initial survey, and such survey is conducted within 30 days from receipt of such request; (ii) when any survey subsequent to the initial one is required by the Chief to determine whether the establishment meets the specific requirements for recognition of which it has been previously notified as a result of the initial survey, such survey is made within 2 years after the initial survey, and there has been no change in ownership of the establishment since the initial survey; or (iii) when a survey is conducted to determine the eligibility for recognition of an establishment the recognition of which has been withdrawn under § 53.6 or § 53.7 or at which service has been denied or withdrawn under § 53.13(a).

(2) A fee at the applicable hourly rate calculated in accordance with paragraph (a) of this section shall be charged for time spent by an authorized official in making any survey for which fees are required to be charged under subparagraph (1) of this paragraph, including time spent in traveling to the establishment from his normal route of assign

ment and return. In addition, there shall be a travel charge for such travel and a per diem charge for each day, or quarter portion thereof, spent by such official away from his headquarters in the performance of such survey, including travel, at the rates provided for in paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section.

(3) In no case shall the total fees chargeable under subparagraph (2) of this paragraph for any such survey be less than $15.00.

(f) Fees for appeal service. Fees for appeal service shall be determined on the basis of the time, of two official graders, required to render the service, calculated to the nearest fifteen minute period, including the time required for the preparation of certificates and travel of such graders in connection with the performance of the service, at the applicable hourly rate prescribed in paragraph (a) of this section, plus any travel charges and per diem for such graders ordinarily chargeable under paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section: Provided, That when on appeal it is found that there was error in the original determination equal to or exceeding ten percent of the total number of similar units of the products involved, no charge will be made for the appeal service unless a special agreement therefor was made with the applicant in advance.

(g) Fees for extra copies of certificates. In addition to copies of certificates furnished under § 53.16, any financially interested person may obtain not to exceed three copies of any such certificate within one year from its date of issuance upon payment of a fee of $1.00, and not to exceed three copies of any such certificate at any time thereafter, while a copy of such certificate is on file in the Department, upon payment of a fee of $5.00.

§ 53.30 Payment of fees and other charges.

Fees and other charges for service shall be paid in accordance with the following provisions unless otherwise provided in the cooperative agreement under which the service is furnished. Upon receipt of billing for fees and other charges for service the applicant shall remit by check, draft, or money order, made payable to the Agricultural Marketing Service, U.S.D.A., payment for the service in accordance with directions on the billing, and such fees and charges

§ 53.1 Meaning of words.

Words used in this subpart in the singular form shall be deemed to import the plural, and vice versa, as the case may demand. For the purposes of such regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms shall be construed, respectively, to mean:

(a) The Act. The Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (Title II of the act of Congress approved August 14, 1946, 60 Stat. 1087, as amended by Pub. Law 272, 84th Cong., 69 Stat. 553, 7 U.S.C. 16211627).

(b) The regulations. The regulations in this subpart.

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

(d) Agricultural Marketing Service. The Agricultural Marketing Service of the Department.

(e) Administrator. The Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service, or any officer or employee of the Agricultural Marketing Service to whom authority has heretofore been delegated, or to whom authority may hereafter be delegated, to act in his stead.

(f) Division. The Livestock Division of the Agricultural Marketing Service.

(g) Director. The Director of the Division, or any officer or employee of of the Division to whom authority has heretofore been delegated, or to whom authority may hereafter be delegated, to act in his stead.

(h) Branch. The Meat Grading Branch of the Division.

(i) Chief. The Chief of the Branch, or any officer or employee of the Branch to whom authority has heretofore been delegated, or to whom authority may hereafter be delegated, to act in his stead.

(j) Official grader. An employee of the Department authorized to determine and certify or otherwise identify the class, grade, other quality, or compliance of products under the regulations.

(k) Supervisor of grading. An official grader or other person designated by the Chief to supervise and maintain uniformity and accuracy of service under the regulations.

(1) Office of grading. The office of an official grader.

(m) Person. Any individual, partnership, corporation, or other legal entity, or Government agency.

(n) Financially interested person. Any person having a financial interest in the products involved, including but not limited to the shipper, receiver, or carrier of the products.

(0) Applicant. Any person who has applied for service under the regulations.

(p) Grading service. The service established and conducted under the regulations for the determination and certification or other identification of the class, grade, or other quality of products under standards.

(q) Acceptance service. The service established and conducted under the regulations for the determination and certification or other identification of the