after its publication in the FEDERAL REGISTER, unless the Secretary, upon good cause found and published with the order, fixes an earlier effective date therefor.

(c) Notice of issuance: After issuance of an order, such order shall be filled with the hearing clerk, and notice thereof, together with notice of the effective date, shall be given by publication in the FEDERAL REGISTER.

§ 1205.16 Filing; extensions of time; effective date of filing; and computation of time.

(a) Filing, number of copies. Except as is provided otherwise herein, all documents or papers required or authorized by the foregoing provisions hereof to be filed with the hearing clerk shall be filed in quadruplicate. Any document, or paper, so required or authorized to be filed with the hearing clerk, shall, during the course of an oral hearing, be filed with the presiding officer.

(b) Extensions of time. The time for filing of any document or paper required or authorized by the foregoing provisions to be filed may be extended by the presiding officer (before the record is certified by the presiding officer) or by the Administrator (after the record is so certified by the presiding officer but before it is transmitted to the Secretary), or by the Secretary (after the record is transmitted to the Secretary) upon request filed, and if, in the judgment of the presiding officer, Administrator, or the Secretary, as the case may be, there is good reason for the extension. All rulings made pursuant to this paragraph shall be filed with the hearing clerk.

(c) Effective date of filing. Any document or paper required or authorized by the foregoing provisions to be filed shall be deemed to be filled when it is postmarked or when it is received by the hearing clerk.

(d) Computation of time. Sundays and Federal holidays shall be included in computing the time allowed for the filing of any document or paper: Provided, That, when such time expires on a Sunday or legal holiday, such period shall be extended to include the next following business day.

§ 1205.17 Discussion of issues, etc., of proceeding prohibited.

Except as may be provided otherwise in this subpart, no officer or employee of the Department shall, following the

close of the hearing in an order proceeding and prior to the issuance of an order therein, discuss the issues, merits, or evidence involved in the proceeding with any person interested in the result of the proceeding or with any representative of such person: Provided, however, That the provisions of this section shall not preclude an officer or employee who has been duly assigned to, or who has supervision over, a proceeding from discussing with interested persons or their representatives matters of procedure in connection with such proceeding. Insofar as the provisions of this section are inconsistent with the provisions of Regulation 1544 of the publication entitled "Regulations of the U.S. Department of Agriculture," the provisions of this section shall prevail.

§ 1205.18 Additional documents to be filed with hearing clerk.

In addition to the documents or papers required or authorized by the foregoing provisions of this subpart to be filed with the hearing clerk, the hearing clerk shall receive for filing and shall have custody of all papers, reports, records, orders, and other documents which relate to the administration of any order and which the Secretary is required to issue or to approve.

§ 1205.19 Hearing before Secretary.

The Secretary may act in the place and stead of a presiding officer in any proceeding herein. When he so acts, the hearing clerk shall transmit the record to the Secretary at the expiration of the period provided for the filing of proposed findings of fact, conclusions and orders, and the Secretary shall thereupon, after due consideration of the record, issue his final decision in the proceeding: Provided, That he may issue a tentative decision in which event the parties shall be afforded an opportunity to file exceptions before the issuance of the final decision. Subpart-Rules of Practice Governing Proceedings on Petitions To Modify or To Be Exempted From Orders

SOURCE: The provisions of this subpart appear at 32 FR. 2698, Feb. 9, 1967, unless otherwise noted.

§ 1205.50 Words in the singular form.

Words in this subpart in the singular form shall be deemed to import the plural, and vice versa, as the case may demand.

As used in this subpart, the terms as defined in the act shall apply with equal force and effect. In addition unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) The term “act" means the Cotton Research and Promotion Act (7 U.S.C. 2101-2118);

(b) The term "Department" means the U.S. Department of Agriculture;

(c) The term "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;

(d) The term "examiner" means any hearing examiner in the Office of Hearing Examiners, U.S. Department of Agriculture;

(e) The term "Administrator" means the Administrator of the Consumer and Marketing Service, with power to redelegate, or any officer or employee of the Department to whom authority has been delegated, or to whom authority may hereafter be delegated, to act in his stead;

(f) The term "FEDERAL REGISTER" means the publication provided for by the act of July 26, 1935 (49 Stat. 500), and acts supplementary thereto and amendatory thereof;

(g) The term "order" means any order or any amendment thereto which may be issued pursuant to the act;

(h) The term "person" means any person who is subject to an order, or to whom an order is sought to be made applicable, or on whom an obligation has been imposed or is sought to be imposed under an order;

(i) The term "proceeding" means a proceeding before the Secretary arising under section 12(a) of the act;

(1) The term "hearing" means that part of the proceeding which involves the submission of evidence;

(k) The term "party" includes the Department;

(1) The term "hearing clerk" means the hearing clerk, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.;

of fact and conclusions with respect to all material issues of fact, law or discretion, as well as the reasons or basis therefor, (2) order and (3) rulings on findings, conclusions and orders submitted by the parties;

(0) The term "petition" includes an amended petition.

§ 1205.52 Institution of proceeding.

(a) Filing and service of petition. Any person desiring to complain that any order or any provision of any such order or any obligation imposed in connection therewith is not in accordance with law, shall file with the hearing clerk, in quadruplicate, a petition in writing addressed to the Secretary. Promptly upon receipt of the petition, the hearing clerk shall transmit a true copy thereof to the Administrator and the General Counsel, respectively.

(b) Further proceedings. Further proceedings on petitions to modify or to be exempted from orders shall be governed by §§ 900.52 (excluding paragraph (a) of § 900.52) through 900.71 of this title (Rules of Practice Governing Proceedings on Petitions To Modify or To Be Exempted From Marketing Orders), and as may hereafter be amended, and the same are incorporated herein and made a part hereof by reference. Subpart-Procedure for the Conduct of Referenda in Connection With Cotton Research and Promotion Orders

SOURCE: The provisions of this subpart appear at 31 F.R. 14438, Oct. 9, 1966, unless otherwise noted.

§ 1205.200 General.

Referenda for the purpose of ascertaining whether the issuance by the Secretary of Agriculture of a cotton research and promotion order, or the termination or suspension of such an order, is approved or favored by producers shall, unless supplemented or modified by the Secretary, be conducted in accordance with this subpart.

§ 1205.201 Definitions.

(a) "Act" means the Cotton Research and Promotion Act (80 Stat. 279).

(b) "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 and "Department" means the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

(c) "Consumer and Marketing Service" means the Consumer and Marketing Service of the Department.

(d) "Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service", also referred to as ASCS, means the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service of the Department.

(e) "Administrator" means the Administrator of the Consumer and Marketing Service, with power to redelegate, or any officer or employee of the Department to whom authority has heretofore been delegated or may hereafter be delegated to act in his stead.

(f) "Deputy Administrator" means the Deputy Administrator or the Acting Deputy Administrator, State and County Operations, Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service.

(g) "State committee" means the persons in a State designated by the Secretary as the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation State Committee.

(h) "County committee" means the persons elected within a county as the county committee, pursuant to the regulations governing the selection and functions of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation county and community committees.

(i) "County office manager" means the person employed by the county committee to execute the policies of the county committee and be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service county office, or the person acting in such capacity.

(j) "State executive director" means the person employed by the State committee to execute the policies of the State committee and to be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service State Office, or the person acting in such capacity.

(k) "Order" means the order (including an amendatory order) with respect to which the Secretary has directed that a referendum be conducted.

(1) "Representative period" means the period designated by the Secretary pursuant to section 8 of the act.

(m) "Person" means an individual, partnership, association, corporation, estate, trust, or other business enterprise, or legal entity, and wherever applicable, a State, political subdivision of

a State, the Federal Government, or any agency thereof.

(n) "Upland cotton" means any cotton other than extra long staple cotton. (o) "Engaged in the production." The term "engaged in the production” shall include planting an upland cotton crop even though the crop is not harvested if such failure to harvest is not caused by the neglect of the farmer. In addition,

(1) Except for a landlord of a standing rent, cash rent, or fixed rent tenant, each person sharing in an upland cotton crop, or proceeds thereof, on a farm as an owner, cash tenant, landlord of a share tenant, share tenant or sharecropper shall be considered engaged in the production of such crop.

(2) Each person who was either the owner or operator of a farm for which an acreage allotment for a crop of upland cotton was established pursuant to the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, but on which such crop was not produced shall be deemed to be engaged in the production of such crop in the year in which such crop, if produced, would have been harvested if any acreage of such crop was deemed devoted to the crop for history purposes under applicable provisions of such law and he would have shared in such crop if it had been produced.

(p) "Producer" means any person engaged in the production of upland cotton. § 1205.202 Agencies through which a referendum shall be conducted. (a) Consumer and Marketing Service. The Administrator shall:

(1) Determine the referendum period. (2) Give reasonable advance notice of the referendum (1) by utilizing without advertising expense available media of public information (including, but not being limited to, press and radio facilities) serving the upland cotton producing areas, announcing the dates, places, or methods of voting, and other pertinent information, and (ii) by such other means as he may deem advisable.

(3) Provide ballots and related material to be used in the referendum to ASCS. The ballot (1) shall provide for recording essential information for ascertaining whether the person voting is an eligible voter, and (ii) may provide for recording the total amount of upland cotton produced by the producer during the representative period.

(4) Make available to producers through ASCS county committees in

delayed or suspended pending disposition of the appeal: Provided, That the presiding officer may suspend the proceeding for a reasonable time for the purpose of enabling the client to obtain other counsel or other representative.

(ii) In case the presiding officer has ordered that a person be precluded from further acting as counsel or representative in the proceeding, the presiding officer, within a reasonable time thereafter, shall submit to the Secretary a report of the facts and circumstances surrounding such order and shall recommend what action the Secretary should take respecting the appearance of such person as counsel or representative in other proceedings before the Secretary. Thereafter the Secretary may, after notice and an opportunity for hearing, issue such order, respecting the appearance of such person as counsel or representative in proceedings before the Secretary, as the Secretary finds to be appropriate.

(3) Failure to appear. If any interested person fails to appear at the hearing, he shall be deemed to have waived the right to be heard in the proceeding.

(c) Order of procedure. (1) The presiding officer shall, at the opening of the hearing prior to the taking of testimony, have noted as part of the record his designation as presiding officer, the notice of hearing as filed with the Office of the Federal Register, and the affidavit or certificate of the giving of notice or the determination provided for in § 1205.4(c).

(2) Evidence shall then be received with respect to the matters specified in the notice of the hearing in such order as the presiding officer shall announce.

(d) Evidence (1) In general. (1) The hearing shall be publicly conducted, and the testimony given at the hearing shall be reported verbatim.

(ii) Every witness shall, before proceeding to testify, be sworn or make affirmation. Cross-examination shall be permitted to the extent required for a full and true disclosure of the facts.

(iii) When necessary, in order to prevent undue prolongation of the hearing, the presiding officer may limit the number of times any witness may testify to the same matter or the amount of corroborative or cumulative evidence.

(iv) The presiding officer shall, insofar as practicable, exclude evidence which

is immaterial, irrelevant, or unduly repetitious, or which is not of the sort upon which responsible persons are accustomed to rely.

(2) Objections. (1) If a party objects to the admission or rejection of any evidence or to any other ruling of the presiding officer during the hearing, he shall state briefly the grounds of such objection, whereupon an automatic exception will follow if the objection is overruled by the presiding officer. The transcript shall not include argument or debate thereon except as ordered by the presiding officer. The ruling of the presiding officer on any objection shall be a part of the transcript.

(ii) Only objections made before the presiding officer may subsequently be relied upon in the proceeding.

(3) Proof and authentication of official records or documents. An official record or document, when admissible for any purpose, shall be admissible as evidence without the production of the person who made or prepared the same. Such record or document shall, in the discretion of the presiding officer, be evidenced by an official publication thereof or by a copy attested by the person having legal custody thereof and accompanied by a certificate that such person has the custody.

(4) Exhibits. All written statements, charts, tabulations, or similar data offered in evidence at the hearing shall, after identification by the proponent and upon satisfactory showing of the authenticity, relevancy, and materiality of the contents thereof, be numbered as exhibits and received in evidence and made a part of the record. Such exhibits shall be submitted in quadruplicate and in documentary form. In case the required number of copies is not made available, the presiding officer shall exercise his discretion as to whether said exhibits shall, when practicable, be read in evidence or whether additional copies shall be required to be submitted within a time to be specified by the presiding officer. If the testimony of a witness refers to a statute, or to a report or document (including the record of any previous hearing) the presiding officer, after inquiry relating to the identification of such statute, report, or document, shall determine whether the same shall be produced at the hearing and physically be made a part of the evidence as an exhibit, or whether it shall be incorporated into the

evidence by reference. If relevant and material matter offered in evidence is embraced in a report or document (including the record of any previous hearing) containing immaterial or irrelevant matter, such immaterial or irrelevant matter shall be excluded and shall be segregated insofar as practicable, subject to the direction of the presiding officer.

(5) Official notice. Official notice may be taken of such matters as are judicially noticed by the courts of the United States and of any other matter of technical, scientific or commercial fact of established character: Provided, That, interested persons shall be given adequate notice, at the hearing or subsequent thereto, of matters so noticed and shall be given adequate opportunity to show that such facts are inaccurate or are erroneously noticed.

(6) Offer of proof. Whenever evidence is excluded from the record, the party offering such evidence may make an offer of proof, which shall be included in the transcript. The offer of proof shall consist of a brief statement describing the evidence to be offered. If the evidence consists of a brief oral statement or of an exhibit, it shall be inserted into the transcript in toto. In such event, it shall be considered a part of the transcript if the Secretary decides that the presiding officer's ruling in excluding the evidence was erroneous. The presiding officer shall not allow the insertion of such evidence in toto if the taking of such evidence will consume a considerable length of time at the hearing. In the latter event, if the Secretary decides that the presiding officer erred in excluding the evidence, and that such error was substantial, the hearing shall be reopened to permit the taking of such evidence. § 1205.9

Oral and written arguments.

(a) Oral argument before presiding officer. Oral argument before the presiding officer shall be in the discretion of the presiding officer. Such argument, when permitted, may be limited by the presiding officer to any extent that he finds necessary for the expeditious disposition of the proceeding and shall be reduced to writing and made part of the transcript.

(b) Briefs, proposed findings and conclusions. The presiding officer shall announce at the hearing a reasonable

period of time within which interested persons may file with the hearing clerk proposed findings and conclusions, and written arguments of briefs, based upon the evidence received at the hearing, citing, where practicable, the page or pages of the transcript of the testimony where such evidence appears. Factual material other than that adduced at the hearing or subject to official notice shall not be alluded to therein, and, in any case, shall not be considered in the formulation of the order. If the person filing a brief desires the Secretary to consider any objection made by such person to a ruling of the presiding officer, as provided in § 1205.8 (d), he shall include in the brief a concise statement concerning each such objection, referring where practicable, to the pertinent pages of the transcript.

§ 1205.10 Certification of the transcript.

The presiding officer shall notify the hearing clerk of the close of a hearing as soon as possible thereafter and of the time for filing written arguments, briefs, proposed findings and proposed conclusions, and shall furnish the hearing clerk with such other information as may be necessary. As soon as possible after the hearing, the presiding officer shall transmit to the hearing clerk an original and three copies of the transcript of the testimony and the original and all copies of the exhibits not already on file in the office of the hearing clerk. He shall attach to the original transcript of testimony his certificate stating that, to the best of his knowledge and belief, the transcript is a true transcript of the testimony given at the hearing except in such particulars as he shall specify; and that the exhibits transmitted are all the exhibits as introduced at the hearing with such exceptions as he shall specify. A copy of such certificate shall be attached to each of the copies of the transcript of testimony. In accordance with such certificate the hearing clerk shall note upon the official record copy, and cause to be noted on other copies, of the transcript each correction detailed therein by adding or crossing out (but without obscuring the text as originally transcribed) at the appropriate place any words necessary to make the same conform to the correct meaning, as certified by the presiding officer. The hearing clerk shall obtain and file certifications