Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 110 Part 1.djvu/1055

 PUBLIC LAW 104-127 —APR. 4, 1996 110 STAT. 1031 and increase the size of the market for that commodity, often by utiHzing promotion methods and techniques that individual producers and processors typically are unable, or have no incentive, to employ. (8) The commodity promotion laws establish promotion programs that operate as "self-help" mechanisms for producers and processors to fund generic promotions for covered commodities which, under the required supervision and oversight of the Secretary of Agriculture— (A) further specific national governmental goals, as established by Congress; and (B) produce nonideological and commercial communication the purpose of which is to further the governmental policy and objective of maintaining and expanding the markets for the covered commodities. (9) While some commodity promotion laws grant a producer or processor the option of crediting individual advertising conducted by the producer or processor for all or a portion of the producer's or processor's marketing promotion assessments, all promotion programs established under the commodity promotion laws, both those programs that permit credit for individual advertising and those programs that do not contain such provisions, are very narrowly tailored to fulfill the congressional purposes of the commodity promotion laws without impairing or infringing the legal or constitutional rights of any individual producer or processor. (10) These generic commodity promotion programs are of particular benefit to small producers who often lack the resources or market power to advertise on their own and who are otherwise often unable to benefit from the economies of scale available in promotion and advertising. (11) Periodic independent evaluation of the effectiveness of these generic commodity promotion programs will assist Congress and the Secretary of Agriculture in ensuring that the objectives of the programs are met. (c) INDEPENDENT EVALUATION OF PROMOTION PROGRAM EFFECTIVENESS.— Except as otherwise provided by law, each commodity board established under the supervision and oversight of the Secretary of Agriculture pursuant to a commodity promotion law shall, not less often than every 5 years, authorize and fund, from funds otherwise available to the board, an independent evaluation of the effectiveness of the generic commodity promotion programs and other programs conducted by the board pursuant to a commodity promotion law. The board shall submit to the Sec- Public retary, and make available to the public, the results of each periodic information. independent evaluation conducted under this subsection. (d) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.— The Secretary shall annually provide to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate information on administrative expenses on programs established under commodity promotion laws.

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