SECTIONS 6521-6524 - California Statutes

FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL CODE

SECTION 6521-6524

6521. Except as otherwise provided in Sections 6523 and 6524, if
any shipment of any nursery stock, plant, or container of any nursery
stock or plant, or appliance, or any host or other carrier of any
pest which is brought into any county or locality in the state from
another county or locality within the state, is found to be infected
or infested with a pest, or there is reasonable cause to believe that
the shipment may be so infested or infected, the entire shipment
shall be refused delivery and may be immediately destroyed by, or
under the supervision of the commissioner, unless the nature of the
pest is such that no damage or detriment can be caused to agriculture
by the return of the shipment to the point of shipment.

6522. The officer who makes the inspection of a shipment which is
described in Section 6521 may affix a warning tag or notice to the
shipment and shall notify in writing the owner or bailee of the
shipment to return the shipment to the point of shipment within the
time limit which the officer shall specify in the notice which shall
be 48 hours, unless a longer or shorter period is determined to be
necessary to accomplish the purposes of this article. The owner or
bailee shall, at his own expense, return the shipment under the
direction and control of the commissioner. If the owner or bailee
fails to return the shipment within the time which is specified, the
commissioner shall destroy it.

6523. If the pest may be exterminated or controlled by treatment or
processing which is prescribed by the commissioner, and if the
commissioner determines that the nature of the pest is such that no
damage can be caused to agriculture through such treatment,
processing, or procedure incidental thereto, the shipment may be
treated or processed, under the supervision of, and in a manner and
within a time satisfactory to, the commissioner. The treatment or
processing shall be at the expense of the owner or bailee of the
shipment. If the shipment is so treated or processed, it may be
released to the consignee.

6524. If the commissioner determines that only a portion of the
shipment is infested or infected with a pest, or that there is
reasonable cause to believe that only a portion of the shipment may
be so infested or infected, only such portion of the shipment may be
destroyed, returned to the point of origin, or treated or processed.