---
type: "LegalText"
title: "7 U.S.C. § 1596"
description: "Penalties"
jurisdiction: "us"
corpus: "united_states_code"
kind: "code_section"
title_number: 7
title_name: "AGRICULTURE"
chapter_number: "37"
chapter_name: "SEEDS"
section: "1596"
citation: "7 U.S.C. § 1596"
status: "current"
release_point: "119-100"
release_date: "2026-06-26"
source: "official"
source_url: "https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc07@119-100.zip"
source_identifier: "/us/usc/t7/s1596"
source_file: "data/legal/raw/us/code/title-07/usc07.xml"
source_hash: "26cc04dcf4a4d6d815144e8d68d92206a2e8af19da678ba1497e173fa1e51c6b"
raw_snapshot_hash: "50edab1679a711653797362c0aeb8f2273303fe473fb7fa16df1ee76bdd6e984"
text_hash: "bc378c431492d40160fe6ef3eb3a694f5a407b224ad95420e0803904da8e404d"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-04"
confidence: "official"
tags: ["legal", "us-code"]
---

# 7 U.S.C. § 1596 - Penalties

## Text

(a) Any person who knowingly, or as a result either of gross negligence or of a failure to make a reasonable effort to inform himself of the pertinent facts, violates any provision of this chapter or the rules and regulations made and promulgated thereunder shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall pay a fine of not more than $1,000, for the first offense, and upon conviction for each subsequent offense not more than $2,000.

(b) Any person who violates any provision of this chapter or the rules and regulations made and promulgated thereunder shall forfeit to the United States a sum, not less than $25 or more than $500, for each such violation, which forfeiture shall be recoverable in a civil suit brought in the name of the United States.

(Aug. 9, 1939, ch. 615, title IV, § 406, 53 Stat. 1286; July 9, 1956, ch. 520, § 1, 70 Stat. 508.)

## Notes

Editorial Notes

Amendments1956—Act July 9, 1956, designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), inserted “knowingly or as a result either of gross negligence or of a failure to make a reasonable effort to inform himself of the pertinent facts,” and added subsec. (b).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date of 1956 AmendmentAct July 9, 1956, ch. 520, § 4, 70 Stat. 508, provided that: “The amendments made by this Act [amending sections 1574, 1596, and 1602 of this title] shall be applicable only with respect to violations occurring after the enactment of this Act [July 9, 1956].”

Effective DateSee section 1610 of this title.