---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 3824"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "3824"
heading: "Fairness of compliance"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/3824"
units:
  - "Chapter 58 — Erodible Land and Wetland Conservation and Reserve Program"
  - "Subchapter III — Wetland Conservation"
---

# §3824. Fairness of compliance


If the actions of an unrelated [person](/usc/16/3801.md?p=a-19) or public entity, outside the control of, and without the prior approval of, the landowner or tenant result in a change in the characteristics of cropland that would cause the land to be determined to be a [wetland](/usc/16/3801.md?p=a-27), the affected land shall not be considered to be [wetland](/usc/16/3801.md?p=a-27) for purposes of this subchapter.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 99–198, title XII, § 1224, as added Pub. L. 101–624, title XIV, § 1424, Nov. 28, 1990, 104 Stat. 3576.)