---
kind: "section"
citation: "7 U.S.C. § 54"
title: "7"
title_heading: "Agriculture"
number: "54"
heading: "Classification by Department of Agriculture; certification thereof; effect of certificate; regulations for classification"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/7/54"
units:
  - "Chapter 2 — Cotton Standards"
---

# §54. Classification by Department of Agriculture; certification thereof; effect of certificate; regulations for classification


Any [person](/usc/7/499a.md?p=b-1) who has custody of or a financial interest in any cotton may submit the same or samples thereof, drawn in accordance with the regulations of the [Secretary](/usc/7/499a.md?p=b-2) of Agriculture, to such officer or officers of the Department of Agriculture, as may be designated for the purpose pursuant to the regulations of the [Secretary](/usc/7/499a.md?p=b-2) of Agriculture for a determination of the true classification of such cotton or samples, including the comparison thereof, if requested, with types or other samples submitted for the purpose. The final certificate of the Department of Agriculture showing such determination shall be binding on officers of the United States and shall be accepted in the courts of the United States as prima facie evidence of the true classification or comparison of such cotton or samples when involved in any transaction or shipment in commerce. The [Secretary](/usc/7/499a.md?p=b-2) of Agriculture shall fix rules and regulations for submitting samples of cotton for classification providing that all samples shall be numbered so that no one interested in the transaction involved shall be known by any classifier engaged in the classification of such cotton samples.


## Source credit

(Mar. 4, 1923, ch. 288, § 4, 42 Stat. 1517.)