§ 106‑451.43.  Records; receipts; other duties; denial of registration.

(a) Cotton gins, cotton warehouses, cotton merchants, and cotton cooperatives or associations shall keep records of producer‑owned cotton transactions for seven years, showing the producer's name, bale number, and bale weight.

(b) Cotton gins shall, within 48 hours of ginning, make available to the person from whom cotton was received, a paper document showing the bale number and weight for each bale of cotton ginned.

(c) Cotton gins, cotton warehouses, cotton merchants, and cotton cooperatives or associations shall not market, obligate for sale, or otherwise dispose of producer‑owned cotton without written consent from the producer.

(d) Cotton gins, cotton warehouses, cotton merchants, and cotton cooperatives or associations shall assist the Commissioner of Agriculture or his agents in inspecting records of producer‑owned cotton transactions. Cotton gins, cotton warehouses, cotton merchants, and cotton cooperatives or associations shall assist the Commissioner or his agents in weighing or reweighing a representative sample of cotton bales stored or held at their premises, using sampling procedures approved by the Board of Agriculture.

(e) Violation of any of the requirements of this section shall be grounds for denial, suspension, or revocation of registration under G.S. 106‑451.41. (1999‑412, s. 1.)