[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 7, Volume 7, Parts 700 to 899]
[Revised as of January 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 7CFR781.4]

[Page 464]
 
                          TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
 
                            CHAPTER VII--FARM
                SERVICE AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 
PART 781--DISCLOSURE OF FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN AGRICULTURAL LAND--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 781.4  Assessment of penalties.

    (a) Violation of the reporting obligations will consist of:
    (1) Failure to submit any report in accordance with Sec. 781.3;
    (2) Failure to maintain any submitted report with accurate 
information; or
    (3) Submission of a report which the foreign person knows:
    (i) Does not contain, initially or within thirty days from the date 
of a letter returning for completion such incomplete report, all the 
information required to be in such report; or
    (ii) Contains misleading or false information.
    (b) Any foreign person who violates the reporting obligation as 
described in paragraph (a) of this section shall be subject to the 
following penalties:
    (1) Late-filed reports: One-tenth of one percent of the fair market 
value, as determined by the Farm Service Agency, of the foreign person's 
interest in the agricultural land, with respect to which such violation 
occurred, for each week or portion thereof that such violation 
continues, but the total penalty imposed shall not exceed 25 percent of 
the fair market value of the foreign person's interest in such land.
    (2) Submission of an incomplete report or a report containing 
misleading or false information, failure to submit a report or failure 
to maintain a submitted report with accurate information: 25 percent of 
the fair market value, as determined by the Farm Service Agency, of the 
foreign person's interest in the agricultural land with respect to which 
such violation occurred.
    (3) Penalties prescribed above are subject to downward adjustments 
based on factors including:
    (i) Total time the violation existed.
    (ii) Method of discovery of the violation.
    (iii) Extenuating circumstances concerning the violation.
    (iv) Nature of the information misstated or not reported.
    (c) The fair market value for the land, with respect to which such 
violation occurred, shall be such value on the date the penalty is 
assessed, or if the land is no longer agricultural, on the date it was 
last used as agricultural land. The price or current estimated value 
reported by the foreign person, as verified and/or adjusted by the 
County Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Committee for the 
County where the land is located, will be considered to be the fair 
market value.