§ 4285.46 Prohibited use of cooperative agreement funds.

(a) The Agricultural Marketing Act prohibits the use of Federal funds to pay for newspaper or periodical space and radio and television time, either directly to the media or indirectly though an advertising agency or other firm. County and State fair exhibits, as well as commodity months and weeks, are also excluded as the research on cooperatives program activities. (b) Federal funds cannot be used to purchase products or samples of products to give away to the public. (c) Federal program funds cannot be used to purchase: (1) Promotional pieces such as point-of-sale materials, promotional kits, billboard space and signs, streamers, automobile stickers, table tents, and placemats; or (2) Promotion items of a personal gift nature. (d) Cooperative agreement funds cannot be used to conduct general publicity or information programs designed to build the image of the State's agriculture or of a particular State Department of Agriculture or Agricultural Experiment Station. (e) Project funds cannot be used to pay for the salary and travel of employees of cooperatives, trade associations, commodity groups, and other industry organizations, or of State personnel while engaged in managing market orders, cooperatives, or other group endeavors. (f) Commissioners, Directors, and Secretaries of State Departments of Agriculture, Agricultural Experiment Stations, and other State agencies cannot charge their salaries and travel to project funds, with the exception of travel to workshops or conferences devoted to the Federal-State Research On Cooperatives Program. (g) Funds made available for this program shall not be subject to reduction for indirect costs or for tuition remission.