A. Any plants of the licensee are subject to at least annual routine inspections and sampling to verify that the plant meets the definition of industrial hemp. The Department shall notify each licensee of the scope of the inspection and the process by which the inspection will be conducted. The Department shall promulgate rules regarding the procedures of inspection and sampling.
B. The Department may inspect and take samples from any licensee’s plants during normal business hours.
C. Licenses for handling or processing shall be subject to at least annual inspections in addition to compliance inspections.
D. The Department shall have the licensee present at the time of inspection and sampling. The licensee or authorized representative shall provide the Department’s inspector with complete and unrestricted access to all plants, parts and seeds, whether growing or harvested, and all land, buildings and other structures used for the growth, cultivation, harvesting, storage, handling or processing of industrial hemp, and all documents and records pertaining to the licensee’s industrial hemp-growing, cultivation operation, handling and processing.
E. The licensee shall pay for any inspection and laboratory analysis costs that the Department deems necessary within thirty (30) days of the date of the receipt of an invoice for the costs. The Department shall waive all inspection or sampling costs if no inconsistencies or violations are identified during an inspection that is not part of the regular annual inspection process.
F. The Department shall promulgate rules to establish a process by which a licensee may contest the procedures, protocols and results or findings of the inspection.
Added by Laws 2018, c. 64, § 7, emerg. eff. April 23, 2018. Amended by Laws 2019, c. 91, § 7, emerg. eff. April 18, 2019; Laws 2021, c. 358, § 3, eff. July 1, 2021.