7 USC § 178a - Definitions

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t7/s178a"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_prima_facie"
title: "7 USC § 178a - Definitions"
title_number: 7
title_name: "AGRICULTURE"
section_number: "178a"
section_name: "Definitions"
chapter_number: 8
chapter_name: "RUBBER AND OTHER CRITICAL AGRICULTURAL MATERIALS"
subchapter_number: "II"
subchapter_name: "CRITICAL AGRICULTURAL MATERIALS"
positive_law: false
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-17"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(Pub. L. 95–592, § 3, Nov. 4, 1978, 92 Stat. 2529; Pub. L. 98–284, § 3, May 16, 1984, 98 Stat. 181.)"
---


# § 178a. Definitions

As used in this subchapter—

**(a)** The term “State” means each of the fifty States, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

**(b)** The term “Secretaries” means the Secretary of Agriculture and/or the Secretary of Commerce acting each separately or jointly.

**(c)** The term “commercialization” means the stage in the development or advancement of a technology at which point private enterprise is willing to invest in a full-scale production facility.

**(d)** The term “native” means hydrocarbon-containing plants and other agricultural crops of strategic and industrial importance which may be cultured in North America, especially plants which are members of the genus Parthenium known as Guayule.

---

**Source Credit**: (Pub. L. 95–592, § 3, Nov. 4, 1978, 92 Stat. 2529; Pub. L. 98–284, § 3, May 16, 1984, 98 Stat. 181.)

## Editorial Notes

### Amendments

1984—Subsec. (d). , inserted “and other agricultural crops of strategic and industrial importance” and “plants which are”.

Subsec. (e). , struck out subsec. (e) which defined “Regional Commissions” as the Regional Action Planning Commissions established pursuant to title V of the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965.