§ 1300.4 - Termination of obligation.

The provision of this section shall apply to any obligation under the pricing regulation for the payment of money:

(a) Except as provided in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section, the obligation of any handler to pay money required to be paid under the terms of the pricing regulation shall terminate two years after the last day of the month during which the compact commission receives the handler's report of receipts and utilization on which such obligation is based, unless within such a two year period, the compact commission notifies the handler in writing that such money is due and payable. Service of such written notice shall be complete upon mailing to the handler's last known address and it shall contain but need not be limited to the following information:

The amount of the obligation;

(2) The month(s) on which such obligation is based; and

(3) If the obligation is payable to one or more producers or to a cooperative association, the name of such producer(s) or such cooperative association, or if the obligation is payable to the compact commission, the account for which it is to be paid;

(b) If a handler fails or refuses, with respect to any obligation under the pricing regulation, to make available to the compact commission all records required by the pricing regulation to be made available, the compact commission may notify the handler in writing, within the two year period provided for in paragraph (a) of this section, of such failure or refusal. If the compact commission so notifies a handler, the said two year period with respect to such obligation shall not begin to run until the first day of the month following the month during which all such records pertaining to such obligation are made available to the compact commission;

(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section, a handler's obligation under the pricing regulation to pay money shall not be terminated with respect to any transaction involving fraud or willful concealment of a fact, material to the obligation, on the part of the handler against whom the obligation is sought to be imposed; and

(d) Unless the handler files a petition to the compact commission to commence litigation within the applicable two year period indicated below, the obligation of the compact commission:

(1) To pay a handler any money which such handler claims to be due him under the terms of the pricing regulation shall terminate two years after the end of the month during which the fluid milk product involved in the claim were received; or

(2) To refund any payment made by a handler (including a deduction or offset by the compact commission) shall terminate two years after the end of the month during which payment was made by the handler.