PART 635—EQUITABLE RELIEF FROM INELIGIBILITY Authority: 7 U.S.C. 7996. Source: 80 FR 62440, Oct. 16, 2015, unless otherwise noted. § 635.1 Definitions and abbreviations. The following terms apply to this part: Appeal rights Chief Covered program Equitable relief Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) OGC Participant Secretary State State Conservationist § 635.2 Applicability. This part applies to all covered programs administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, except for the Highly Erodible Land and Wetland Conservation provisions of Title XII, subtitles B and C of the Food Security Act of 1985, as amended, (16 U.S.C. 3811 et seq. § 635.3 Reliance on incorrect actions or information. The Chief may grant equitable relief to any participant that NRCS determines is not in compliance with the requirements, terms and conditions of a covered program, and therefore ineligible for a payment, or other benefit, if the participant— (a) Acting in good faith, relied on action and advice from an NRCS employee or representative of USDA to their detriment; (b) Did not know or have sufficient reason to know that the action or advice upon which they relied would be detrimental; and (c) Did not act in reliance on their own misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the program provisions, notices, or information. § 635.4 Failure to fully comply. The Chief may grant equitable relief to any participant that NRCS determines is not in full compliance with the requirements, terms and conditions of a covered program, and therefore ineligible for a payment, or other benefit, if the participant— (a) Made a good faith effort to comply fully with the requirements; and (b) Rendered substantial performance. § 635.5 Forms of relief. (a) The Chief may authorize a participant in a covered program to: (1) Retain payments or other benefits received under the covered program; (2) Continue to receive payments and other benefits under the covered program; (3) Continue to participate, in whole or in part, under any contract executed under the covered program; (4) Re-enroll all or part of the land covered by the program; and (5) Receive such other equitable relief as determined to be appropriate. (b) As a condition of receiving relief under this part, the participant may be required to remedy their failure to meet the program requirement or mitigate its effects. § 635.6 Equitable relief by State Conservationists. (a) State Conservationists' Authority. (1) The program matter with respect to which the relief is sought is a program matter in a covered program operated within the authorized jurisdiction of the State Conservationist; (2) The total amount of relief (including payments and other benefits) that will be provided to the participant under this section during the fiscal year is less than $20,000; (3) The total amount of such relief that has been previously provided to the participant using this section in the fiscal year, as calculated in paragraph (a)(2) of this section, is not more than $5,000; (4) The total amount of payments and benefits of any kind for which relief is provided to similarly situated participants by a State Conservationist in a fiscal year, is not more than $1,000,000. (b) Additional limits on authority. (1) Payment limitations under part 1400 of this title; (2) Payment limitations under a conservation program administered by the Secretary; or (3) The highly erodible land and wetland conservation requirements under subtitles B or C of Title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3811 et seq. (c) Concurrence by the Office of the General Counsel. (d) Secretary's reversal authority. (e) Relation to other authorities. § 635.7 Procedures for granting equitable relief. (a) The Chief or State Conservationist may initiate a request for equitable relief for a participant that meets the requirement of this part. (b) Participants may request equitable relief from the Chief or the State Conservationist as provided in §§ 635.3 and 635.4 of this part. (c) Only a participant directly affected by the non-compliance with the covered program requirements is eligible for equitable relief under this part. (d) Requests by a participant for equitable relief must be made in writing, no later than 30 calendar days from the date of receipt of the notification of non-compliance with the requirements of the covered conservation program. (e) Requests for equitable relief must include any information necessary to determine eligibility under this part and such other information as required by NRCS to determine whether granting equitable relief is appropriate. Information needed by the agency to assess equitable relief requests will be provided and updated by applicable policy and procedure. (f) If equitable relief is denied by the Chief or the State Conservationist, the participant will be provided with written notice of appeal rights to the National Appeals Division, pursuant to 7 CFR part 614.