Section 001-380-2 - APPLICABILITYA.Consumer transactions excluded. These Wood Measurement Rules govern all wood transactions in which measurement forms the basis for payment, except that they do not apply to the measurement of firewood in consumer transactions on the retail market.B.Types of wood transactions. For measurement purposes, the State Sealer recognizes two distinct types of wood transactions: payment for services and a sale involving transfer of title to the wood. These two types of wood transactions are treated differently in the Wood Measurement Law and these Wood Measurement Rules. 1.Nature of transaction. The determination of which type of wood transaction is involved is based on whether there in fact occurs the transfer of title to the wood. It is the nature of the transaction that is considered rather than the terminology used by the parties. ordinarily, the determination can be made by asking the question: Was payment made for services or for wood"2.Payment for services(a) Payment for services includes payment for services in harvesting, for services in hauling, and for services in both harvesting and hauling.(b) The parties to a payment for services transaction are the person providing services and the person requiring services.NOTE: Woodcutters, truckers, and loader operators who are paid piece rate wages and equipment rental are all examples of persons providing services. Jobbers or logging service contractors who are paid to harvest wood and deliver it roadside or to a designated mill or other location are also persons providing services, and are not sellers.
3. Sale of wood(a) The sale of wood involves the exchange of payment for title to the wood.(b) The parties to a sale transaction are the seller and the buyer. NOTE: For example, a landowner, contractor, or broker who has marketable title to wood in any form is a seller when the wood is tendered for sale in exchange for payment. A processing mill that purchases wood in any production form is a buyer when payment is tendered in exchange for title to wood.
(c) The purchase of stumpage or stumpage rights is a sale transaction provided that the purchaser acquires title to the wood (that is, the purchaser is free to market the wood as he chooses). If the seller of the stumpage or stumpage rights controls the marketing of the wood (for example, by directing where or how it is to be marketed) the stumpage or stumpage, rights transaction is not a sale transaction involving transfer of title but is rather a payment for services transaction.NOTE: See Chapter 381, Section 6 for the requirements where the purchase of stumpage is combined with payment for services in one transaction.
4.Chain of wood transactions. The State Sealer shall apply these Wood Measurement Rules to each transaction in a series of wood transactions, in light of its nature and the following understandings;(a) Any wood may be dealt with in a series of wood transactions;(b) The transactions in the series may involve payment for services, sale, or both;(c) Any person may be involved in more than one of the transactions in the series and the nature of his involvement may be different in different transactions;(d) Either the wood in question may be measured only once and those measurements used to calculate payment in several transactions, or it may be separately measured to calculate payment for separate transactions in the series.01-001 C.M.R. ch. 380, § 2