[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 85 (Thursday, May 2, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18808-18809]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-08895]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Docket No. 190325274-9274-01]
RIN 0648-XG926


Revisions to NOAA's Policy for the Assessment of Civil 
Administrative Penalties and Permit Sanctions

AGENCY: Office of General Counsel (OGC), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 
announces the availability of draft revisions to NOAA's Policy for the 
Assessment of Civil Administrative Penalties and Permit Sanctions 
(Penalty Policy) for public review and comment. The revisions to the 
policy reflect new legislation enacted and regulations promulgated, the 
most recent adjustments to the maximum civil monetary penalties 
authorized under statutes administered and enforced by NOAA, pursuant 
to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, and 
clarifications to improve enforcement consistency nationally, increase 
predictability in enforcement, improve transparency in enforcement, and 
more effectively protect natural resources.

DATES: The draft revisions to the Penalty Policy will remain available 
for public review until June 3, 2019. To ensure that comments will be 
considered, NOAA must receive written comments by June 3, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons may submit comments by any of the 
following methods:
     Electronic Submissions: Submit electronic public comments, 
identified by NOAA-HQ-2019-0029, at http://www.regulations.gov. The 
docket established for this rule-making can be found at: http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-HQ-2019-0029. Click the 
``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or 
attach your comments.
     Mail: Enforcement Section, Office of the General Counsel, 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1315 East-West 
Highway, SSMC-3 15424, Silver Spring, MD 20910, Attn: Meggan Engelke-
Ros.
    The draft revisions to the Penalty Policy are available 
electronically at the following website: https:/www.gc.noaa.gov/
enforce-office3.html. Commenters may also request a hard copy of the 
draft revisions to the Penalty Policy by sending a self-addressed 
envelope (size 8.5 x 11 inches) to the street address provided above. 
Comments submitted in response to this notice are a matter of public 
record. Before including an address, phone number, email address, or 
other personal identifying information in a comment, please be aware 
that comments--including any personal identifying information--can and 
will be made publicly available. While a request can be made to 
withhold personal identifying information from public review, NOAA 
cannot ensure that it will be able to do so.
    Comments submitted electronically will generally be posted to 
http://www.regulations.gov without change. For posted comments, all 
personal identifying information (e.g., name, address, etc.), 
confidential business information, or otherwise sensitive information 
submitted voluntarily by the sender is publicly accessible. NOAA will 
accept anonymous comments (enter ``N/A'' in the required fields if you 
wish to remain anonymous).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Meggan Engelke-Ros at 301-427-2202.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On April 14, 2011, NOAA published its new 
NOAA Policy for the Assessment of Civil Administrative Penalties and 
Permit Sanctions (76 FR 20959). On July 1, 2014, NOAA issued a revised 
Penalty Policy. As explained more fully in the text of the revised 
Penalty Policy, the purpose of this Policy is to continue to ensure 
that: (1) Civil administrative penalties and permit sanctions are 
assessed in accordance with the laws that NOAA enforces in a fair and 
consistent manner; (2) penalties and permit sanctions are appropriate 
for the gravity of the violation; (3) penalties and

[[Page 18809]]

permit sanctions are sufficient to deter both individual violators and 
the regulated community as a whole from committing violations; (4) 
economic incentives for noncompliance are eliminated; and (5) 
compliance is expeditiously achieved and maintained to protect natural 
resources.
    This revised Penalty Policy also reflects legislation passed and 
regulations promulgated since issuance of the 2014 Policy, in 
particular:
     The Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing 
Enforcement Act of 2015, Public Law 114-81, which implemented the 
Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate 
Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing and amended the 
enforcement provisions of a number of statutes administered by NOAA; 
and
     The most recent adjustments to the maximum civil monetary 
penalties authorized under statutes administered and enforced by NOAA, 
pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 
1990 (see 84 FR 2445, February 7, 2019).
    Under this revised Policy, NOAA will continue to promote 
consistency at a national level, provide greater predictability for the 
regulated community and the public, maintain transparency in 
enforcement, and more effectively protect natural resources. The major 
changes to the existing Penalty Policy made by this revision include:
    (1) Additional clarity on what would be considered ``such other 
matters as justice may require'' under the adjustment factors;
    (2) Clarification on our policy for when and how the newly adjusted 
statutory penalty maximums will apply;
    (3) Clarification of the policy on application of prior offenses to 
penalty assessments;
    (4) Updates to the penalty schedules to reflect new statutory 
authorities or regulations;
    (5) Adjustments to the penalty matrixes to reflect the most recent 
adjustments to the maximum civil monetary penalties.
    Some of the statutory adjustments to the maximum civil monetary 
penalties were significant and required a rebalancing of our 
distribution of the penalty ranges in the penalty matrixes. In making 
these adjustments, there were two primary considerations that affected 
the revised penalty matrixes. First, for each matrix that was adjusted, 
a percentage increase was applied across the entire matrix and the 
percentage increase was, in all cases, less than the percentage 
increase to the statutory maximum (numbers were rounded). This was done 
so as to take a conservative approach to the statutory penalty 
increases, which reflected a ``catch-up'' application of adjustments 
for inflation causing some significant penalty increases. Second, the 
matrixes were adjusted to ensure each individual matrix utilized the 
full penalty range in a balanced manner so that the penalty ranges 
increased gradually as the gravity level of the violations increased, 
rather than having an exponential increase in penalty ranges from one 
gravity level to the next.
    The revised Penalty Policy will supersede the previous Penalty 
Policy regarding the assessment of penalties or permit sanctions, and 
previous penalty and permit sanction schedules issued by the NOAA 
Office of General Counsel. This Penalty Policy provides guidance for 
the NOAA General Counsel's Office in assessing penalties but is not 
intended to create a right or benefit, substantive or procedural, 
enforceable at law or in equity, in any person or company. NOAA retains 
discretion to assess the full range of penalties authorized by statute 
in any particular case.
    The full revised Penalty Policy, along with examples, matrixes, and 
schedules can be found at https://www.gc.noaa.gov/enforce-office3.html. 
More information about the NOAA General Counsel Enforcement Section can 
be found at https://www.gc.noaa.gov/enforce-office.html.

    Dated: April 25, 2019.
Jeff Dillen,
Deputy General Counsel, National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2019-08895 Filed 5-1-19; 8:45 am]
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