Civil Monetary Penalties; Adjustments

This final rule is being issued to correct adjustments to civil monetary penalties (CMP) which appeared in a Final Rule published by the Department of Commerce (the Department) on January 29, 2003, 68 FR 4380. As required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, the Secretary of Commerce adjusted civil monetary penalties within the jurisdiction of the Department on October 24, 1996, and again on November 1, 2000. On September 30, 2002, the United States General Accounting Office (GAO) sent the Secretary of Commerce a letter indicating that the Department's November 1, 2000, adjustment was inconsistent with the requirements of the statute, and recommending corrective action. The Department's rule of January 29, 2003 sought to bring the Department into compliance with GAO's interpretation of the statute. This rule corrects certain penalty amounts and citations provided in that rule This rule is not retroactive. The Department will not adjust individual penalties that have already been imposed. The Department will not, as a matter of policy, seek penalties that are greater than the corrected amounts stated in this rule for violations occurring between November 1, 2000, and the December 11, 2003.