US EPA Penalty Policy for sulphur violations

US EPA has issued a penalty policy for violations by ships of the sulfur in fuel standard and related provisions for assessing civil penalties applicable to North American and US Caribbean Sea ECAs.

This Penalty Policy contains two components:

First, it describes how to achieve the goal of deterrence through a penalty that removes the economic benefit of noncompliance, and reflects the gravity of the violation.
Second, it discusses adjustment factors applied to obtain a fair and equitable penalty. These components address the statutory penalty factors discussed above. The case team should calculate the full economic benefit of noncompliance and the gravity components of the penalty, and then decide whether any of the adjustment factors are applicable

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This Penalty Policy was developed primarily to address violations of the fuel sulfur standard contained in Regulation 14.4 of Annex VI as it applies to the U.S. portion of the ECAs, but a ship burning non-compliant fuel may also be in violation of other requirements of MARPOL Annex VI. For example, pursuant to Regulation 14.6, ships are required to maintain a written procedure showing how the fuel oil change-over is to be done, and a log recording change-over details, including recording certain measurements in fuel tanks prior to the entry into, or commenced after exit from, an ECA. Any ship that does not use compliant fuel in an ECA may have also failed to establish and/or follow a change-over procedure, and/or make and record measurements required by Regulation 14.6. Regulation 18.6 requires ships to receive and maintain bunker delivery notes for a period of three years after the fuel oil has been delivered onboard. Regulation 18.8.1 requires ships to maintain a representative sample of the fuel oil delivered to the ship for a period of twelve months from the time of delivery. Each failure, on each day it occurred, is a separate violation. The EPA may calculate penalties for violations of MARPOL Annex VI, APPS, and regulations other than those covered by this Penalty Policy on a case-by-case basis, may amend this Penalty Policy, or may create a separate penalty policy.

This Penalty Policy should be used to calculate civil penalties in negotiated settlements. This Penalty Policy is not intended to and does not control the penalty amount requested in a case where a complaint has been filed. It is the EPA’s policy in such cases to assert a claim for up to the maximum penalty allowable under APPS. Therefore, after a complaint has been filed, use of this Penalty Policy is limited to negotiated settlements.

The procedures set out in this Penalty Policy are intended solely for the guidance of government personnel. Such procedures are not intended to create substantive or procedural rights enforceable by any party in litigation with the United States. The Agency reserves the right to act at variance with this policy and to change it at any time. This Penalty Policy is effective immediately with respect to all cases in which the first penalty offer has not yet been transmitted to the alleged violator.

Further information may be found by reading the EPA Penalty Policy.

Source: US EPA

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