Penalty Determination. H&SC section 39619.7 requires CARB to provide information on the basis for the penalties it seeks. This Agreement includes this information, which is also summarized here. The penalty provision being applied in this case is H&SC section 42402 et seq. because Empire sold, supplied, offered for sale, or manufactured for sale consumer products for commerce in California in violation of the Consumer Products Regulations (17 CCR section 94507 et seq.). The penalty provisions of H&SC section 42402 et seq. apply to violations of the Consumer Products Regulations because the regulations were adopted under authority of H&SC section 41712, which is in Part 4 of Division 26. H&SC section 42402 et seq. provides strict liability penalties of up to $10,000 per day for violations of the Consumer Product Regulations with each day being a separate violation. In cases like this, involving unintentional violations of the Consumer Products Regulations where there are low VOC emissions and the violator cooperates with the investigation, CARB has obtained penalties based on at least three days of violations (the day the product was purchased by CARB, the day it was supplied to the retailer, and the day it was manufactured for sale). Administrative penalties are also obtained in some cases. In this case, the total penalty is $6,000 for administrative and emission violations. The per-unit penalty was based on six days of excess VOC emissions and an administrative violation. The penalty in this case was reduced because this was a strict liability first-time violation and Empire made diligent efforts to cooperate with the investigation. To come into compliance, Empire no longer sells this product. Final penalties were determined based on the unique circumstances of this matter, considered together with the need to remove any economic benefit from noncompliance, the goal of deterring future violations and obtaining swift compliance, the consideration of past penalties in similar negotiated cases, and the potential cost and risk associated with litigating these particular violations. The penalty reflects violations extending over a number of days resulting in quantifiable harm to the environment considered together with the complete circumstances of this case. Penalties in future cases might be smaller or larger on a per ton basis. The final penalty in this case was based in part on confidential financial information or confidential business information provided by Empire that is not retained by CARB in the ordinary course of business. The penalty in this case was also based on confidential settlement communications between CARB and Empire that CARB does not retain in the ordinary course of business. The penalty also reflects CARB’s assessment of the relative strength of its case against Empire, the desire to avoid the uncertainty, burden and expense of litigation, obtain swift compliance with the law and remove any unfair advantage that Empire may have secured from its actions. The Consumer Product Regulations do not prohibit emissions above a specified level, but they do limit the concentration of VOCs in regulated products. In this case, a quantification of the excess emissions attributable to the violations was practicable because Empire made the product formulation and sales data necessary to make this quantification available to CARB. Based upon this information (which Empire has designated as confidential), the violations were calculated to have 0.03 tons of excess VOC emissions emitted in California.
Appears in 1 contract
Samples: Settlement Agreement
Penalty Determination. H&SC section 39619.7 requires CARB to provide information on the basis for the penalties it seeks. This Agreement includes this information, which is also summarized here. The penalty provision being applied in this case is H&SC section 42402 et seq. because Empire Central Garden sold, supplied, offered for sale, or manufactured for sale consumer products for commerce in California in violation of the Consumer Products Regulations (17 CCR section 94507 et seq.). The penalty provisions of H&SC section 42402 et seq. apply to violations of the Consumer Products Regulations because the regulations were adopted under authority of H&SC section 41712, which is in Part 4 of Division 26. H&SC section 42402 et seq. provides strict liability penalties of up to $10,000 per day for violations of the Consumer Product Regulations with each day being a separate violation. In cases like this, involving unintentional violations of the Consumer Products Regulations where there are low VOC emissions and the violator cooperates with the investigation, CARB has obtained penalties based on at least three days of violations (the day the product was purchased by CARB, the day it was supplied to the retailer, and the day it was manufactured for sale). Administrative penalties are also obtained in some cases. In this case, the total penalty is $6,000 4,500 for administrative and emission violations. The per-unit penalty was based on six 3 days of excess VOC emissions and 3 days for an administrative violation. The penalty in this case was reduced because this was a strict liability first-time violation and Empire Central Garden made diligent efforts to cooperate with the investigation. To come into compliance, Empire Central Garden will no longer sells this productoffer the product for sale in California. Final penalties were determined based on the unique circumstances of this matter, considered together with the need to remove any economic benefit from noncompliance, the goal of deterring future violations and obtaining swift compliance, the consideration of past penalties in similar negotiated cases, and the potential cost and risk associated with litigating these particular violations. The penalty reflects violations extending over a number of days resulting in quantifiable harm to the environment considered together with the complete circumstances of this case. Penalties in future cases might be smaller or larger on a per ton basis. The final penalty in this case was based in part on confidential financial information or confidential business information provided by Empire Central Garden that is not retained by CARB in the ordinary course of business. The penalty in this case was also based on confidential settlement communications between CARB and Empire Central Garden that CARB does not retain in the ordinary course of business. The penalty also reflects CARB’s assessment of the relative strength of its case against EmpireCentral Garden, the desire to avoid the uncertainty, burden and expense of litigation, obtain swift compliance with the law and remove any unfair advantage that Empire Central Garden may have secured from its actions. The Consumer Product Regulations do not prohibit emissions above a specified level, but they do limit the concentration of VOCs in regulated products. In this case, a quantification of the excess emissions attributable to the violations was practicable because Empire Central Garden made the product formulation and sales data necessary to make this quantification available to CARB. Based upon this information (which Empire Central Garden has designated as confidential), the violations were calculated to have 0.03 resulted in 0.045 tons of excess VOC emissions emitted in California.
Appears in 1 contract
Samples: Settlement Agreement
Penalty Determination. H&SC section 39619.7 requires CARB to provide information on the basis for the penalties it seeks. This Agreement includes this information, which is also summarized here. The penalty provision being applied in this case is H&SC section 42402 et seq. because Empire Insta-Fire sold, supplied, offered for sale, or manufactured for sale consumer products for commerce in California in violation of the Consumer Products Regulations (17 CCR section 94507 et seq.). The penalty provisions of H&SC section 42402 et seq. apply to violations of the Consumer Products Regulations because the regulations were adopted under authority of H&SC section 41712, which is in Part 4 of Division 26. H&SC section 42402 et seq. provides strict liability penalties of up to $10,000 per day for violations of the Consumer Product Regulations with each day being a separate violation. In cases like this, involving unintentional violations of the Consumer Products Regulations where there are low VOC emissions and the violator cooperates with the investigation, CARB has obtained penalties based on at least three days lack of violations (the day the product was purchased by CARB, the day it was supplied to the retailer, and the day it was manufactured for sale)certification. Administrative penalties are also obtained in some cases. In this case, the total penalty is $6,000 20,000 for administrative failure to certify a product and emission violations. The per-unit penalty was based on six days not displaying a date of excess VOC emissions and an administrative violationmanufacture. The penalty in this case was reduced because this was a strict liability first-time violation and Empire Insta-Fire made diligent efforts to cooperate with the investigation. To come into compliance, Empire no longer sells this productInsta-Fire will modify the products to be compliant with the Consumer Product Regulations. Final penalties were determined based on the unique circumstances of this matter, considered together with the need to remove any economic benefit from noncompliance, the goal of deterring future violations and obtaining swift compliance, the consideration of past penalties in similar negotiated cases, and the potential cost and risk associated with litigating these particular violations. The penalty reflects violations extending over a number of days resulting in quantifiable harm to the environment considered together with the complete circumstances of this case. Penalties in future cases might be smaller or larger on a per ton basis. The final penalty in this case was based in part on confidential financial information or confidential business information provided by Empire Insta-Fire that is not retained by CARB in the ordinary course of business. The penalty in this case was also based on confidential settlement communications between CARB and Empire Insta-Fire that CARB does not retain in the ordinary course of business. The penalty also reflects CARB’s assessment of the relative strength of its case against EmpireInsta-Fire, the desire to avoid the uncertainty, burden and expense of litigation, obtain swift compliance with the law and remove any unfair advantage that Empire Insta-Fire may have secured from its actions. The Consumer Product Regulations do not prohibit emissions above a specified level, but they do limit the concentration of VOCs in regulated products. In this case, a quantification of the excess emissions attributable to the violations was practicable because Empire made the product formulation and sales data necessary to make this quantification available to CARB. Based upon this information (which Empire has designated as confidential), the violations were calculated to have 0.03 tons of excess VOC emissions emitted in Californianot practicable.
Appears in 1 contract
Samples: Settlement Agreement
Penalty Determination. H&SC section 39619.7 requires CARB to provide information on the basis for the penalties it seeks. This Agreement includes this information, which is also summarized here. The penalty provision being applied in this case is H&SC section 42402 et seq. because Empire SAS sold, supplied, offered for sale, or manufactured for sale consumer products for commerce in California in violation of the Consumer Products Regulations (17 CCR section 94507 et seq.). The penalty provisions of H&SC section 42402 et seq. apply to violations of the Consumer Products Regulations because the regulations were adopted under authority of H&SC section 41712, which is in Part 4 of Division 26. H&SC section 42402 et seq. provides strict liability penalties of up to $10,000 per day for violations of the Consumer Product Regulations with each day being a separate violation. In cases like this, involving unintentional violations of the Consumer Products Regulations where there are low VOC emissions and the violator cooperates with the investigation, CARB has obtained penalties based on at least three days of violations (the day the product was purchased by CARB, the day it was supplied to the retailer, and the day it was manufactured for sale). Administrative penalties are also obtained in some cases. In this case, the total penalty is $6,000 1500 for administrative and emission violations. The per-unit penalty was based on six three days of excess VOC emissions and an administrative violationemissions. The penalty in this case was reduced because this was a strict liability first-time violation and Empire SAS made diligent efforts to cooperate with the investigation. To come into compliance, Empire SAS is no longer sells this productmanufacturing or selling Dutch Glow Cleaning Tonic for the Kitchen. Final penalties were determined based on the unique circumstances of this matter, considered together with the need to remove any economic benefit from noncompliance, the goal of deterring future violations and obtaining swift compliance, the consideration of past penalties in similar negotiated cases, and the potential cost and risk associated with litigating these particular violations. The penalty reflects violations extending over a number of days resulting in quantifiable harm to the environment considered together with the complete circumstances of this case. Penalties in future cases might be smaller or larger on a per ton basis. The final penalty in this case was based in part on confidential financial information or confidential business information provided by Empire SAS that is not retained by CARB in the ordinary course of business. The penalty in this case was also based on confidential settlement communications between CARB and Empire SAS that CARB does not retain in the ordinary course of business. The penalty also reflects CARB’s assessment of the relative strength of its case against EmpireSAS, the desire to avoid the uncertainty, burden and expense of litigation, obtain swift compliance with the law and remove any unfair advantage that Empire SAS may have secured from its actions. The Consumer Product Regulations do not prohibit emissions above a specified level, but they do limit the concentration of VOCs in regulated products. In this case, a quantification of the excess emissions attributable to the violations was practicable because Empire SAS made the product formulation and sales data necessary to make this quantification available to CARB. Based upon this information (which Empire SAS has designated as confidential), the violations were calculated to have 0.03 0.015 tons of excess VOC emissions emitted in California.
Appears in 1 contract
Samples: Settlement Agreement
Penalty Determination. H&SC section 39619.7 requires CARB to provide information on the basis for the penalties it seeks. This Agreement includes this information, which is also summarized here. The penalty provision being applied in this case is H&SC section 42402 et seq. because Empire Gemini sold, supplied, offered for sale, or manufactured for sale consumer products for commerce in California allegedly in violation of the Consumer Products Regulations (17 CCR section 94507 et seq.). The penalty provisions of H&SC section 42402 et seq. apply to violations of the Consumer Products Regulations because the regulations were adopted under authority of H&SC section 41712, which is in Part 4 of Division 26. H&SC section 42402 et seq. provides strict liability penalties of up to $10,000 per day for violations of the Consumer Product Regulations with each day being a separate violation. In cases like this, involving unintentional violations of the Consumer Products Regulations where there are low VOC emissions and the violator cooperates with the investigation, CARB has obtained penalties based on at least three days the excess emissions of violations (the day the product was purchased by CARB, the day it was supplied to the retailer, VOC and the day it was manufactured for sale)ozone. Administrative penalties are also obtained in some cases. In this case, the total penalty is $6,000 145,000 for alleged administrative and emission violations. The per-unit penalty was based on 11.97 tons of excess VOC and ozone emissions and six days of excess VOC emissions and an administrative violationviolations. The penalty in this case was reduced because this was a strict liability first-time violation and Empire Gemini made diligent efforts to cooperate with the investigation. To come into compliance, Empire no longer sells this productGemini ceased sales of noncompliant products, enhanced its sales identification program, and modified other products to be compliant with regulations. Final penalties were determined based on the unique circumstances of this matter, considered together with the need to remove any economic benefit from noncompliance, the goal of deterring future violations and obtaining swift compliance, the consideration of past penalties in similar negotiated cases, and the potential cost and risk associated with litigating these particular violations. The penalty reflects violations extending over a number of days resulting in quantifiable harm to the environment considered together with the complete circumstances of this case. Penalties in future cases might be smaller or larger on a per ton basis. The final penalty in this case was based in part on confidential financial information or confidential business information provided by Empire Gemini that is not retained by CARB in the ordinary course of business. The penalty in this case was also based on confidential settlement communications between CARB and Empire Gemini that CARB does not retain in the ordinary course of business. The penalty also reflects CARB’s assessment of the relative strength of its case against EmpireGemini, the desire to avoid the uncertainty, burden and expense of litigation, obtain swift compliance with the law and remove any unfair advantage that Empire Gemini may have secured from its actions. The Consumer Product Regulations do not prohibit emissions above a specified level, but they do limit the concentration of VOCs in regulated products. In this case, a quantification of the excess emissions attributable to the violations was practicable because Empire Gemini made the product formulation and sales data necessary to make this quantification available to CARB. Based upon this information (which Empire Gemini has designated as confidential), the alleged violations were calculated to have 0.03 11.97 tons of excess VOC and ozone emissions emitted in California.
Appears in 1 contract
Samples: Settlement Agreement