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CHANGES ANNOUNCED TO SELF-DISCLOSURE POLICIES
Release Date: 04/13/2000
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FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2000
CHANGES ANNOUNCED TO SELF-DISCLOSURE POLICIES
To expand its regulatory compliance incentives program, EPA today announced revisions to its two self-disclosure policies, the Audit Policy and the Small Business Compliance Policy. Both policies protect human health and the environment by encouraging companies and other regulated entities to voluntarily disclose and correct violations. After a two-year evaluation, EPA revised the policies based on extensive public outreach and the Agency’s experience in handling self-disclosure cases. Businesses that meet policy conditions are eligible for penalty reductions and waivers and other benefits; however, both policies prohibit benefits to companies for certain violations, such as those that may result in serious harm or risk, those that reflect repeated noncompliance, or those in which corporate officials condone criminal behavior. In addition, the policies allow EPA to recover economic benefits from violating companies to ensure businesses that comply with environmental laws are not put at a competitive disadvantage by those not complying. The key revisions to the Audit Policy include: lengthening the amount of time from 10 to 21 days that entities have to disclose a violation after it is discovered; clarifying that a facility may qualify for Audit Policy credit even if another facility owned or operated by the same parent organization is already the subject of an inspection, investigation or information request; clarifying that companies will have at least 21 days to disclose violations discovered at newly-acquired facilities; and clarifying that the repeated noncompliance condition will not disqualify disclosures from newly-acquired facilities. The Small Business Policy, available for companies with 100 or fewer employees, reduces or waives penalties for small businesses that disclose and make good faith efforts to correct violations, provided they meet the criteria in the policy. The key revisions to the Small Business Compliance Policy lengthens the amount of time from 10 to 21 days that entities have to disclose a violation after discovery and expands the number of ways that the violations can be discovered. Both revised policies were published in the April 11 Federal Register Notice and will take effect on May 11, and will be available at: https://www.epa.gov/oeca. Materials related to the evaluation and revisions are available at EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance Docket and Information Center, 202-564-2614, or at: https://www.epa.gov/oeca/polguid/enfdock.html.
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