Collapse to view only § 539.705 - Administrative collection; referral to United States Department of Justice.

§ 539.701 - Penalties.

(a) Attention is directed to section 206 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (the “Act”) (50 U.S.C. 1705), which is applicable to violations of the provisions of any license, ruling, regulation, order, direction, or instruction issued by or pursuant to the direction or authorization of the Secretary of the Treasury pursuant to this part or otherwise under the Act.

(1) A civil penalty not to exceed the amount set forth in Section 206 of the Act may be imposed on any person who violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of any license, order, regulation, or prohibition issued under the Act.

(2) The applicable maximum civil penalty per violation of the Act is the greater of $368,136 or an amount that is twice the amount of the transaction that is the basis of the violation with respect to which the penalty is imposed.

(3) A person who willfully commits, willfully attempts to commit, or willfully conspires to commit, or aids or abets in the commission of a violation of any license, order, regulation, or prohibition shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than $1,000,000, or if a natural person, may be imprisoned for not more than 20 years, or both.

(b) Adjustments to penalty amounts. (1) The civil penalties provided in the Act are subject to adjustment pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 (Pub. L. 101-410, as amended, 28 U.S.C. 2461 note).

(2) The criminal penalties provided in the Act are subject to adjustment pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 3571.

(c) Attention is also directed to 18 U.S.C. 1001, which provides that whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States, knowingly and willfully falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact, or makes any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation or makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

(d) Violations of this part may also be subject to relevant provisions of other applicable laws.

[64 FR 8716, Feb. 23, 1999, as amended at 71 FR 29253, May 22, 2006; 73 FR 32653, June 10, 2008; 81 FR 43074, July 1, 2016; 82 FR 10437, Feb. 10, 2017; 83 FR 11879, Mar. 19, 2018; 84 FR 27716, June 14, 2019; 85 FR 19886, Apr. 9, 2020; 86 FR 14537, Mar. 17, 2021; 87 FR 7371, Feb. 9, 2022; 88 FR 2232, Jan. 13, 2023; 89 FR 2141, Jan. 12, 2024]

§ 539.702 - Prepenalty notice.

(a) When required. If the Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control has reasonable cause to believe that there has occurred a violation of any provision of this part or a violation of the provisions of any license, ruling, regulation, order, direction, or instruction issued by or pursuant to the direction or authorization of the Secretary of the Treasury pursuant to this part or otherwise under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and the Director determines that further proceedings are warranted, the Director shall issue to the person concerned a notice of intent to impose a monetary penalty. This prepenalty notice shall be issued whether or not another agency has taken any action with respect to this matter.

(b) Contents—(1) Facts of violation. The prepenalty notice shall describe the violation, specify the laws and regulations allegedly violated, and state the amount of the proposed monetary penalty.

(2) Right to respond. The prepenalty notice also shall inform the respondent of respondent's right to make a written presentation within 30 days of the date of mailing of the notice as to why a monetary penalty should not be imposed or why, if imposed, the monetary penalty should be in a lesser amount than proposed.

§ 539.703 - Response to prepenalty notice; informal settlement.

(a) Deadline for response. The respondent shall have 30 days from the date of mailing of the prepenalty notice to make a written response to the Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

(b) Form and contents of response. The written response need not be in any particular form, but must contain information sufficient to indicate that it is in response to the prepenalty notice. It should contain responses to the allegations in the prepenalty notice and set forth the reasons why the respondent believes the penalty should not be imposed or why, if imposed, it should be in a lesser amount than proposed.

(c) Informal settlement. In addition or as an alternative to a written response to a prepenalty notice issued pursuant to this section, the respondent or respondent's representative may contact the Office of Foreign Assets Control as advised in the prepenalty notice to propose the settlement of allegations contained in the prepenalty notice and related matters. In the event of settlement at the prepenalty stage, the claim proposed in the prepenalty notice will be withdrawn, the respondent is not required to take a written position on allegations contained in the prepenalty notice, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control will make no final determination as to whether a violation occurred. The amount accepted in settlement of allegations in a prepenalty notice may vary from the civil penalty that might finally be imposed in the event of a formal determination of violation. In the event no settlement is reached, the 30-day period specified in paragraph (a) of this section for written response to the prepenalty notice remains in effect unless additional time is granted by the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

§ 539.704 - Penalty imposition or withdrawal.

(a) No violation. If, after considering any response to a prepenalty notice and any relevant facts, the Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control determines that there was no violation by the respondent named in the prepenalty notice, the Director promptly shall notify the respondent in writing of that determination and that no monetary penalty will be imposed.

(b) Violation. If, after considering any response to a prepenalty notice and any relevant facts, the Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control determines that there was a violation by the respondent named in the prepenalty notice, the Director promptly shall issue a written notice of the imposition of the monetary penalty to the respondent.

(1) The penalty notice shall inform the respondent that payment of the assessed penalty must be made within 30 days of the date of mailing of the penalty notice.

(2) The penalty notice shall inform the respondent of the requirement to furnish the respondent's taxpayer identification number pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 7701 and that such number will be used for purposes of collecting and reporting on any delinquent penalty amount.

§ 539.705 - Administrative collection; referral to United States Department of Justice.

In the event that the respondent does not pay the penalty imposed pursuant to this part or make payment arrangements acceptable to the Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control within 30 days of the date of mailing of the penalty notice, the matter may be referred for administrative collection measures by the Department of the Treasury or to the United States Department of Justice for appropriate action to recover the penalty in a civil suit in a Federal district court.