The purpose of this part is to establish a mechanism for the regular adjustment for inflation of monetary penalties and to adjust such penalties in conformity with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 (28 U.S.C. 2641 note) as originally amended by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, Public Law 104-134, April 26, 1996, and currently amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Act Adjustment Improvements Act of 2015, Public Law 114-74, in order to maintain the deterrent effect of civil monetary penalties and to promote compliance with the law.

[81 FR 42553, June 30, 2016]

(a) Commission means the Federal Maritime Commission.

(b) Civil Monetary Penalty means any penalty, fine, or other sanction that:

(1)(i) Is for a specific monetary amount as provided by Federal law; or

(ii) Has a maximum amount provided by Federal law;

(2) Is assessed or enforced by the Commission pursuant to Federal law; and

(3) Is assessed or enforced pursuant to an administrative proceeding or a civil action in the Federal Courts.

(c) Consumer Price Index means the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers published by the Department of Labor.

The Commission shall, not later than August 1, 2016, and at least every year thereafter—

(a) By regulation adjust each civil monetary penalty provided by law within the jurisdiction of the Commission by the inflation adjustment described in § 506.4; and

(b) Publish each such regulation in the Federal Register.

[61 FR 52705, Oct. 8, 1996, as amended at 81 FR 42553, June 30, 2016]

(a) The inflation adjustment under § 506.3 will initially be determined by increasing the maximum civil monetary penalty for each civil monetary penalty by the initial cost-of-living adjustment. The inflation adjustment will subsequently be determined by increasing the maximum civil monetary penalty for each civil monetary penalty by the cost-of-living adjustment. Any increase determined under this section shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of $1.

(b) Inflation adjustment. For purposes of paragraph (a) of this section, the term `cost-of-living adjustment' means the percentage (if any) for each civil monetary penalty by which the Consumer Price Index for the month of October preceding the adjustment exceeds the Consumer Price Index for the month of October 1 year before the month of October preceding the adjustment.

(c) Initial adjustment. For purposes of paragraph (a) of this section, the term `initial cost-of-living-adjustment' means the percentage (if any) for each civil monetary penalty by which the Consumer Price Index for the month of October, 2015 exceeds the Consumer Price Index for the month of October of the calendar year during which the amount of such civil monetary penalty was established or adjusted under a provision of law of civil monetary penalty. The initial cost-of-living adjustment may not exceed 150 percent of such penalty on November 2, 2015, the date of the enactment of the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Act Adjustment Improvements Act of 2015.

(d) Inflation adjustment. Maximum civil monetary penalties within the jurisdiction of the Federal Maritime Commission are adjusted for inflation as follows:

[81 FR 42553, June 30, 2016, as amended at 82 FR 10720, Feb. 15, 2017; 83 FR 1305, Jan. 11, 2018; 84 FR 2460, Feb. 7, 2019; 85 FR 1761, Jan. 13, 2020; 86 FR 2561, Jan. 13, 2021; 87 FR 2351, Jan. 14, 2022; 88 FR 1518, Jan. 11, 2023; 89 FR 1465, Jan. 10, 2024]

Any adjustment in a civil monetary penalty under this part shall apply only to civil monetary penalties, including those whose associated violation predated such increase, which are assessed after the date the adjustment takes effect.

[81 FR 42554, June 30, 2016]