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GAO-02-933R 1 (2002-08-01)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaamaz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 


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       Accountability * Integrity * Reliability
United States General Accounting Office
Washington, DC 20548


         August 1, 2002

         The Honorable Tommy Thompson
         Secretary
         Department of Health and Human Services
         Subject: Food and Drug Administration's Compliance With the Inflation
                 Adjustment Act

         Dear Secretary Thompson:

         Earlier this year, we initiated a governmentwide review of the implementation of the
         Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended (Inflation
         Adjustment Act).' The Inflation Adjustment Act required each federal agency to issue
         a regulation adjusting its covered maximum civil monetary penalties for inflation by
         October 23, 1996, and requires them to make necessary adjustments at least once
         every 4 years thereafter. During our review, the Food and Drug Administration's
         (FDA) Office of the Chief Counsel indicated that at least 14 of the agency's civil
         penalties are covered by the act but the agency had not adjusted any of them for
         inflation. This report is intended to bring this matter to your attention and to
         recommend corrective action.

         FDA Identified At Least 14 Civil Penalties That Are
         Covered by the Inflation Adjustment Act

         Section 3 of the Inflation Adjustment Act defines a covered civil penalty as any
         penalty, fine, or other sanction that ... is for a specific monetary amount as provided
         by Federal law or has a maximum amount provided for by Federal law, and is
         assessed or enforced by an agency pursuant to Federal law and is assessed or
         enforced pursuant to an administrative proceeding or a civil action in the Federal
         courts. FDA's Office of the Chief Counsel provided us with a list of civil penalties
         that it considered covered by the Inflation Adjustment Act. Table 1 lists those
         penalties as well as their maximum penalty amounts, assessment methods, and the
         dates that the penalties were last set or adjusted.






         'The Inflation Adjustment Act is codified at 28 U.S.C. 2461 note. The 1990 act was amended in 1996 by
         the Debt Collection Improvement Act, which added the requirement for agencies to adjust their civil
         penalties by regulation (Pub. Law 104-134, Sec. 31001, 110 Stat. 1321-373).


GAO-02-933R FDA Penalty Adjustments

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