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GAO-02-1045R 1 (2002-09-09)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaambj0001 and id is 1 raw text is: £ Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548 September 9, 2002 The Honorable Robert C. Bonner Commissioner U.S. Customs Service Subject: U.S. Customs Service: Compliance with the Inflation Adjustment Act Dear Mr. Bonner: Earlier this year, we initiated a governmentwide review of the implementation of the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, (Inflation Adjustment Act) as amended.' The Inflation Adjustment Act requires each federal agency to issue a regulation adjusting its covered maximum civil monetary penalties for inflation by October 23, 1996, and requires each agency to make necessary adjustments at least once every 4 years thereafter. During our review, the U.S. Customs Service's Office of Chief Counsel indicated that three 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. Customs Identified Three 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. Customs' Office of Chief Counsel provided us with a list of civil penalties that it considered covered by the Inflation Adjustment Act.2 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. L. 104-134, Sec. 31001, 110 Stat. 1321-373). 2The Inflation Adjustment Act explicitly exempts other civil penalties that Customs administers under the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1202 et seq.). GAO-02-1045R Customs Penalty Adjustments

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