HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.
![handle is hein.gao/gaobabkhz0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
-1 y the office of ousgeiismonl RHiU1.-OIlb, dh~4 __ ..t-I
Is kept by the DlstribuioU Secti01i PubicationrL hw t I
COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE TES
WASHINGTON. D.C. 20548
B-170686 F 6 1 J913
The Honorable Henry S. Reuss
Chairman, Subcommittee on Conservation and
Natural Resources
(j/ J Committee on Government Operations
X House of Representatives
Dear Mr. Chairman:
This letter is in further response to your letter of August 3,
1972, in which you requested our advice on the steps taken by the
General Accounting Office (GAO) and the Department of Justice to
insure that any claim against a coal operator arising nde the
Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 (30 U.S.C. 801) is
offset against any sum owed him by the United State s:. Th4 offset
procedure was provided for in the Federal Claims Collection Stand-
ards (4 C.F.R. 102.3) issued jointly by the Department of Justice and
GAO, pursuant to authority in the Federal Claims Collection Act of
1966 (31 U.S.C. 952).
In our report Improvements Needed in the Assessment and
Collection of Penalties- -Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of
1969 (B-170686, July 5, 1972), we concluded that the Federal Claims
Collection Act and the implementing standards were applicable to the
collection of civil penalties under the Federal Coal Mine Health and
Safety Act of 1969.
The Federal Claims Collection Standards (4 C.F.R. 102.3) con-
tain the following provision relating to the offset of claims against sums
owed to a creditor.
Collections by offset will be undertaken administratively on
claims which are liquidated [determined by agreement or
litigation] or certain in amount in every instance in which
this is feasible. * * * Appropriate use should be made of
the cooperative efforts of other agencies in effecting col-
lections by offset * * * and all agencies are enjoined to
cooperate in this endeavor.
m6-oz3](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.gao/gaobabkhz0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)