FMC to Grant More Autonomy to Bureau of Enforcement, Investigations and Compliance
The Federal Maritime Commission is giving more discretion to its Bureau of Enforcement, Investigations and Compliance (BEIC) by allowing it to issue notices of violations and to compromise civil penalty claims without first obtaining FMC approval. The changes, outlined in a final rule effective May 17, will "provide enhanced efficiency and flexibility during the enforcement process while maintaining Commission oversight," FMC said.
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Under the current process, the FMC must approve a range of BEIC actions across multiple stages of the enforcement process, including “formal or informal” enforcement actions and proposed compromise agreements. The FMC said this process has been "procedurally complicated" since it involves approval at many different stages. “The rigidity of the process combined with the opportunity for respondents to submit responses of up to 40 pages has increased time and resource costs in enforcement matters both for the Commission and for the entities it regulates," the commission said.
After the changes take effect, BEIC will be able to issue violation notices and will be allowed to compromise those claims “instead of requiring Commission approval at each step under the current approach,” the FMC said. The agency said the notices and agreements will still be subject to FMC review, but that review will occur “after the parties have reached an agreement rather than before negotiations begin and again at the conclusion, thereby increasing the efficiency of Commission enforcement efforts by removing an added level of approval at the outset of an informal enforcement action.”
BEIC also will have the authority to “directly enter [into] discussions to compromise civil penalty allegations” before it issues a violation notice if a party requests to negotiate a compromise. It also will be able to recommend that the FMC “institute a formal adjudicatory proceeding,” among other authorities. BEIC will be given the “flexibility to assess an enforcement matter and to determine the most appropriate process given the facts of a particular matter,” the FMC said.