Adjustments to Civil Penalty Amounts

<RULE> FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION <CFR>16 CFR Part 1</CFR> <SUBJECT>Adjustments to Civil Penalty Amounts</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Federal Trade Commission. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “Commission”) is implementing adjustments to the civil penalty amounts within its jurisdiction to account for inflation, as required by law. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Effective January 17, 2025. </EFFDATE> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Marie Choi, Attorney (202-326-3368), Office of the General Counsel, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act (“FCPIAA”) of 2015  <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> directs agencies to adjust the civil penalty maximums under their jurisdiction for inflation every January. Accordingly, the Commission issues annual adjustments to the maximum civil penalty amounts under its jurisdiction. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  Public Law 114-74, 701, 129 Stat. 599 (2015). The Act amends the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act, Public Law 101-410, 104 Stat. 890 (codified at 28 U.S.C. 2461 note). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  81 FR 42476 (2016); 82 FR 8135 (2017); 83 FR 2902 (2018); 84 FR 3980 (2019), 85 FR 2014 (2020); 86 FR 2539 (2021); 87 FR 1070 (2022); 88 FR 1499 (2023); 89 FR 1445 (2024). </FTNT> Commission Rule 1.98 sets forth the applicable civil penalty amounts for violations of certain laws enforced by the Commission. <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> As directed by the FCPIAA, the Commission is issuing adjustments to increase these maximum civil penalty amounts to address inflation since its prior 2024 adjustment. The following adjusted amounts will take effect on January 17, 2025: <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>  16 CFR 1.98. </FTNT> • Section 7A(g)(1) of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. 18a(g)(1) (premerger filing notification violations under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Improvements Act)—Increase from $51,744 to $53,088; • Section 11( <E T="03">l</E> ) of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. 21( <E T="03">l</E> ) (violations of cease and desist orders issued under Clayton Act section 11(b))—Increase from $27,491 to $28,205; • Section 5( <E T="03">l</E> ) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 45( <E T="03">l</E> ) (violation of final Commission order)—Increase from $51,744 to $53,088; • Section 5(m)(1)(A) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 45(m)(1)(A) (knowing violation of rule respecting unfair or deceptive acts or practices)—Increase from $51,744 to $53,088; • Section 5(m)(1)(B) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 45(m)(1)(B) (knowing violation of cease and desist order respecting unfair or deceptive acts or practices)—Increase from $51,744 to $53,088; • Section 10 of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 50 (failure to file required reports)—Increase from $680 to $698; • Section 5 of the Webb-Pomerene (Export Trade) Act, 15 U.S.C. 65 (failure by associations engaged solely in export trade to file required statements)—Increase from $680 to $698; • Section 6(b) of the Wool Products Labeling Act, 15 U.S.C. 68d(b) (failure by wool manufacturers to maintain required records)—Increase from $680 to $698; • Section 3(e) of the Fur Products Labeling Act, 15 U.S.C. 69a(e) (failure to maintain required records regarding fur products)—Increase from $680 to $698; • Section 8(d)(2) of the Fur Products Labeling Act, 15 U.S.C. 69f(d)(2) (failure to maintain required records regarding fur products)—Increase from $680 to $698; • Section 333(a) of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, 42 U.S.C. 6303(a) (knowing violations of EPCA § 332, including labeling violations)—Increase from $560 to $575; • Section 525(a) of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, 42 U.S.C. 6395(a) (recycled oil labeling violations)—Increase from $27,491 to $28,205; • Section 525(b) of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, 42 U.S.C. 6395(b) (willful violations of recycled oil labeling requirements)—Increase from to $51,744 to $53,088; • Section 621(a)(2) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. 1681s(a)(2) (knowing violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act)—Increase from $4,857 to $4,983; • Section 1115(a) of the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, Public Law 108-173, as amended by Public Law 115-263, 21 U.S.C. 355 note (failure to comply with filing requirements)—Increase from $18,293 to $18,768; and • Section 814(a) of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, 42 U.S.C. 17304 (violations of prohibitions on market manipulation and provision of false information to federal agencies)—Increase from $1,472,546 to $1,510,803. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Calculation of Inflation Adjustments</HD> The FCPIAA, as amended, directs federal agencies to adjust each civil monetary penalty under their jurisdiction for inflation in January of each year pursuant to a cost-of-living adjustment. <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> The cost-of-living adjustment is based on the percent change between the U.S. Department of Labor's Consumer Price Index for all-urban consumers (“CPI-U”) for the month of October preceding the date of the adjustment, and the CPI-U for October of the prior year. <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> Based on that formula, the cost-of-living adjustment multiplier for 2025 is 1.02598. The FCPIAA also directs that these penalty level adjustments should be rounded to the nearest dollar. Agencies do not have discretion over whether to adjust a maximum civil penalty, or the method used to determine the adjustment. <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>  28 U.S.C. 2461 note at (4). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>5</SU>   <E T="03">Id.</E> (3), (5)(b); Office of Management and Budget, Memorandum M-25-02, <E T="03">Implementation of Penalty Inflation Adjustments for 2025 Pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015</E> (December 17, 2024), available at: <E T="03">https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/M-25-02.pdf.</E> </FTNT> The following chart illustrates the application of these adjustments to the civil monetary penalties under the Commission's jurisdiction. <GPOTABLE COLS="5" OPTS="L2,nj,i1" CDEF="s50,r50,12,10,16"> <TTITLE>Calculation of Adjustments to Maximum Civil Monetary Penalties</TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Citation</CHED> <CHED H="1">Description</CHED> <CHED H="1">2024 Penalty level</CHED> <CHED H="1">Adjustment multiplier</CHED> <CHED H="1">2025 Penalty level (rounded to the nearest dollar)</CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">16 CFR 1.98(a): 15 U.S.C. 18a(g)(1)</ENT> <ENT>Premerger filing notification violations</ENT> <ENT>$51,744</ENT> <ENT>1.02598</ENT> <ENT>$53,088</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01"> 16 CFR 1.98(b): 15 U.S.C. 21( <E T="03">l</E> ) </ENT> <ENT>Violations of cease and desist orders</ENT> <ENT>27,491</ENT> <ENT>1.02598</ENT> <ENT>28,205</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01"> 16 CFR 1.98(c): 15 U.S.C. 45( <E T="03">l</E> ) </ENT> <ENT>Violations of final Commission orders</ENT> <ENT>51,744</ENT> <ENT>1.02598</ENT> <ENT>53,088</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">16 CFR 1.98(d): 15 U.S.C. 45(m)(1)(A)</ENT> <ENT>Knowing violations of rules respecting unfair or deceptive acts or practices</ENT> <ENT>51,744</ENT> <ENT>1.02598</ENT> <ENT>53,088</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">16 CFR 1.98(e): 15 U.S.C. 45(m)(1)(B)</ENT> <ENT>Knowing violations of cease and desist orders respecting unfair or deceptive acts or practices</ENT> <ENT>51,744</ENT> <ENT>1.02598</ENT> <ENT>53,088</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">16 CFR 1.98(f): 15 U.S.C. 50</ENT> <ENT>Failure to file required reports</ENT> <ENT>680</ENT> <ENT>1.02598</ENT> <ENT>698</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">16 CFR 1.98(g): 15 U.S.C. 65</ENT> <ENT>Failure to file required statements</ENT> <ENT>680</ENT> <ENT>1.02598</ENT> <ENT>698</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">16 CFR 1.98(h): 15 U.S.C. 68d(b)</ENT> <ENT>Failure to maintain required records</ENT> <ENT>680</ENT> <ENT>1.02598</ENT> <ENT>698</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">16 CFR 1.98(i): 15 U.S.C. 69a(e)</ENT> <ENT>Failure to maintain required records</ENT> <ENT>680</ENT> <ENT>1.02598</ENT> <ENT>698</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">16 CFR 1.98(j): 15 U.S.C. 69f(d)(2)</ENT> <ENT>Failure to maintain required records</ENT> <ENT>680</ENT> <ENT>1.02598</ENT> <ENT>698</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">16 CFR 1.98(k): 42 U.S.C. 6303(a)</ENT> <ENT>Knowing violations of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act</ENT> <ENT>560</ENT> <ENT>1.02598</ENT> <ENT>575</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01"> 16 CFR 1.98( <E T="03">l</E> ): 42 U.S.C. 6395(a) </ENT> <ENT>Recycled oil labeling violations</ENT> <ENT>27,491</ENT> <ENT>1.02598</ENT> <ENT>28,205</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01"> 16 CFR 1.98( <E T="03">l</E> ): 42 U.S.C. 6395(b) </ENT> <ENT>Willful recycled oil labeling violations</ENT> <ENT>51,744</ENT> <ENT>1.02598</ENT> <ENT>53,088</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">16 CFR 1.98(m): 15 U.S.C. 1681s(a)(2)</ENT> <ENT>Knowing violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act</ENT> <ENT>4,857</ENT> <ENT>1.02598</ENT> <ENT>4,983</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">16 CFR 1.98(n): 21 U.S.C. 355 note</ENT> <ENT>Non-compliance with filing requirements</ENT> <ENT>18,293</ENT> <ENT>1.02598</ENT> <ENT>18,768</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">16 CFR 1.98(o): 42 U.S.C. 17304</ENT> <ENT>Market manipulation or provision of false information to federal agencies</ENT> <ENT>1,472,546</ENT> <ENT>1.02598</ENT> <ENT>1,510,803</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Effective Dates of New Penalties</HD> These new penalty levels apply to civil penalties assessed after the effective date of the applicable adjustment, including civil penalties whose associat ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 15k characters. 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