15 U.S.C. § 2069 — Civil penalties

(a) Amount of penalty. (1) A person who knowingly violates section 2068 may be assessed up to $100,000 for each violation. Subject to paragraph (2), a violation of section 2068(a)(1), (2), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10), or (11) is a separate offense for each consumer product^* involved, but related violations together may not exceed $15,000,000. A violation of section 2068(a)(3) is a separate violation for each failure or refusal to allow or perform a required act. If it continues, each day is a separate offense, but related violations together may not exceed $15,000,000. (2) The separate-offense rule in the second sentence of paragraph (1) does not apply to a section 2068(a)(1) or (2) violation if (A) the violator is not the product manufacturer^*, private labeler^*, or distributor^* and (B) the person had neither (i) actual knowledge that distributing or selling violated those paragraphs nor (ii) notice from the Commission^* that it would violate them. (3)(A) The maximum penalties in paragraph (1) must be adjusted for inflation. (B) By December 1, 2011, and every fifth calendar year after that, the Commission must publish in the Federal Register a schedule of maximum penalties. The schedule applies to violations after January 1 of the following year. (C) The Commission must increase each paragraph (1) amount by the preceding five years’ cost-of-living adjustment and round the increase to the nearest (i) $1,000 for penalties over $1,000 through $10,000, (ii) $5,000 for penalties over $10,000 through $100,000, (iii) $10,000 for penalties over $100,000 through $200,000, and (iv) $25,000 for penalties over $200,000. (D) Here, “Consumer Price Index” means the Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers. “Cost-of-living adjustment for the preceding five years” means the percentage by which (I) the June CPI in the calendar year before the adjustment exceeds (II) the June CPI before the date the maximum penalty was last adjusted. (b) Relevant factors in determining amount of penalty. When deciding the penalty to seek for a section 2068(a) violation, the Commission must consider the violation’s nature, circumstances, extent, and seriousness, including the defect’s nature, injury risk, whether injury occurred, number of defective products distributed, whether the penalty fits the charged person’s business size, ways to reduce undue economic effects on small businesses, and other appropriate factors. (c) Compromise of penalty; deductions from penalty. The Commission may compromise a civil penalty. In deciding its amount or whether to cancel or reduce it and by how much, the Commission must consider the business-size, small-business-impact, and violation factors listed in subsection (b), and other appropriate factors. Once finally set, or agreed by compromise, the penalty may be deducted from money the United States owes the charged person. (d) “Knowingly” defined. In the first sentence of (a)(1), “knowingly” means (1) actual knowledge or (2) presumed knowledge that a reasonable person acting in the circumstances would have, including knowledge obtainable by exercising due care to find the truth of representations.