The price of non-compliance with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations is set to rise in 2024, according to a final rule published in the Federal Register on Dec. 28. The new fine amounts are now in effect.
Annual adjustments to fine amounts are necessitated by inflation and mandated by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. This legislation requires federal agencies, including the U.S. DOT, to reset minimum and maximum civil penalties annually to maintain their impact.
The latest adjustments, outlined by the White House Office of Management and Budget, involve multiplying the maximum or minimum penalty amounts by the percent change between the October 2022 and October 2023 consumer price index for all urban consumers. In this instance, the previous fine amounts were multiplied by 1.03241.
For instance, fines for the known falsification of records will witness an increase from $14,960 to $15,445 as a result of these adjustments. Importantly, the revised fine amounts exclusively pertain to violations occurring after the rule takes effect and do not retroactively alter penalties already assessed or enforced and actively collected or collected by the U.S. DOT.
A comprehensive list detailing the new fine amounts across various DOT agencies, including FMCSA, Maritime Administration, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, can be accessed here.
Source: Land Line
