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indirect result of a governmental enforcement action, an employee whistleblower, or
discovery by a third party.
5.
Correction and Remediation. The self-reporter must correct the violation
in a timely manner.
6.
Prevent Recurrence. The self-reporter must agree to take steps to improve
its environmental auditing and performance to prevent future violations.
7.
No Repeat Violations. The voluntarily reported violation will not qualify
for mitigation if it is the same as or closely related to a violation that has occurred
within the last three years at the same facility or is part of a pattern of similar
violations occurring over the past five years.
8.
Other Violations Excluded. The Audit Policy prohibits penalty reductions
for violations that “resulted in serious actual harm or which may have presented
an imminent and substantial endangerment to public health or the environment,”
because it has made a judgment that such violations “indicate a serious failure (or
absence) of a self-policing program” (Federal Register 1995).
9. Cooperation. The self-reporter must cooperate with EPA in providing
information about and correcting the reported violation.
Self-reporters who meet the above conditions are eligible for the following
penalty mitigation benefits:
1.
If all nine conditions are satisfied, EPA waives 100% of gravity-based
penalties for the violation. Gravity-based penalties are the punitive, non-
economic components of the sanction and can be quite high. EPA retains full
discretion under the Policy to recover any economic benefit the self-reporter
Convention