FTC Inflation-Adjusted Civil Penalty Amounts for 2022

The Federal Trade Commission has adjusted the maximum dollar amount of civil penalties for violations of 16 provisions of the law the agency enforces, as required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act (FCPIAA) Improvements Act of 2015. This statute directs agencies to adjust annual inflation and makes them effective once they are published in the Federal Register.

The new penalty levels are effective immediately upon posting in the Federal Register, which typically occurs within approximately 3 days.

Inflation-adjusted fines include violations of the FTC Act, Clayton Act, Export Trade Act, labeling laws for fur and wool products, etc. The maximum amount of civil penalties for violations of the Energy Independence and Security Act 2007 has been increased from $ 1,246,249 to $ 1,323,791 for 2022. Other penalties range from a minimum of $ 503 (to instead of 474) for violations of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to $ 46,517. (was $ 43,792) for violations of the FTC Act, as well as certain other violations of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.

Key points to remember

As mandated, the Federal Trade Commission announced inflation-adjusted civil penalty amounts for 2022.
Certain civil penalties imposed by the FTC are subject to an annual inflation adjustment under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act (FCPIAA) of 2015.
The annual adjustment is based on the percentage difference between the United States Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) for the previous October and October of the previous year .
The annual adjustment multiplier for 2021 to 2022 is 1.06222.
The new fine amounts are effective upon posting in the Federal Register.

Inflation-adjusted civil penalties table

The table below shows all of the inflation-adjusted FTC fines under the amended FCPIAA for 2022.

Quote	Violation	2021	2022
Section 7A (g) (1) of the Clayton Act	Pre-fusion filing notification violations under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Improvements Act	$ 43,792	$ 46,517
Article 11 (I) of the Clayton Law	Violations of Cease and Desist Orders Under Section 11 (b) of the Clayton Act	$ 23,266	$ 24,714
Article 5 (I) of the FTC law	Unfair or deceptive acts or practices	$ 43,792	$ 46,517
Section 5 (m) (1) (A) of the FTC Act	Unfair or deceptive acts or practices	$ 43,792	$ 46,517
Section 5 (m) (1) (B) of the FTC Act	Unfair or deceptive acts or practices	$ 43,792	$ 46,517
Section 10 of the FTC Law	Failure to produce required reports	$ 576	$ 612
Article 5 of the Webb-Pomerene law (export trade)	Failure by associations operating only in the export trade to file the required declarations	$ 576	$ 612
Section 6 (b) of the Wool Products Labeling Act	Failure by wool manufacturers to keep required records	$ 576	$ 612
Section 3 (e) of the Fur Products Labeling Act	Failure to keep required records of fur products	$ 576	$ 612
Section 8 (d) (2) of the Fur Product Labeling Act	Failure to keep required records of fur products	$ 576	$ 612
Section 333 (a) of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act	Be aware of EPCA § 332 violations, including labeling violations	$ 474	$ 503
Section 525 (a) of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act	Recycled oil labeling violations	$ 23,266	$ 24,714
Section 525 (b) of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act	Deliberate violations of labeling requirements for recycled oils	$ 43,792	$ 46,517
Section 621 (a) (2) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act	Know the violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act	$ 4,111	$ 4,367
Section 1115 (a) of the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act, 2003	Failure to comply with deposit requirements	$ 15,482	$ 16,445
Section 814 (a) of the Energy Independence and Security Act 2007	Violations of market manipulation bans and providing false information to federal agencies	$ 1,246,249	$ 1,323,791

^{Source: Federal Trade Commission}

How increases are calculated

The FCPIAA, as amended, directs federal agencies to adjust all civil monetary penalties under their jurisdiction for inflation in January of each year. The adjustment is based on the percentage change between the United States Department of Labor Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the previous October compared to October of the last year.

Based on this formula, the COLA multiplier for 2021 to 2022 is 1.06222. The FCPIAA also requires that all adjustments be rounded to the nearest dollar amount. Agencies do not have the discretion to otherwise adjust civil penalties or to adjust the method used to determine the annual adjustment.

1.06222

The multiplier used to increase the FTC’s civil fines for 2022, based on the changes to the IPC-U.

Effective date and application

The new penalty levels are effective upon posting in the Federal Register, which typically occurs within about 3 days of receipt at the agency. These new penalty levels apply to civil penalties imposed after the effective date even if the violation occurred before the effective date.

If a fine from a previous violation is being collected, however, the amount of the fine does not increase after the effective date. Additionally, since the FCPIAA orders the FTC to adjust civil monetary penalties and publish those adjustments in the Federal Register, prior public notice and comment and a delayed effective date are not required.

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