RESPONDING TO A COMPLIANCE INCENTIVE PROGRAM OR A CIVIL 

PENALTY CASE

Written By CDR Mark Hammond

Coast Guard compliance incentive programs allow persons cited for 

violations of federal boating safety regulations the opportunity to 

avoid a civil penalty by correcting the specific violation(s) and 

showing compliance within a prescribed timeframe. While the 

specifics of compliance incentive programs vary depending on the 

Coast Guard unit or office offering the program, the common goal is 

to promote public awareness and improve boating safety by ensuring 

compliance with applicable federal boating safety regulations.

A compliance incentive program may be offered by the boarding 

officer’s unit, a civil penalty processing office, or both. Typically, 

persons cited are given 30 to 45 days to respond with evidence 

showing that any alleged violations were corrected in order to avoid 

further enforcement action. If satisfactory proof of compliance is 

shown within the timeframe given, the matter is closed. Failure to 

respond within the prescribed timeframe, however, will most likely 

result in civil penalty action. This means your case file will be 

forwarded to the Hearing Office for adjudication. 

Once a case is received by the Hearing Office, the case file is 

examined by a Hearing Officer. If the Hearing Officer finds prima 

facie evidence that the alleged violation(s) occurred, the Hearing 

Officer then issues a Preliminary Assessment Letter (“PAL”) to the 

charged party. The PAL notifies the charged party of the alleged 

violation(s) against him/her, the maximum civil penalty that may be 

assessed, and the preliminary penalty amount assessed for each 

violation. The PAL also explains the party’s options to respond 

within 30 days of receipt. (See Hearing Office Newsletter article: 

“The Public in our Process,” Vol: VI, Oct 2009.) In formulating a final 

assessment for violations found to have been proved, Hearing 
Officers take into consideration, among other things, mitigating 

factors such as timely compliance. (See Hearing Office Newsletter 

article: “Evidence of Compliance,” Vol: 10, Jan 2011.)

It is important, however, for charged parties to realize that 

compliance incentive programs are separate and distinct from the 

civil penalty process. Once civil penalty action has been initiated and 

a party receives a PAL from a Hearing Officer, the party must 

respond to the Hearing Officer and not back to the unit or processing 

center office that originally offered the opportunity to participate in 

a compliance incentive program. If a party fails to respond to the 

Hearing Officer’s PAL within 30 days, a final assessment letter 

(“FLAN”), will automatically be generated and sent to the party, and 

the preliminary assessed amount will become the final civil penalty 

amount assessed.

Hearing Officers often receive evidence forwarded from the boarding 

officer’s unit or the processing center office that the party submitted 

after the PAL had been mailed and well beyond the compliance 

incentive program deadline. In such cases, the Hearing Officer will 

typically consider the eventual compliance as a mitigating factor but 

will likely not give it the same weight as compliance that is achieved 

in a more timely manner.

Hearing Officers occasionally receive responses in which the party 

claims they had previously submitted evidence of timely compliance 

to the boarding officer’s unit or the processing center office within 

the compliance incentive program deadline. For this reason, it is 

important for unit and case processing officials to closely track and 

log compliance achieved under a compliance incentive program, and 

take appropriate action to ensure civil penalty cases are not initiated 

inadvertently. Generally, in this case, if a party presents proof that 

evidence of compliance had previously been submitted in accordance 

with a compliance incentive program, and civil penalty action was 

initiated inadvertently, the Hearing Officer will dismiss the case.

Remember:..

1. If you are cited for an alleged violation of a federal boating 

safety regulation and you are offered the option of complying 
with the regulation in a timely fashion, then, in order to avoid 

civil penalty action, and assuming you do not dispute the 

alleged violation:

o send proof of compliance within the prescribed 

deadline to avoid further action; and

o keep copies of any documentation you submit. 

2. If you receive a Preliminary Assessment Letter (PAL), from a 

Hearing Officer notifying you of an alleged violation against 

you, you must respond to the Hearing Officer in accordance 

with the PAL even if you were previously sent a compliance 

incentive program letter. 

Of course, the one sure-fire way to avoid either of the above 

scenarios is to ensure at the outset that your vessel is in compliance 

with all applicable federal boating safety regulations.