Chris Colgan noted: >> Hello Group
$1,000,000 is a hefty fine.... http://www.fcc.gov/eb/News_Releases/DOC-263862A1.html << The NAL at http://www.fcc.gov/eb/Orders/2006/FCC-06-13A1.html has the answers; Behringer was reported (by a competitor?) to be importing units not marked as compliant. "In March 2004, the Bureau received a complaint alleging that Behringer was marketing digital audio equipment that was not labeled ..." When tasked with this, it admitted doing so, and not on a small scale, or for a short time, either: "... in January 2000, it began importing, marketing, distributing for sale and selling in the United States digital audio products, such as mixers, amplifiers, and digital effects processors (``digital devices''). The information provided by Behringer indicated that, since January of 2000, it imported, marketed and distributed for sale at least 66 different models of digital devices. A listing of these 66 models is included in Attachment A. Behringer further stated that, from January 2000 through April 2004, it manufactured approximately 1.33 million of its digital devices for sale in the United States,14 and actually imported approximately 1.17 ..." It gets worse: "Behringer also acknowledged that it had not verified compliance of any of the 66 models of its digital devices with the applicable FCC technical standards, prior to importing and marketing such devices in the United States. Rather, Behringer represented that ``a range'' of its digital devices had been tested and passed ``CE'' directives,19 and expressed its belief that those devices will also comply with the Commission's technical standards given ..." Well we DO expect CE to be FCC -- or better! However, Behringer appears not to have accurately described the state of affairs: "Test reports subsequently submitted by Behringer showed that only one model was tested for CE compliance before Behringer began importing and marketing its digital devices in the United States in January 2000 and that 7 additional models were tested for CE compliance prior to issuance of the First LOI on March 29, 2004.21 " and "To date, Behringer has submitted test reports demonstrating compliance of only 28 of the 66 models of digital devices with the Commission's technical requirements. ..." So the FCC looked to see what was going and wrote: "Accordingly, this NAL takes into account only 50 of the 66 models of unauthorized Class B digital devices marketed by Behringer in the United States.35 The Enforcement Bureau confirmed through advertisements and price lists on Behringer' s website that it marketed these 50 models within the past year. " In the end the Commission proposes "... base forfeitures of $7,000 for each of the 50 models of unauthorized digital devices it marketed in the United States within the last year. Additionally, we propose upward adjustments to this aggregate base forfeiture of $350,000 **based on the egregious nature of Behringer's misconduct, its relative disincentive to comply (ability to pay a forfeiture), and the substantial economic gain it derived from its continued marketing of unauthorized devices after the Enforcement Bureau began its investigation.** Although we propose forfeitures only for apparent violations within the applicable one year statute of limitations, we discuss below the history of Behringer's noncompliance in prior years to demonstrate the scope of its misconduct and to provide sufficient context for the misconduct that is within the statute of limitations period and thus covered by this NAL." (emphasis ** added) In the event, a million dollar fine is probably meant "pour encourager les autres," as they say. Are non-compliant switching wall-wart power supplies next? (Switchers jam BPL!) Cortland Richmond KA5S - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas [email protected] Mike Cantwell [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: [email protected] David Heald: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc
