Response to prepenalty notice; informal settlement.

§ 539.703 Response to prepenalty notice; informal settlement. (a) Deadline for response. The respondent shall have 30 days from the date of mailing of the prepenalty notice to make a written response to the Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control. (b) Form and contents of response. The written response need not be in any particular form, but must contain information sufficient to indicate that it is in response to the prepenalty notice. It should contain responses to the allegations in the prepenalty notice and set forth the reasons why the respondent believes the penalty should not be imposed or why, if imposed, it should be in a lesser amount than proposed. (c) Informal settlement. In addition or as an alternative to a written response to a prepenalty notice issued pursuant to this section, the respondent or respondent's representative may contact the Office of Foreign Assets Control as advised in the prepenalty notice to propose the settlement of allegations contained in the prepenalty notice and related matters. In the event of settlement at the prepenalty stage, the claim proposed in the prepenalty notice will be withdrawn, the respondent is not required to take a written position on allegations contained in the prepenalty notice, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control will make no final determination as to whether a violation occurred. The amount accepted in settlement of allegations in a prepenalty notice may vary from the civil penalty that might finally be imposed in the event of a formal determination of violation. In the event no settlement is reached, the 30–day period specified in paragraph (a) of this section for written response to the prepenalty notice remains in effect unless additional time is granted by the Office of Foreign Assets Control.