- (a) Failure to secure permit. Failure to secure a permit prior to engaging in activities to initiate any facet of the process of production of a crop, including, but not limited to, marketing of planting seed, movement of any viable seed containing a target characteristic into Arkansas, movement of viable seed from storage to an area that might support production of the crop, placement of a seed lot (bulk, bagged, or tote) into any type storage facility in Arkansas, and planting (or placement of viable seed into contact with any substance that might support germination and growth of the resulting plants) will be considered a violation.
- (b) Nonadherence to any and all conditions of an issued permit, any of the published rules, and any section of the enabling legislation will be considered a violation.
(c) Penalties for violations.
- (1) Penalties will be administered according to the provisions contained in Arkansas Code § 2-15-208 of Acts 2005, No. 1238.
- (2) The appended Penalty Matrix (Appendix A) outlines the violations and the appropriate penalty for each of those violations.
- (3) Each day of a continuing violation will be considered a separate violation.
(d) Level of violation.
- (1) Violations may be judged to be of major or minor level for enforcement actions.
(2) The enforcement level classification will be determined by any of the following factors individually or in combination:
- (A) Length of time violation occurred before permit was issued (thirty (30) days or more is major);
- (B) Nature of the characteristic involved;
- (C) Economic consequences resulting from violation (impacts of more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) are major);
- (D) Number of entities impacted by violation (more than three (3) would be major);
- (E) Quantity of previously approved rice impacted by the violation (more than five hundred (500) bushels would be major); and
- (F) Other factors deemed appropriate by the Director of the State Plant Board.