Illinois Voluntary Self Disclosure Information

There are provisions within the Illinois Environmental Protection Act which were designed to incentive small business environmental compliance through voluntary self-disclosure.

In brief, a small business who voluntarily self-discloses non-compliance to the Illinois EPA (i.e., the Agency) may be entitled to a 100% reduction in the portion of a penalty that is not based on the economic benefit of non-compliance.  There are a number of necessary qualifications prescribed in the Illinois Environmental Protection Act (415 ILCS 5/42(h)(6) and (i)).  Should a small business find themselves in a situation of non-compliance, the small business should self-disclose the issue to the Agency and allow the statutory enforcement process to play itself out.  Most enforcement issues are resolved without the imposition of civil penalties; however, there are cases where the Agency determines that a civil penalty is appropriate.

To determine if your small business would qualify for the voluntary self-disclosure provisions you will need to check the qualifications below:

1. Do you qualify as a “small entity?”  You can find out if your business qualifies as a small entity by using the SBA’s Size Standards Tool, or by referencing the SBA's table of small business size standards.  Further information on the topic can be found at Size standards | U.S. Small Business Administration (sba.gov).
2. If you qualified as a “small entity” do you next meet the qualifications found in the Illinois Environmental Protection Act at 415 ILCS 5/42(i)?  Those qualifications can be found here:  415 ILCS 5_42 Civil Penalties
   
   There are numerous qualifications in the regulation, emphasis has been added to the more relevant portions of the rule text in an attempt to help the reader.

If you believe that you would qualify under these provisions, you would need to declare that belief to the Agency.  Such declaration should be made at the time of the initial self-disclosure or as part of a later supplement to it.  A declaration could also be made during the enforcement process.  In all cases, you should provide the rationale to the Agency supporting that you meet the individual qualifications required under the voluntary self-disclosure provisions at 415 ILCS 5/42(h)(6) and (i).