Displaying items by tag: Fine

US: The US Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Cleveland Area Office has cited Essroc Cement for one repeated and 10 serious safety and health violations at its site in Middlebranch, Ohio. OSHA found that the company had exposed workers to machine, noise and respiratory hazards following an investigation started in November 2015 after a complaint was submitted alleging unsafe working conditions. The US subsidiary of Italacementi faces fines of up to US$92,000 for the violations.

"Employers have a responsibility to protect workers from exposure to noise and respiratory hazards that can lead to debilitating health conditions," said Howard Eberts, OSHA's area director in Cleveland. "Essroc needs to immediately re-evaluate its safety and health programs to keep workers safe on the job."

Essroc operates a slag grinding plant and a cement terminal at the site.

US: Kosmos Cement, a subsidiary of Cemex, has pleaded guilty to violating workplace safety standards. It is liable to be fined to up to US$400,000 towards the death of a worker at its Louisville cement plant in Kentucky in 2014. Michael Egan, Cemex's executive vice president and general counsel, entered the guilty plea for the company. Contract employee Felipe Mata Vizcaya fell to his death after opening an elevator door when the elevator car wasn't there, according to the Courier-Journal.

Cemex is required to pay US$200,000 immediately and the balance if it doesn't make required repairs within three years. It has also pledged to design, operate and test all elevators at the site to meet national safety standards and to install additional safety features.

In a statement, US Attorney John Kuhn called the matter "one of the worst cases of negligence on the part of a company." The company was accused of violating the Mine Safety and Health Act, and the case was investigated by the US Labor Department's Mine Safety & Health Administration.

Brazil: The office of the Superintendent-general of the antitrust watchdog Cade has recommended a penalty with fines to Votorantim, Holcim and Cimento Tupi for a coordinated refusal to sell certain types of cement in São Paulo state. According to the office, these companies damaged free competition and made it hard for potential competitors to enter the market.

The office also said that there was not enough evidence against Cimentos Liz, Cibrasa, Ciplan, Cimpor, Itabira, Itaguassu, Itambe, Ibacip, Itapessoca, Itapicuru, Itapetinga, Itapicuru, Itapissuma, Itautinga, Intercement and Lafarge and that the administrative process should be dismissed. Cade's own tribunal will have the final decision on whether the cement firms will be fined or not.

India: The Competition Appellate Tribunal has set aside a US$945m penalty imposed on 11 cement firms by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on accusations of cartel behaviour and asked the fair trade regulator to resubmit the case. The Tribunal also allowed the cement manufacturers to withdraw the 10% penalty amount already deposited with the CCI, according to the Press Trust of India.

The judgement follows appeals filed by the cement firms and their industry body, the Cement Manufacturers Association, against the two CCI orders passed in June - July 2012. The cement companies included ACC, Ambuja Cements, Binani Cements, Century Textiles Ltd, India Cements, JK Cements, Lafarge India, Madras Cements, Ultratech, JP Associates and Shree Cements.

The CCI had passed the orders after an investigation into complaints, including from Builders Association of India (BAI), against alleged price collaboration between cement firms.

The orders were later challenged at the Competition Appellate Tribunal, which ordered that 'the impugned order is set aside and the matter is remitted to the CCI for fresh adjudication of the issues relating to alleged violation" of the relevant sections of the Competition Act.'

Uzbekistan: The Higher Economic Court of Uzbekistan has upheld a penalty tax on excess profit of Ahangarancement JSC (a subsidiary of Russian Eurocement Group JSC) from 2009 to 2014 and penalties for its late payment.

Ahagarancement stated that it would appeal the decision because it calculated the excess profit tax in accordance with the laws of the country. It added that the calculation had been confirmed as correct by the ministry of finance and the expert council at the State Tax Committee.

"The decision significantly changes the legal practice on issues of the formation of profits of cement companies, significantly encumbers the plant with an additional tax burden, leads to a reduction of investment opportunities of the enterprise and jeopardises the implementation of the project of modernisation of the enterprise," said the company in a press release.

The tax authorities of Uzbekistan have not commented on the situation.

Ireland: Quinn Cement Limited has been fined Euro2000 plus costs after the company pleaded guilty to failing to control dust emissions from its plant in Ballyconnell, County Cavan.

Reports of at least three houses and cars in the nearby area being coated in a film of cement dust were made to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) after a filter bag failed at the plant on 5 – 8 September 2014. An inspector from the EPA subsequently visited the area and took statements from complainants, including an asthmatic who had raised fears in relation to the health impact the dust might have.

At Cavan District Court on 21 May 2015, the court heard how the plant was shut down while the fault was found and rectified. A number of fail-safes have since been employed at the Ballyconnell plant safeguarding against such an occurrence arising again. Judge McLoughlin convicted and fined Quinn Cement Euro2000 on one count of failure to control dust associated with activity, which resulted in an impairment of or an interference to amenities or the environment beyond the installation boundary, subject to licence. A second count was struck out on the agreement that the company also pay costs incurred by the EPA in carrying out its investigation of Euro5570.

India: Delhi Government's Revenue Department has fined Holcim India US$11m for evasion of stamp duty. It also directed the company to pay stamp duty of US$36m and a penalty of US$11m within 30 days for violation of stamp duty. Collector of Stamps (HQ) Lalit Mohan told local media that Holcim India had violated the payment of stamp duty with the merger of Ambuja Cement.

"The stamp duty on the merger order is payable at the rate of 3% on the total amount of US$1.2bn which comes out to be US$36m... The company is required to adjudicate or pay stamp duty within a period of one month which it failed to do," said Lalit Mohan in the order.

In its submission to the Revenue Department, Holcim India stated that there was no transfer of movable and immovable assets from transferor company (Ambuja Cement) with transferee company (Holcim) except shares held by transferor company in other companies have been transferred to transferee company. Subsequently the company did not see itself as liable for stamp duty.

Poland: The Court of Competition and Consumer Protection (SOKiK) has upheld a decision by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) to fine seven cement companies for forming a cartel. However, the SOKiK lowered the total fine from Euro100m to Euro80m. According the UOKiK the cartel fixed prices and divided the Polish market among themselves for at least eleven years.

According to the UOKiK the cartel activities could have had negative consequences for the construction sector and had affected consumers. The cartel had almost 100% share of production and sale of grey cement in Poland.

During the investigation two cartel members decided to co-operate with the UOKiK in exchange for leniency. Therefore UOKiK decided not to fine Lafarge Cement and lowered the fine for Gorazdze Cement. The remaining five cartel members - Grupa Ozarow, Cemex Polska, Dyckerhoff Polska, Cementownia Warta and Cementownia Odra - were fined to the full legal extent, 10% of annual turnover.

US: Holcim (US), the current owner-operator of the Hagerstown cement plant in Hagerstown, Maryland and St. Lawrence Cement, which previously owned the same facility, have agreed to pay a US$700,000 fine and improve emission controls at the facility to settle alleged air pollution violations, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The action against the Hagerstown plant is part of an on-going nationwide EPA effort to tighten pollution controls in the cement industry.

The proposed federal court consent decree requires Holcim to install 'advanced pollution controls' at the plant, Holcim also pledged to spend at least US$150,000 to replace outdated environmental protection equipment.

"It has been a long standing issue and now the company feels that it really is in its best interest to find a resolution," said Holcim spokeswoman Robin DeCarlo.

The Department of Justice filed suit on behalf of EPA in 2011 accusing Holcim and the plant's prior owner, St. Lawrence Cement, of violating the federal Clean Air Act from 2003 to 2007 by modifying the facility's cement kiln in a way that produced 'significant' increased emissions of SO₂.

US: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has fined Ash Grove Cement US$2.5m and is forcing the American cement producer to invest US$30m in pollution controls at its plants in nine US states that are alleged to have violated the Clean Air Act.

The EPA and the US Department of Justice announced the penalty jointly on 19 June 2013. The EPA said that the action would reduce thousands of tonnes of harmful pollutants at plants in Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Texas. In addition Ash Grove Cement will spend US$750,000 towards mitigating the effects of past excess emissions.

Ash Grove acknowledged the agreement in a statement and said that it is striving to comply with environmental regulations at all its facilities. It disputes that it violated the Clean Air Act, saying it opted to enter this agreement with federal regulators rather than face rising costs in time and financial resources that would have accompanied further discussions with the EPA.

"The agreement with the EPA will allow Ash Grove to move forward and provide an environmentally sustainable product that is the foundation of our economy," said Charles T Sunderland, the company's chairman and chief executive officer.

The EPA said that its agreement with Ash Grove Cement, lodged on 19 June 2013 in the US District Court for the District of Kansas, is the first settlement with a cement producer that also requires injunctive relief and emission limits for particulate matter, a combination of combustion gasses and fine dust. There is a 30-day public comment period before final court approval.

The US$2.5m penalty will be distributed to eight states and one agency that took part in the agreement: Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, Washington and the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. Ash Grove will also spend US$750,000 on a project to replace old diesel truck engines at its facilities in Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas, estimated to reduce smog-forming nitrogen oxides by approximately 27t/yr.