Disclosure, rules

The latter view prevailed but generated yet another set of issues as to whether disclosure rules should be evaluated from the perspective of professionals or patients. Some courts took the narrower view of duty by ruling that professional standards should be used to determine what should be disclosed to patients. Although this theory of "lack of informed consent" was distinct from whether the health care provider had violated the standard of care, most courts, and many legislatures, confined the doctrine s operation to a very narrow set of circumstances consistent with the negligence standard underlying the standard of care in medical cases. Other courts took what is called the broader view and leaned toward the patient s perspective while requiring juries to impose the reasonable patient s view of risk rather than the particular patient s view of risks. 

Governance Forces The Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002 (also known as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Public Law 107-204) was passed after the well-publicized corporate governance failures starting in 2001.The intent of the act was to strengthen corporate governance and financial disclosure rules under the Security and Exchange Commission s (SEC) rules for publicly traded companies. 

A further consideration is the differences in disclosure rules set by different countries, as discussed above under novelty. As has been discussed, if an invention is publicly disclosed before an application is hied, it may limit the countries in which patent protection may be sought. For example, once disclosure is made, an inventor may be barred from obtaining a patent in the United Kingdom. For this reason, disclosure should never occur before the decision about where patent rights will be sought, as patent applications themselves are a form of disclosure. 

In 1984, Viscusi and O Connor wrote an article for the American Economic Review about the effects of chemical hazard disclosure rules on workers propensity to qxiit. They titled it Adaptive Responses to Chemical Labeling Are Workers Bayesian Decision Makers , referring to Bayes Theorem in probability (see chapter 2). The real question that should be asked, however, is whether workers are Kantian decisionmakers do they accept or avoid risks on the basis of utility, as economists suppose, or do they value above all their autonomy as human beings in the tradition of Kant s categorical moral imperative This is an empirical question we will look for evidence of it in the historical and institutional record (chapter 4), and we will consider its implications for compensating differential theory and labor market analysis in general in chapter 5. 

Memorandum from Jesse Baskerville, Director, Toxics and Pesticides Enforcement Division, Oftice of Regulatory Enforcement, EPA, Interim Guidance for Enforcing the TSCA 402 Abatement Rule Firm and Lead Abatement Professional Certification Requirements (Mar. 8. 2000) and EPA, Office of Enforcement and Comphance Assurance, Office of Civil Enforcement, Waste and Chemical Enforcement Division. Section 1018 - Disclosure Rule Enforcement Response and Penalty Pohcy (Dec. 2007). 

IV. The Disclosure Rule—Disclosure of Known Lead on Sale... 

There are two primary TSCA lead programs, the Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule and the Disclosure Rule. Both were authorized by The Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992, codified as... 

TSCA regulations require sellers and landlords to disclose the presence of lead-based paint and lead hazards in target housing. These regulations, usually referred to as the Disclosure Rule, were jointly issued by the EPA and HUD, pursuant to a mandate in Section 1018 of Title X of the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992. The only affirmative act the Disclosure Rule requires is disclosure TSCA does not require landlords and sellers to conduct any lead abatement projects. As the EPA said in the enforcement response policy for the Disclosure Rule, [t]he purpose of the Disclosure Rule is to ensure that individuals and families receive the information necessary to protect themselves and their families from lead-based paint and/or lead-based paint hazards. Because the Disclosure Rule does not require any reduction of lead in homes, it has been criticized as a weak response to a national crisis. On the other hand, the cost of removing lead... 

Section 1018—Disclosure Rule Enforcement Response and Penalty Policy, Dec. 2007, 5 (emphasis added). 

The Disclosure Rule applies nationwide, including in states and tribes with authorized lead programs. It also applies to the federal government when it sells or leases property. It does not apply to foreclosure sales, leases of housing that has been certified to be lead free, short-term leases of one hundred days or less that have no possibility of renewal or extension, and renewals of existing leases when all required information has been disclosed and is still current. ... 

If an agent was involved in the sale, the contract must state that the agent is aware of the obligation to ensure compliance with the Disclosure Rule and inform the seller of the seller s obligations. The seller, buyer, and agent must certify their statements concerning lead. ... 

The States and Tribes may not administer and enforce the Disclosure Rule, although they may have separate related laws that they enforce in parallel with federal enforcement of the Disclosure Rule. 

The enforcement response poKcy for the TSCA Disclosure Rule is entitled Section 1018—Disclosure Rule Enforcement Response and Penalty PoKcy (December 2007) (the Disclosure Rule ERP). Under this poKcy, the EPA may seek civil penalties, refer a violation for criminal penalties imder TSCA 16,... 

Claude E. Walker, Lead-Based Paint Real Estate Not cation and Disclosure Rule, 8 Buff. Envt l. L.J. 65, 73 (Fall, 2000). 

The Disclosure Rule ERP contains a penalty matrix, showing the penalties applicable for each combination of circumstances and extent. Because the nature is the same for aU Disclosme Rule violations the penalties do not vary based on nature. The matrix was drafted when the maximum penalty was 11,000, and so the penalties should be multiplied by a factor equal to the maximum penalty in effect at the time of the violation divided by 11,000. 

Because the Disclosure Rule has overlapping requirements, a separate penalty can be imposed for violation of each of them. In In the Matter of John P. Vidiksis the administrative law judge imposed penalties of 97,545 for 69 violations stemming from 34 lease transactions, and one sale transaction. In the Matter of Rod Bruner and Century 21 Country North illustrates how proposed penalties can become a significant deterrent. In that case, the EPA... 

The EPA has brought numerous Disclosure Rule enforcement proceedings. ... 

Disclosure Rule Enforcement Response and Penalty Policy (Dec. 

EPA, Office of Enforcement and Comphance Assurance, Office of Civil Enforcement, Waste and Chemical Enforcement Division, Section 1018—Disclosure Rule Enforcement Response and Penalty Policy (Dec. 2007) Lead Disclosure ERP12-07... 

---