(a) Except as provided in Sections 25214.3.3 and 25214.3.4, a person who violates this article shall not be subject to criminal penalties imposed pursuant to this chapter and shall only be subject to the administrative or civil penalty specified in subdivision (b).
(b) (1) A person who violates this article shall be liable for an administrative or a civil penalty not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) per day for each violation. That administrative or civil penalty may be assessed and recovered in an administrative action filed with the Office of Administrative Hearings or in a civil action brought in any court of competent jurisdiction.
(2) In assessing the amount of an administrative or a civil penalty for a violation of this article, the presiding officer or the court, as applicable, shall consider all of the following:
(A) The nature and extent of the violation.
(B) The number of, and severity of, the violations.
(C) The economic effect of the penalty on the violator.
(D) Whether the violator took good faith measures to comply with this article and the time these measures were taken.
(E) The willfulness of the violator’s misconduct.
(F) The deterrent effect that the imposition of the penalty would have on both the violator and the regulated community as a whole.
(G) Any other factor that justice may require.
(c) Administrative and civil penalties collected pursuant to this article shall be deposited in the Toxic Substances Control Account, for expenditure by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to implement and enforce this article, except as provided in Section 25192.
(d) (1) For the purpose of administering and enforcing this article, an authorized representative of the department, upon obtaining consent or after obtaining an inspection warrant pursuant to Title 13 (commencing with Section 1822.50) of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure, may, upon presenting appropriate credentials and at a reasonable time, do any of the following:
(A) Enter a factory, warehouse, or establishment where jewelry is manufactured, packed, held, or sold; enter a vehicle that is being used to transport, hold, or sell jewelry; or enter a place where jewelry is being held or sold.
(B) Inspect a factory, warehouse, establishment, vehicle, or place described in subparagraph (A), and all pertinent equipment, raw material, finished and unfinished materials, containers, and labeling in the factory, warehouse, establishment, vehicle, or place. In the case of a factory, warehouse, or establishment where jewelry is manufactured, packed, held, or sold, this inspection shall include any record, file, paper, process, control, and facility that has a bearing on whether the jewelry is being manufactured, packed, held, transported, sold, or offered for sale or for promotional purposes in violation of this article.
(2) (A) An authorized representative of the department may secure a sample of jewelry when taking an action authorized pursuant to this subdivision. If the representative obtains a sample prior to leaving the premises, he or she shall leave a receipt describing the sample obtained.
(B) The department shall return, upon request, a sample that is not destroyed during testing when the department no longer has any purpose for retaining the sample.
(C) A sample that is secured in compliance with this section and found to be in compliance with this article that is destroyed during testing shall be subject to a claim for reimbursement.
(3) An authorized representative of the department shall have access to all records of a carrier in commerce relating to the movement in commerce of jewelry, or the holding of that jewelry during or after the movement, and the quantity, shipper, and consignee of the jewelry. A carrier shall not be subject to the other provisions of this article by reason of its receipt, carriage, holding, or delivery of jewelry in the usual course of business as a carrier.
(4) An authorized representative of the department shall be deemed to have received implied consent to enter a retail establishment, for purposes of this section, if the authorized representative enters the location of that retail establishment where the public is generally granted access.
(Amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 473, Sec. 2. (SB 646) Effective January 1, 2012.)