The Tadano Group has reached an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding alleged violations of the Transition Program for Equipment Manufacturers (TPEM), a program under the U.S. Clean Air Act. These regulations apply only to Tadano as a crane (equipment) manufacturer, and do not relate to the crane customers.
Per the terms of the agreement, the Tadano Group will pay a civil penalty of $40 million and contribute $3.2 million to a mitigation project to be carried out in Texas.
This agreement wraps up the matter self-reported to the EPA and announced in a public press release dated January 19, 2018, in which the Tadano Group announced that an internal investigation indicated the group may not have met all requirements of the TPEM program for a portion of engines mounted on Tadano mobile cranes imported to and sold in the United States.
Since such self-reporting, all Tadano Group cranes imported or sold in the US have engines meeting the applicable US exhaust requirements.
The Tadano Group has booked a financial reserve in prior financial years, and therefore this matter and the settlement has no impact on Tadano Group cranes currently being sold now or any time after 2018 and no current financial impact on the group.
The Tadano Group takes compliance with local laws seriously and since discovering this matter, we have made changes at all levels of the group to prevent any recurrence. Starting from the top, we have revised our Tadano Group Core Values to “C+SQE: Compliance at first, then Safety, Quality, and Efficiency.” We have strengthened our governance structure and have appointed specialized compliance personnel. And we have simplified and clarified the roles and duties of the group companies and departments in ensuring product development and sales comply with local laws.
Moving forward we will continue to strengthen our legal compliance capabilities at the global level and make every effort to ensure compliance with laws and regulations in the United States, as well as every country where we import, sell, and service lifting equipment.
