01.09.2023

Tadano settles with EPA

Japanese crane and aerial lift manufacturer Tadano has reached a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Justice (DOJ) relating to alleged violations of the Transition Program for Equipment Manufacturers, a program under the U.S. Clean Air Act.

Tadano will pay a civil penalty of $40 million and contribute $3.2 million to a mitigation project to be carried out in Texas. The company had already accrued for a settlement, while cranes sold since 2018 have all complied fully with the latest and most stringent emissions regulations. As a result, the settlement will have no impact on the company’s current financial results.

The reporting error was first discovered by the company during an internal investigation in 2017. It quickly decided to report the issue to the EPA, and then made a public announcement, stating that it may not have met all of the requirements of the TPEM programme on some engines installed on the cranes imported into and sold in the United States. The investigation and negotiations with the EPA and DOJ have been ongoing since then.

A statement from the company said: “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 specialised 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.”

Not alone
Some four years after Tadano discovered its issue with the self-reporting under the TPEM, Manitowoc revealed that it had found a similar breach for the years 2014 to 2017. See: Manitowoc in EPA discussions