Civil Investigation Policy Term Definition

An extraordinary, detailed assessment of a regulated entity’s compliance status, which requires significantly more time to complete than a typical compliance inspection (i.e., several weeks, as compared with one or a few days). Investigations may be warranted when an inspection or record review suggests the potential for serious, widespread, and/or continuing civil or criminal violations, from a continuing pattern of citizen complaints, referrals from another agency, or from studies conducted by the regulating agency inferring a potential compliance problem.