§ 17.33 The hearing and burden of proof.

(a) The presiding officer shall conduct a hearing on the record to determine whether the respondent is liable for a civil money penalty and, if so, the appropriate amount of any such civil money penalty considering any aggravating or mitigating factors.

(b) In order to prevail, the Center must prove respondent's liability and the appropriateness of the penalty under the applicable statute by a preponderance of the evidence.

(c) The respondent must prove any affirmative defenses and any mitigating factors by a preponderance of the evidence.

(d) The hearing shall be open to the public unless otherwise ordered by the presiding officer, who may order closure only to protect trade secrets or confidential commercial information, as defined in § 20.61 of this chapter, information the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, or other information that would be withheld from public disclosure under part 20 of this chapter.