Section 250-RICR-20-00-3.5 - DefinitionsA. For the purposes of these Guidelines, the following terms shall have the following meanings: 1. "Administrative inspection" means any inspection, independent of a criminal investigation that is conducted for the purpose of determining compliance with applicable federal or state laws and regulations. Administrative inspections may involve the examination of real or personal property, equipment, buildings, records, products, by-products, wastes, processes, activities, environmental conditions (i.e. air, soil and water quality), personnel or other property or activities. Administrative inspections may include, but are not limited to, the following activities: observation, sampling, measuring, photographing, coring, drilling and excavating; reviewing and copying records; and seizing equipment, products, materials or records. Administrative inspections may be performed by Department personnel or by private agents or consultants acting on the Department's behalf. The scope of an administrative inspection may be limited by consent, the terms of an administrative inspection warrant or other court order, or by circumstances surrounding a warrant-less inspection.2. "Administrative inspection warrant" means an order issued by a justice of the Rhode Island District or Superior Court, or such other magistrate as may be allowed by law, authorizing the Department to enter an otherwise constitutionally protected area to inspect, search and/or seize property or evidence of a possible violation of a law or regulation administered by the Department as may be described therein. An administrative inspection warrant may issue where: a. Sufficient evidence of a possible violation of a law or regulation administered by DEM or a potential threat to public health, safety, welfare or the environment exists to establish administrative probable cause; orb. The Department proposes to conduct the inspection in accordance with a neutral inspection scheme.3. "Administrative probable cause" means the standard used by the courts to determine whether a proposed administrative inspection meets the constitutional mandate of reasonableness necessary for the issuance of an administrative inspection warrant. Administrative probable cause is not a standard that DEM must use to determine if it may or should conduct an inspection in situations where an administrative inspection warrant is not required (e.g. consensual inspections or inspections of areas that are not constitutionally protected). The standard for administrative probable cause is a more lenient standard than that which is required to establish criminal probable cause. Whether an administrative inspection is reasonable is determined by weighing the government's interest in regulatory compliance against constitutionally protected privacy interests. Where an inspection: a. is a reasonable method under the circumstances to evaluate compliance with laws or regulations designed to protect public health, safety, welfare or the environment; b. serves a valid public interest/reasonable governmental interest; and c. satisfies reasonable legislative or administrative standards for conducting inspections, then administrative probable cause exists for the issuance of an administrative inspection warrant.4. "Closely regulated industry" means a business or business-related activity, facility, structure or property for which a permit, license or other approval has been issued by DEM, or a business or business-related activity, facility, structure or property that is otherwise subject to pervasive governmental supervision such that any person who chooses to engage in that business or activity is deemed to have voluntarily subjected him/herself to full regulation.5. "Consent" means authorization given to conduct an administrative inspection that is: a. Informed as to the location, nature, scope or objective of the proposed administrative inspection;c. Given by an owner, operator or other person of suitable age, discretion and apparent authority to give consent to the inspection;d. Subject to any specified limitations of scope;e. Revocable at any time with or without justification, unless given as a part of an application for a permit, license or other approval issued by DEM.6. "Criminal search warrant" means an order issued in accordance with R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 12-5 or R.I. Gen. Laws § 8-3-6 to investigate criminal conduct.7. "Curtilage" means that area of land and/or buildings, regardless of vegetative characteristics, fencing or signage, surrounding a home that is so intimately tied to the home and its domestic activities that it should be treated as part of the home itself.8. "Department" or "Director" or "DEM" means the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.9. "Inventory" means the process of identifying and listing property, items or samples that are seized or removed from a site during the course of an administrative inspection and/or the list that results from that process.10. "Neutral inspection scheme" means a plan for inspecting a group of similarly situated sites, facilities or activities that have been identified for inspection based on a set of neutral criteria. The inspection scheme will include objectives for the inspections that are rationally related to assuring compliance with laws or regulations and that do not target a specific individual, facility or property.11. "Person" means any individual, corporation, limited partnership, partnership, trust, joint stock company, syndicate, governmental entity, quasi-governmental corporation or other incorporated or unincorporated association or any subdivision thereof.12. "Plain view" means any object, condition, activity or other evidence of a violation of law, regulation, permit, license or order (civil or criminal) that is visible by an inspector who is lawfully in position to make his/her observation.13. "Sample" means the process of taking a portion of a larger quantity of material for analysis.14. "Split sample" means taking multiple samples of the same material or dividing a sample for independent analysis by two or more parties involved in an administrative inspection.15. "Warrant application" means the formal written petition and supporting affidavit presented to a neutral magistrate or judge to request the issuance of an administrative inspection warrant.250 R.I. Code R. 250-RICR-20-00-3.5