[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4391 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4391


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

           September 13 (legislative day, September 12), 1994

    Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
  To authorize appropriations for the Federal Maritime Commission for 
fiscal year 1995, and to amend the Shipping Act of 1984 to require that 
conference agreements authorize members of conferences to take certain 
 independent actions and to prohibit conferences and groups of common 
     carriers from denying or limiting in export foreign commerce 
               compensation to ocean freight forwarders.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Maritime Commission 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995''.

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated to the Federal Maritime 
Commission, $18,900,000 for fiscal year 1995.

SEC. 3. INDEPENDENT ACTION.

    Section 5(b) of the Shipping Act of 1984 (46 U.S.C. App. 1704(b)) 
is amended by striking paragraph (8) and inserting the following:
            ``(8) provide that--
                    ``(A) any member of the conference may take 
                independent action on any rate, service item, or level 
                of ocean freight forwarder compensation required to be 
                filed in a tariff under section 8(a) upon not more than 
                10 calendar days notice to the conference; and
                    ``(B) the conference will include the new rate, 
                service item, or level of ocean freight forwarder 
                compensation in its tariff for use by that member, 
                effective no later than 10 calendar days after receipt 
                of the notice, and by any other member that notifies 
                the conference that it elects to adopt the independent 
                rate, service item, or level of ocean freight forwarder 
                compensation on or after its effective date, in lieu of 
                the existing conference tariff provision for that rate, 
                service item, or level of ocean freight forwarder 
                compensation.''.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON DENYING COMPENSATION.

    Section 10(c) of the Shipping Act of 1984 (46 U.S.C. App. 1709(c)), 
is amended by striking paragraph (5) and inserting the following:
            ``(5) deny in the export foreign commerce of the United 
        States compensation to an ocean freight forwarder, or limit 
        that compensation to less than 1.25 percent of the aggregate of 
        all of the rates and charges applicable under the tariff 
        assessed against the cargo on which the forwarding services are 
        provided; or''.

            Passed the House of Representatives September 12, 1994.

            Attest:

                                           DONNALD K. ANDERSON,

                                                                 Clerk.