[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 231 (Wednesday, December 2, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 66521-66522]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-32104]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

49 CFR Part 1312

[STB Ex Parte No. 580]


Regulations for the Publication, Posting and Filing of Tariffs 
for the Transportation of Property by or with a Water Carrier in the 
Noncontiguous Domestic Trade

AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: The Surface Transportation Board (Board or STB) proposes to 
modify its tariff filing regulations to eliminate the option of filing 
tariffs with the Board electronically through the Federal Maritime 
Commission (FMC) Automated Tariff Filing and Information System (ATFI), 
which is being phased out effective May 1, 1999. The Board will, 
however, entertain special tariff authority requests by individual 
carriers seeking to file their tariffs electronically.

DATES: Comments are due January 4, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Send comments (an original and 10 copies) referring to STB 
Ex Parte No. 580 to: Surface Transportation Board, Office of the 
Secretary, Case Control Branch, 1925 K Street, N.W., Washington, DC 
20423-0001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
James W. Greene (202) 565-1578. [TDD for the hearing impaired: (202) 
565-1695.]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The ICC Termination Act of 1995, Public Law 
104-88, 109 Stat. 803 (1995), transferred from the FMC to the Board the 
responsibility for regulating port-to-port water carriage in the 
noncontiguous domestic trade. In connection with the

[[Page 66522]]

transfer of jurisdiction, the Board entered into an interagency 
agreement with the FMC and modified its requirements to allow carriers 
to continue to utilize the FMC's ATFI system to file their tariffs with 
the Board. This action permitted the transfer of jurisdiction to occur 
without requiring the carriers to make any new tariff filings, and 
comported with Congress' suggestion that the Board continue the FMC's 
practice of allowing carriers to file their tariffs electronically.\1\ 
The recently-enacted Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998, Pub. L. No. 
105-258, 112 Stat. 1902 (1998) (OSRA) will, however, eliminate the 
requirement that ocean carriers file their tariffs with the FMC 
effective May 1, 1999, and in these circumstances, the FMC will not be 
accepting new ATFI tariff filings on or after that date.
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    \1\ H.R. Rep. No. 422, 104th Cong., 1st Sess. 206 (1995).
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    While ATFI has served well as an electronic filing option for STB 
tariffs, its feasibility has always been predicated upon the basic 
system being operated and maintained by the FMC to support its own 
tariff filing requirements. STB tariff filings constitute less than 5% 
of total ATFI tariff filings, and absent the 95-plus percent of the 
filings accounted for by the FMC's requirements, it will not be 
economically feasible to operate and maintain the ATFI system or any 
similar system solely for STB tariffs.
    Under the interagency agreement between the FMC and the Board, the 
Board pays an annual fee to FMC to cover the Board's portion of ATFI 
contract costs and certain in-house services provided by FMC, and FMC 
remits to the Board the filing and access fees attributable to STB 
tariffs. However, the Board's share of ATFI costs and fees is minuscule 
in terms of total system cost and fees. While the drastic reduction in 
tariff filings would undoubtedly reduce certain variable costs, the 
fixed costs of ATFI, spread over solely STB tariffs, would require the 
imposition of prohibitive tariff filing and access fees in order for 
the Board to recover any reasonable portion of its out-of-pocket 
costs.\2\ In these circumstances, it is clear that ATFI would not be 
viable solely for STB tariff filings. Similarly, it would not be 
feasible for the Board to undertake an effort to design, develop and 
implement a new electronic tariff filing system geared solely to STB 
requirements, given the limited scope of the Board's remaining tariff 
filing requirements and the extensive staff and monetary resources that 
would be required.
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    \2\ We are aware that the FMC's Notice of Inquiry concerning the 
implementation of OSRA (63 FR 37088) raised the possibility of 
continuing to operate some portion of ATFI to provide for the 
electronic filing of service contracts. An electronic filing system 
geared to the requirements of service contracts, however, would not 
fulfill the requirements for an electronic tariff filing system
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    Although the Board's regulations will no longer routinely provide 
for electronic tariff filings if the proposed revisions are adopted, we 
will not rule out, and indeed will encourage, electronic tariff filing 
proposals from interested carriers. ATFI filings were initially 
accepted pursuant to special tariff authority granted by the Board,\3\ 
and we are amenable to special tariff authority requests for individual 
electronic tariff filing proposals submitted by carriers. By way of 
illustration in this regard, we would point out that our predecessor 
organization, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), issued a 
decision several years ago granting a rail carrier's request to file 
certain tariffs on computer diskettes.\4\ Parties proposing alternative 
tariff filing systems must, of course, explain how the proposed systems 
will fulfill all of the various needs for tariff information.\5\
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    \3\ STB Special Tariff Authority No. 4, served October 1, 1996,
    \4\ Special Tariff Authority No. 93-12, ICC served July 25, 
1994.
    \5\ Our staff is available to consult informally with carriers 
in this regard.
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Request for Comments

    We invite comments on the proposed regulations. We encourage any 
commenter that has the necessary technical wherewithal to submit its 
comments as computer data on a 3.5-inch floppy diskette formatted for 
WordPerfect 6.1, or formatted so that it can be readily converted into 
WordPerfect 6.1. Any such diskette submission (one diskette will be 
sufficient) should be in addition to the written submission (an 
original and 10 copies).

Small Entities

    The Board preliminarily concludes that these rules, if adopted, 
would not have a significant economic effect on a substantial number of 
small entities. The proposed regulations will eliminate the existing 
option to file tariffs electronically through the FMC's ATFI system, 
but many carriers already opt to file printed tariffs, and any cost 
differences for alternative tariff filing methodologies that carriers 
may propose are unlikely to be significant.

Environment

    This action will not significantly affect either the quality of the 
human environment or the conservation of energy resources.

List of Subjects in 49 CFR Part 1312

    Motor carriers, Noncontiguous domestic trade, Tariffs, Water 
carriers.

    Decided: November 24, 1998.

    By the Board, Chairman Morgan and Vice Chairman Owen.
Vernon A. Williams,
Secretary.
    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Board proposes to 
amend part 1312 of title 49, chapter X, of the Code of Federal 
Regulations as follows:

PART 1312--REGULATIONS FOR THE PUBLICATION, POSTING AND FILING OF 
TARIFFS FOR THE TRANSPORTATION OF PROPERTY BY OR WITH A WATER 
CARRIER IN NONCONTIGUOUS DOMESTIC TRADE

    1. The authority citation for part 1312 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 49 U.S.C. 721(a), 13702(a), 13702(b) and 13702(d).


Sec. 1312.1  [Amended]

    2. In Sec. 1312.1(c), the definition of ``ATFI'' is removed.
    3. Section 1312.6 is amended by revising paragraph (c) to read as 
follows:


Sec. 1312.6  Advance notice required.

* * * * *
    (c) Receipt of tariffs by the Board. The Board will receive tariff 
filings between the hours of 8:30 A.M. and 5:00 P.M. Eastern time, on 
workdays. Tariff filings delivered to the Board on other than a 
workday, or after 5:00 P.M. on a workday, will be considered as 
received the next workday.
* * * * *
    4. Section 1312.17 is removed.

[FR Doc. 98-32104 Filed 12-1-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-61-U