[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 63 (Wednesday, April 2, 2003)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 15978-15979]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-7693]


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FEDERAL MARITIME COMMISSION

46 CFR Part 530

[Docket No. 03-03]


Proposed Amendment to Service Contract Regulations

AGENCY: Federal Maritime Commission.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Maritime Commission proposes to amend its 
regulations on the electronic filing of service contracts for ocean 
transportation under the Shipping Act of 1984 (``Shipping Act'') (46 
U.S.C. app. 1701 et seq.), as amended by the Ocean Shipping Reform Act 
of 1998 (``OSRA''), to add a provision which would permit persons 
authorized to transmit electronically service contract filings for 
vessel-operating common carriers, conferences and agreements, to 
correct within 48 hours an original service contract filing or an 
amendment that is defective due to electronic transmission errors. The 
revision would allow a ``corrected transmission'' of the original 
service contract or amendment submission to be designated as such and 
filed in the Commission's electronic service contract filing system, 
SERVCON.

DATES: Submit comments no later than May 2, 2003. Submit an original 
and 15 copies of any comments (paper), or e-mail comments as an 
attachment in WordPerfect 8, Microsoft Word 97, or earlier versions of 
these applications.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments concerning this proposed rule to: 
Bryant L. VanBrakle, Secretary, Federal Maritime Commission, 800 North 
Capitol Street, NW., Room 1046, Washington, DC 20573-0001, e-mail: 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Florence A. Carr, Director, Bureau of 
Trade Analysis, 202-523-5796, e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 8(c) of the Shipping Act of 1984, as 
amended by the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998 (``OSRA''), 46 U.S.C. 
app. 1707(c), and the Commission's current service contract 
regulations, 46 CFR part 530, subpart A, require service contracts 
between shippers and ocean common carriers in the foreign commerce of 
the United States to be filed electronically with the Commission on a 
confidential basis. Only an ``authorized person,'' as defined in 46 CFR 
530.3(c), can access the confidential section of the Commission's 
electronic service contract filing system, SERVCON, available via the 
Commission's website. Each individual service contract filer must 
register with the Commission to obtain a log-on identification and 
password. Some carriers use individual employees as the authorized 
person to file their service contracts; however, the majority of 
carriers authorize third parties to make their service contract 
filings. The filings may consist of an original service contract or an 
amendment to an existing service contract. There are currently more 
than 200 persons registered to transmit service contract filings on 
behalf of 150 vessel-operating common carriers.
    Current regulations provide for the amendment, correction, and 
cancellation of service contract filings (46 CFR 530.10). The 
Commission, however, has become aware of a need to provide filers the 
ability to correct purely electronic ``transmission errors'' made when 
filing either the original service contract or an amendment to a 
service contract into SERVCON, or errors made in the process of 
converting the service contract filing into electronic format for 
submission to the SERVCON system. Since the start of SERVCON in May 
1999, filers have withdrawn or overwritten these errors.
    Under the proposed rule, only errors resulting from electronic 
transmission and data conversion for SERVCON format may be corrected. 
Corrections to an initial filing would be allowed within 48 hours from 
the time and date of receipt recorded in SERVCON (excluding Saturdays, 
Sundays and legal public holidays). For example, an initial filing 
received at 5 p.m. on a Friday must be corrected before 5 p.m. the 
following Tuesday. The SERVCON system currently has and will continue 
to have the ability to identify such corrected service contract 
filings. The Bureau of Trade Analysis will continue to monitor filers' 
use of the correction process; any abuse of the limited permission in 
the proposed rule would be considered a violation of the Commission's 
regulations. Unlike the current regulations which provide for a process 
to make a retroactive correction in the terms of a filed service 
contract due to an oversight by the service contract parties,\1\ there 
is no Commission action involved in the process to correct electronic 
transmission errors that are caused by failures in the hardware or 
software used by the filers. Therefore, no fee is being proposed for 
use of this overwrite function in the SERVCON system.
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    \1\ Either party to a service contract may request permission to 
correct a clerical or an administrative error in a filed service 
contract pursuant to 46 CFR 530.10(c). The request must be submitted 
within 45 days of the contract's filing and accompanied by a service 
fee of $276. Further, a letter of transmittal, affidavit, supporting 
documentation, and concurrence statement must be included with the 
request. Upon approval of a request for permission to correct a 
clerical error, an Order is issued (under delegated authority to the 
Director, Bureau of Trade Analysis) (see 46 CFR 501.26(n)). The 
party filing the contract then files an amendment providing for the 
retroactive correction of the incorrect material.
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    Some examples of filer generated transmission errors that could be 
corrected under this restricted overwrite proposal are: Incorrect 
header information, a wrong service contract number, and a wrong file 
transmitted or uploaded. Examples of substantive service contract 
changes that would not be allowed under the new proposed 46 CFR 
530.10(d) are: Changing rates, deletion of a port or point to be served 
or a commodity to be carried under the contract; addition or deletion 
of a shipper entitled to access the service contract, and modification 
of the duration or minimum quantity commitment of the contract. 
Instead, these types of changes should continue to be made as 
``amendments'' under 46 CFR 530.10(b) or, if retroactivity is deemed 
necessary, by filing a request for permission to correct a clerical or 
administrative error in the terms of a filed service contract under 46 
CFR 530.10(c).
    Under the proposed rule, the SERVCON system would be modified to 
accept only corrected service contracts that the filer identifies as 
such and for which the filer provides a description of the changes 
being made by the correction process. A new field would be added to the 
online database as a checkbox for the filer to identify the

[[Page 15979]]

submission as a corrected service contract. If the filer fails to use 
this new checkbox, the contract will be rejected because the SERVCON 
system will not accept service contracts that have duplicate file 
names, service contract or amendment numbers. The system would also 
flag resubmitted contracts and would give a unique internal file name 
to the corrected filing for FMC monitoring purposes. A new separate 
SERVCON field for filers to enter a description of the corrections 
being made is part of the proposed rule.
    Comments are invited on the proposed rule, particularly from 
registered authorized persons who make electronic service contract 
filings in the SERVCON system for or on behalf of carriers. Comments 
identifying specific transmission and data conversion errors that 
result from a filer's use of SERVCON may enable the Commission to make 
SERVCON more user friendly. Comments are also solicited specifically on 
any technical issues related to the proposed 48-hour window for making 
a correction, as well as those arising from the proposed procedure to 
include a description of the changes being made in the corrected 
submission.
    The Commission has determined that this regulation is not a 
significant regulatory action as defined in Executive Order 12866. It 
also does not contain information collection requirements that require 
approval by the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork 
Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3507 et seq.). The Chairman certifies, 
pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605, that the proposed rule would not have a 
significant impact on a substantial number of small entities.

List of Subjects in 46 CFR Part 530

    Freight, Maritime carriers, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements.
    For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Commission proposes 
to amend 46 CFR part 530 as follows:

PART 530--SERVICE CONTRACTS

    1. The authority citation for part 530 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 553; 46 U.S.C. app. 1704, 1705, 1707, 1716.

    2. Section 530.10 is amended by revising the section heading; by 
redesignating paragraphs (d) and (e) as paragraphs (e) and (f) and by 
adding a new paragraph (d) to read as follows:


Sec.  530.10  Amendment, correction, cancellation, and electronic 
transmission errors.

* * * * *
    (d) Electronic transmission errors. An authorized person who 
experiences a purely technical electronic transmission error or a data 
conversion error in transmitting a service contract filing or an 
amendment thereto is permitted to file a Corrected Transmission 
(``CT'') of that filing within 48 hours of the date and time of receipt 
recorded in SERVCON (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal public 
holidays). This time-limited permission to correct an initial defective 
service contract filing is not to be used to make changes in the 
original service contract rates, terms or conditions that are otherwise 
provided for in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section. The CT tab box 
in SERVCON must be checked at the time of resubmitting a previously 
filed service contract, and a description of the corrections made must 
be stated at the beginning of the corrected service contract in a 
comment box. Failure to check the CT box and enter a description of the 
correction will result in the rejection of a file with the same name, 
since documents with duplicate file names, service contract and 
amendment numbers are not accepted by SERVCON.
* * * * *

    By the Commission.
Theodore A. Zook,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 03-7693 Filed 4-1-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4730-01-P