[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 140 (Tuesday, July 22, 2003)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 43326-43327]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-18565]


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FEDERAL MARITIME COMMISSION

46 CFR Part 530

[Docket No. 03-03]


Amendment to Service Contract Regulations

July 17, 2003.
AGENCY: Federal Maritime Commission.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Maritime Commission is amending 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 permits 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 allows 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.

EFFECTIVE DATE: September 8, 2003.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Florence A. Carr, Director, Bureau of 
Trade Analysis, Federal Maritime Commission, 800 North Capitol Street, 
NW., Room 940, Washington, DC 20573, 202-523-5796, E-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Federal Maritime Commission initiated this proceeding by a 
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (``NPR'') published in the Federal 
Register on April 2, 2003, 68 FR 15978. The NPR solicited comment on 
the proposed rule from the public. Three comments were received. 
Comments were submitted by Distribution-Publications, Inc. (``DPI'') 
and Pacific Coast Tariff Bureau (``PCTB''), both tariff publishers. 
Attorney Howard Levy also filed a comment.
    All of the comments were generally supportive of the proposed rule. 
Both tariff publishers endorsed the scope of errors to be corrected 
under the rule. The comments of DPI specifically noted that the 48-hour 
window to correct electronic transmission errors in service contract 
filings is the right amount of time for the correction process. The 
comments of PCTB also included a suggestion that the SERVCON system 
should be altered further to reintroduce the ability of a filer to 
completely withdraw a filed service contract or amendment that contains 
erroneous matter.

Discussion

    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. 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.
    Current regulations provide for the amendment, correction, and 
cancellation of service contract filings (46 CFR 530.10). This final 
rule will 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.
    Under this final rule only errors resulting from electronic 
transmission and data conversion for SERVCON format may be corrected. 
Examples of substantive service contract changes that are not permitted 
under the new 46 CFR 530.10(d) are: Change of rates; deletion of a port 
or point to be served or a commodity to be carried under the

[[Page 43327]]

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. This is not an exhaustive list, but instead 
serves as a specific example for general guidance. These and other 
similar 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).
    Corrections to an initial filing are 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 monitor the use of the 
correction process; any abuse of the limited permission in the rule 
would be considered a violation of the Commission's regulations.
    Under this new rule, the SERVCON system will 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 will be added to the online filing 
system as a checkbox for the filer to identify the 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 or service 
contract or amendment numbers. The system also will flag resubmitted 
contracts and will give a unique internal file name to the corrected 
transmission for FMC monitoring purposes. A new separate SERVCON field 
for filers to enter a description of the corrections being made will be 
provided.
    The Commission has determined that it will not add a ``withdrawal'' 
function to the final rule as recommended by PCTB. The Commission's 
previous Automated Tariff Filing and Information (``ATFI'') system did 
have a ``withdrawal'' function that permitted a filer to withdraw a 
service contract filing containing erroneous matter on the same date 
that it was filed and allowed the re-filing of the appropriate copy. 
That ``withdrawal'' function was eliminated when the ATFI system was 
discontinued September 30, 1999. Presumably, filers have been 
accomplishing any needed ``withdrawals'' of service contracts by filing 
an amendment to cancel an unintentionally filed document, which is 
permitted under 46 CFR 530.10(b). Therefore, even though the final rule 
does not permit reuse of the service contract number and file name, or 
the complete withdrawal of an unintended contract filing as suggested 
by PCTB, the Commission does not believe it is necessary to add a 
separate ``withdrawal'' feature to the SERVCON system. The 48-hour 
window to correct a transmission error contained in the final rule, 46 
CFR 530.10(d), adequately provides an opportunity for filers to address 
erroneous service contract filings. For example, under the final rule 
the SERVCON system will accept a correction via the Corrected 
Transmission (``CT'') function to allow an erroneous service contract 
number, organization number, or document file name on an initial 
contract filing to be corrected.

List of Subjects in 46 CFR Part 530

    Freight, Maritime carriers, Reporting and record keeping 
requirements.


0
For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Commission is adding a 
new paragraph (d) in 46 CFR part 530, subpart B, section 530.10, as 
follows:

PART 530--SERVICE CONTRACTS

0
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.


0
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 530.10(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 or service contract and 
amendment numbers are not accepted by SERVCON.

    By the Commission.
Bryant L. VanBrakle,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 03-18565 Filed 7-21-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6730-01-P