COAST GUARD RULES FOR 96-HOUR ADVANCE NOTICE TAKE EFFECT

COAST GUARD RULES FOR 96-HOUR ADVANCE NOTICE TAKE EFFECT    Revised U.S. Coast Guard regulations regarding the 96-hour advance notice of vessel arrival go into effect today.
   The list of ships exempted from the reporting requirement has been adjusted “only slightly,” said Dennis Bryant, an attorney in Washington, D.C., in an industry advisory.
   Also, the list of “certain dangerous cargoes” that must be specially reported “has been limited to only those cargoes that the Coast Guard deems to pose the greatest risk to maritime safety and security,” Bryant said.
   “The differentiation between crewmembers and persons on board in addition to crew has been sharpened, but the amount of information required for each person is largely unchanged,” he explained.
   Coast Guard officials are “extremely concerned about the accuracy of personnel information,” Bryant noted. “If the Coast Guard boards a ship and finds material discrepancies between the list submitted and the persons actually on board, the ship will be delayed while the matter is resolved to the satisfaction of the Coast Guard and immigration officials,” Bryant warned.