FMC ASKS INDUSTRY COMMENTS ON EXTENSION OF TARIFF COLLECTION

FMC ASKS INDUSTRY COMMENTS ON EXTENSION OF TARIFF COLLECTION    The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission said that it intends to ask the Office of Management and Budget for continued approval of information collection procedures such as carrier automated tariffs, and asked for industry comments on its proposed submission.
   The information collections that would continue with no change concern: carrier automated tariff systems; government-controlled non-U.S. carriers; service contracts; applications for a certificate of financial responsibility; licensing, financial responsibility requirements and general duties for ocean transportation intermediaries; ocean common carrier and marine terminal operator agreements subject to the Shipping Act of 1984; and other procedures.
   Comments must be submitted by May 6 to Austin L. Schmitt, deputy executive director at the FMC, telephone (202) 523-5800. Comments submitted will be summarized or included in the request for Office of Management and Budget approval and will become public record.
   The FMC estimates that the publication by carriers (vessel-operating and non-vessel-operating) and conferences of tariffs in automated tariff systems affects up to 3,000 respondents in the industry. Providing the tariff information “averages five person-hours per respondent for Form FMC 1 and tariff publication matters,” the agency said. The Commission estimates the total burden at 313,400 person-hours a year.
   Commenting on the collection of information from controlled carriers, the FMC said that this is required to “monitor the practices of controlled carriers to ensure that they do not maintain rates or charges in their tariffs and service contracts that are below a level that is just and reasonable; nor establish, maintain or enforce unjust or unreasonable classifications, rules or regulations in those tariffs or service contracts which result or are likely to result in the carriage or handling of cargo at rates or charges that are below a just and reasonable level.”
   The submission of notifications from controlled carriers are not assigned to a specific time frame by the Commission. About 5 of the 14 currently-classified controlled carriers may respond in any given year to requests for information from the FMC, and each response takes an estimated 7 person-hours per year, according to the agency.
   On the filing of service contracts by vessel-operating carriers, the FMC estimates that the time per response ranges from one to eight hours, and the total person-hour burden on carriers is estimated at 303,953 a year.