I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7081 

To establish a process for waiver of coastwise endorsement requirements. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 25, 2024 

Mr. CLINE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To establish a process for waiver of coastwise endorsement 

requirements. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Access to 

5 American Products Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. WAIVER OF COASTWISE ENDORSEMENT REQUIRE7 MENTS. 

8 Section 12112 of title 46, United States Code, is 

9 amended by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(c) WAIVERS IN CASES OF PRODUCT CARRIER

11 SCARCITY OR UNAVAILABILITY.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The head of an agency 

2 shall, upon request, temporarily waive the require3 ments of subsection (a), including the requirement 

4 to satisfy section 12103, if the person requesting 

5 that waiver reasonably demonstrates to the head of 

6 an agency that— 

7 ‘‘(A) there is no product carrier, with re8 spect to a specified good, that meets such re9 quirements and is available to carry such good; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(B) the person made a good faith effort 

12 to locate a product carrier described in sub13 paragraph (A). 

14 ‘‘(2) DURATION.—Any waiver issued under 

15 paragraph (1) shall be limited in duration, and shall 

16 expire by a specified date that is not less than 30 

17 days after the date on which the waiver is issued. 

18 ‘‘(3) EXTENSION.—Upon request, if the cir19 cumstances under which a waiver was issued under 

20 paragraph (1) have not substantially changed, the 

21 head of an agency shall, without delay, grant one or 

22 more extensions to a waiver issued under paragraph 

23 (1), for periods of not less than 15 days each. 

24 ‘‘(4) DEADLINE FOR WAIVER RESPONSE.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) RESPONSE DEADLINE.—Not later 

2 than 60 days after receiving a request for a 

3 waiver under paragraph (1), the head of an 

4 agency shall approve or deny such request. 

5 ‘‘(B) FINDINGS IN SUPPORT OF DENIED

6 WAIVER.—If the head of an agency denies such 

7 a request, the head of an agency shall, not later 

8 than 14 days after denying the request, submit 

9 to the requester a report that includes the find10 ings that served as the basis for denying the re11 quest. 

12 ‘‘(C) REQUEST DEEMED GRANTED.—If the 

13 head of an agency has neither granted nor de14 nied the request before the response deadline 

15 described in subparagraph (A), the request 

16 shall be deemed granted on the date that is 61 

17 days after the date on which the head of an 

18 agency received the request. A waiver that is 

19 deemed granted under this subparagraph shall 

20 be valid for a period of 30 days. 

21 ‘‘(5) NOTICE TO CONGRESS.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The head of an agen23 cy shall notify Congress— 

24 ‘‘(i) of any request for a temporary 

25 waiver under this subsection, not later 


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1 than 48 hours after receiving such request; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(ii) of the issuance of any such waiv4 er, not later than 48 hours after such 

5 issuance. 

6 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—The head of an agency 

7 shall include in each notification under subpara8 graph (A)(ii) a detailed explanation of the rea9 sons the waiver is necessary. 

10 ‘‘(6) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

11 ‘‘(A) PRODUCT CARRIER.—The term ‘prod12 uct carrier’, with respect to a good, means a 

13 vessel constructed or adapted primarily to carry 

14 such good in bulk in the cargo spaces. 

15 ‘‘(B) HEAD OF AN AGENCY.—The term 

16 ‘head of an agency’ means the head of an agen17 cy responsible for the administration of the 

18 navigation or vessel inspection laws, or an indi19 vidual of such an agency delegated such respon20 sibility.’’. 

Æ 


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