II

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2193

To amend the Fishermen’s Protective Act of 1967 to require the Secretary

of State to reimburse owners of certain fishing vessels for certain fees

paid by such owners to governments of foreign countries, and for other

purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 15 (legislative day, JUNE 7), 1994

Mrs. MURRAY (for herself and Mr. GORTON) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,

Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To amend the Fishermen’s Protective Act of 1967 to require

the Secretary of State to reimburse owners of certain

fishing vessels for certain fees paid by such owners to

governments of foreign countries, and for other purposes.

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

3 SECTION 1. REIMBURSEMENT AND RECOVERY OF FEES.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Fishermen’s Protective Act

5 of 1967 (22 U.S.C. 1971 et seq.) is amended by adding

6 at the end the following new section:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 11. (a) Subject to subsection (c), the Secretary

2 of State shall reimburse an owner of a commercial fishing

3 vessel of the United States for the amount of any fee de4 scribed in subsection (b) that is collected from the owner.

5 ‘‘(b) Subsection (a) applies to any fee collected from

6 an owner of a vessel referred to in that subsection by the

7 government of a foreign country in order to permit the

8 vessel to navigate in waters of the country that connect

9 with waters of the United States if—

10 ‘‘(1) the owner pays the fee under protest; and

11 ‘‘(2) the Secretary determines that the collec12 tion of the fee is contrary to applicable international

13 law.

14 ‘‘(c)(1) An owner of a commercial fishing vessel seek15 ing reimbursement for the amount of a fee under this sec16 tion shall submit to the Secretary a request for reimburse17 ment of the amount of the fee.

18 ‘‘(2) The request shall include any information with

19 respect to the payment of the fee that the Secretary deter20 mines appropriate, including—

21 ‘‘(A) a copy of the receipt indicating payment

22 of the fee; and

23 ‘‘(B) an affidavit attesting that the owner paid

24 the fee under protest.
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1 ‘‘(3) The owner shall submit the request not later

2 than 90 days after the payment of the fee.

3 ‘‘(d) The Secretary shall take any actions that the

4 Secretary considers appropriate in order to recover from

5 a foreign country the amount of any reimbursement made

6 by the Secretary under this section with respect to a fee

7 collected by that country.

8 ‘‘(e) For purposes of this section:

9 ‘‘(1) The term ‘commercial fishing vessel of the

10 United States’ means any vessel of the United

11 States engaged in commercial fishing activities or

12 operations.

13 ‘‘(2) The term ‘owner’, in the case of a com14 mercial fishing vessel, includes any charterer of the

15 vessel.’’.

16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—(1) The amendment made by

17 subsection (a) shall take effect on June ll, 1994.

18 (2) An owner of a commercial fishing vessel who pays

19 a fee referred to in subsection (b) of section 11 of the

20 Fishermen’s Protective Act of 1967, as added by sub21 section (a), during the period beginning on June ll,

22 1994, and ending on the date of the enactment of this

23 Act shall submit to the Secretary of State a request for

24 reimbursement for the fee under such section 11 not later

25 than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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