40690 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 146 /Thursday, July 30, 1998 / Proposed Rules

Dated: June 18, 1998.

William J. Muszynski,

Acting Regional Administrator, Region II.

[FR Doc. 98–20152 Filed 7–29–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–U

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maritime Administration

RIN 2133–AB32

[Docket No. MARAD–98–3468]

46 CFR Part 298

Proposed Amendments to the Title XI;

Closing Documentation and

Application

AGENCY: Maritime Administration,

Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for

comments.

SUMMARY: The Maritime Administration

(MARAD) is considering changes to the

existing application form used by the

agency in evaluating whether to issue,

under Title XI of the Merchant Marine

Act, 1936, as amended, a commitment

to guarantee obligations for the

construction of vessels in shipyards

located in the United States or for the

modernization of such yards, and the

documentation forms used by the

agency in closing such commitments.

The purpose of this proposed rule is to

solicit public review and comment of

the proposed changes to the application

form and the closing documentation.

DATES: Comments should be submitted

on or before August 31, 1998, to the

address listed below.

ADDRESSES: Signed, written comments

should refer to the docket number that

appears at the top of this document and

must be submitted to the Docket Clerk,

U.S. DOT Dockets, Room PL–401, 400

Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC

20590–001. All comments received will

be available for examination at the

above address between 10 a.m. and 5

p.m., Monday through Friday except

Federal Holidays. An electronic version

of the new application forms and the

closing documents is available from the

persons listed below on computer disk

or on the World Wide Web at http://

marad.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Richard Lorr, Office of Chief Counsel,

Maritime Administration, MAR–223,

Room 7228, 400 Seventh Street, SW,

Washington, DC 20590, telephone 202–

366–5168 or fax 202–366–7485 with

respect to the closing documentation,

and Jean E. McKeever, Office of Ship

Financing, Maritime Administration,

MAR–530, Room 8122, 400 Seventh

Street, SW, Washington, DC 20590,

telephone 202–366–5744 or fax 202–

366–7901 with respect to the

application forms.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On

February 17, 1998, MARAD issued an

Advance Notice of Proposed

Rulemaking (ANPRM) and request for

comments on whether MARAD should

amend its existing regulations or alter

its existing administrative practices

governing the Title XI application

process, standards for evaluation and

approval of applications, and the

process of documentation for closing of

commitments to guarantee obligations.

The ANPRM was issued in response to

Executive Order 12862 issued by

President Clinton which called for

agencies to strive for a ‘‘customer-driven

government’’ that matches or exceeds

the best service available in the private

sector.

MARAD requested that its customers,

shipyard and shipowner executives,

their lawyers, accountants, investment

bankers and other professionals, who

have used or are familiar with the Title

XI program, provide MARAD with their

views about how the Title XI program

could be improved. MARAD requested

specific comments on several topics

including the following:

1. Whether changes to the current

application form (Form MA–163) are

needed and, if so, what specific changes

would make the application process

more efficient without eliminating

critical information needed by MARAD;

2. Whether there should be separate

application forms for export vessels,

U.S.-flag vessels, and shipyard

modernizations, and what specific

information should be requested by

each;

3. Whether MARAD should waive the

requirement in the application form for

the submission of plans and

specifications if a vessel design has

previously been approved by MARAD;

4. Whether MARAD should permit

electronic filing of all or a part of a Title

XI application;

5. Whether MARAD should create

special closing documentation to govern

shipyard modernization guarantees; and

6. Whether the current closing

documentation on a commitment to

guarantee imposes requirements that are

unnecessary and redundant, and what

changes should be made to the standard

documentation.

The response of commenters to these

questions and the actions that MARAD

is proposing are described below. Upon

receipt of further public comment to the

proposed application forms and closing

documentation, MARAD will make final

changes to the application forms and the

documentation. MARAD is preparing a

separate Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

covering any conforming changes with

respect to the content of the application

forms and the documentation and the

other regulatory issues that were raised

in the ANPRM, but are not addressed

herein.

The Application Form

Four commenters addressed the

application form and requested that the

agency simplify and streamline the

existing form. Five commenters

recommended that there be a separate

application form for shipyard

modernizations and four commenters

recommended an additional, separate

application form for export vessel

projects.

MARAD has responded favorably to

most of these recommendations.

MARAD has simplified and reorganized

the application, and deleted questions

that were unnecessary or redundant,

and clarified questions that were

ambiguous. MARAD is also placing the

new application forms on our home

page and is printing the forms on lettersize paper instead of legal-size paper.

MARAD created a separate

application form for shipyard

modernizations, but did not draft a

separate application form for export

vessels because the differences between

the domestic and the export

applications were not substantial

enough to justify the extra form.

However, the proposed vessel

application form has a separate section

dealing with export transactions.

MARAD believes that the net result is

clearer application forms which are

easier to follow and complete and

which will impose a reduced

preparation time on applicants and

should allow for a more expedited

processing of applications. MARAD

welcomes any further suggestions

commenters have to the two proposed

forms.

Plans and Specifications

The four commenters on the issue of

approved vessel designs believe that

MARAD should not require the

submission of plans and specifications

for vessel designs previously approved

by MARAD. MARAD agrees and the

application form has been amended

accordingly.

Electronic Filing

Seven commenters responded to this

issue. A number of them thought that

electronic filing would raise
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 146 /Thursday, July 30, 1998 / Proposed Rules 40691

confidentiality concerns, while still

others thought that paper filing is not

unduly burdensome. A few commenters

said that electronic filing of nonconfidential information should be

allowed as a means of expediting the

process. Neither MARAD nor the

Department of Transportation has the

current capacity to utilize electronic

filing efficiently or to ensure the

confidentiality of information

submitted. The Department is currently

working on resolving these issues as

part of its centralized docket system.

When such a system is in place,

MARAD will consider offering

electronic filing to applicants as an

option.

Shipyard Documentation

Five commenters stated that they

believed MARAD should create special

documents to govern closings on

commitments to guarantee shipyard

modernizations. Most commenters

recognized that the differences between

the land transactions involved in

shipyard modernization projects and the

maritime transactions involved in vessel

guarantees merited different closing

documentation. In addition,

commenters requested that MARAD

simplify the documentation. In

response, MARAD has prepared a

separate set of closing documents for

shipyard modernizations. A decision

was made not to include a land

mortgage since these mortgages vary

considerably under local law.

U.S.-Flag and Export Closing

Documents

Eight commenters informed us that

the existing documents are redundant,

inconsistent with current financing

practices, unnecessarily voluminous

and cumbersome, and difficult to

understand. They said that the current

documents deter use of the program

instead of facilitating its use. They

asked MARAD to streamline its

documents to reduce unnecessary work

and legal fees and other expenses and to

make the documentation clearer.

The proposed closing documentation

has been rewritten to address many of

these concerns. The proposed

documentation for the financing of

vessels and shipyard modernizations

has been simplified and rewritten in

plainer English. The length of the vessel

documents has been reduced by about

45% (for an uncomplicated transaction)

to about 135 pages from about 250

pages. Naturally, the size of the

documentation will vary depending on

the need for intercreditor agreements,

subordination agreements, corporate

guarantees, and other complexities that

arise out of the individual

considerations of any specific

transaction. Most importantly, MARAD

believes that the proposed revisions to

the documents have been made without

sacrificing any of the essential rights of

the government, shipowners, shipyards

or other parties.

In response to requests for documents

to cover private placements of

obligations without the use of an

Indenture Trustee, the agency has

developed an even more compact set of

documents to cover guarantees of direct

debt instead of the necessarily more

complicated public bond offerings.

These documents eliminate the need for

a bond purchase agreement, a trust

indenture, bonds, and an authorization

agreement. They may be especially

useful in attracting smaller applications,

but they can be used in larger

transactions as well. Depending on the

size of the credit agreement and

promissory note negotiated by the bank

or other direct lender, the

documentation needed in these

nontrustee transactions could be

reduced by about another 40 pages to

about 95 pages in their entirety.

By offering the maritime industry and

its underwriters and attorneys the

opportunity to use these clearer, more

streamlined and contemporary financial

documents, MARAD will make the Title

XI program more attractive to

shipowners and shipyards without

compromising the interests of the

government. By reducing the burden

and cost, MARAD will carry out its

statutory mission more effectively.

MARAD welcomes review of and

comments on these documents.

By Order of the Maritime Administrator.

Dated: July 24, 1998.

Joel C. Richard,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–20290 Filed 7–29–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–81–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Highway Administration

49 CFR Part 392

[FHWA Docket No. FHWA–98–4202]

RIN 2125–AD75

Railroad Grade Crossing Safety

AGENCY: Federal Highway

Administration (FHWA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking

(NPRM); request for comments.

SUMMARY: The Hazardous Materials

Transportation Authorization Act of

1994 requires the amendment of the

Federal Motor Carrier Safety

Regulations (FMCSRs) to prohibit

operators of commercial motor vehicles

(CMVs) from driving onto a railroad

grade crossing unless there is sufficient

space to drive completely through the

crossing without stopping. The FHWA,

therefore, proposes to make this

amendment which is intended to reduce

the incidence of collisions between

trains and CMVs. Comments and

information are requested about railroad

grade crossings that lack sufficient

clearance for some CMVs to be driven

completely through the crossing before

being required to stop by a stop sign,

highway traffic signal, or similar traffic

control device. The FHWA intends to

have a public meeting in Washington,

D.C. during the comment period to

discuss this subject matter.

DATES: Data and information concerning

railroad-highway crossings from State

agencies must be received no later than

September 28, 1998. Comments from

motor carriers and other interested

parties must be received no later than

November 27, 1998.

ADDRESSES: All signed, written

comments should refer to the docket

number that appears at the top of this

document and must be submitted to

Docket Clerk, U.S. DOT Dockets, Room

PL–401, Federal Highway

Administration, 400 Seventh Street,

SW., Washington, DC 20590. All

comments received will be available for

examination at the above address from

8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., e.t., Monday

through Friday, except Federal holidays.

Those desiring notification of receipt of

comments must include a selfaddressed, stamped postcard/envelope.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.

David M. Lehrman, Office of Motor

Carrier Research and Standards, (202)

366–0994, or Mr. Charles E. Medalen,

Office of the Chief Counsel, (202) 366–

1354, Federal Highway Administration,

Department of Transportation, 400

Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC

20590. Office hours are from 7:45 a.m.

to 4:15 p.m., e.t., Monday through

Friday, except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Electronic Access

Internet users can access all

comments received by the U.S. DOT

Dockets, Room PL–401, by using the

universal resource locator (URL): http:/

/dms.dot.gov. It is available 24 hours

each day, 365 days each year. Please

follow the instructions online for more

information and help.

An electronic copy of this document

may be downloaded using a modem and