27248 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 99 / Tuesday, May 23, 1995 / Proposed Rules

1A service contract is defined by section 3(21) of

the Act as:

* * * a contract between a shipper and an

ocean common carrier or conference in which the

shipper makes a commitment to provide a certain

minimum quantity of cargo over a fixed time

period, and the ocean common carrier or conference

commits to a certain rate or rate schedule as well

as a defined level—such as assured space, transit

time, port rotation, or similar service features; the

contract may also specify provisions in the event of

nonperformance on the part of either party.

2Section 8(c) of the 1984 Act provides:

* * * each [service] contract entered into * * *

shall be filed confidentially with the Commission,

and at the same time, a concise statement of its

essential terms shall be filed with the Commission

and made available to the general public in tariff

format, and those essential terms shall be available

to all shippers similarly situated. The essential

terms shall include—

(1) the origin and destination port ranges in the

case of port-to-port movements, and the origin and

destination geographic areas in the case of through

intermodal movements;

(2) the commodity or commodities involved;

(3) the minimum volume;

(4) the line-haul rate;

(5) the duration;

(6) service commitments; and

(7) the liquidated damages for nonperformance, if

any.

3This requirement is implemented in the

Commission’s rules and regulations at 46 CFR

514.7(f)(1).

Dated: May 16, 1995.

Willie R. Taylor,

Director, Office of Environmental Policy and

Compliance.

[FR Doc. 95–12514 Filed 5–22–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–RG–M

FEDERAL MARITIME COMMISSION

46 CFR Part 514

[Docket No. 95–08]

Service Contract Filing

Requirements—Miscellaneous

Revisions

AGENCY: Federal Maritime Commission.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

SUMMARY: The Federal Maritime

Commission proposes to amend its rules

to provide an optional, abbreviated

service contract format and to require

service contracts to include certain

identifying information concerning the

signatories. This should reduce

duplication and Commission and carrier

costs, as well as facilitate automation of

the Commission’s service contract

records.

DATES: Comments due June 22, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Comments (original and 15

copies) are to be submitted to: Joseph C.

Polking, Secretary, Federal Maritime

Commission, 800 North Capitol Street,

N.W., Washington, D.C. 20573, (202)

523–5725.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Bryant L. VanBrakle, Director, Bureau of

Tariffs, Certification and Licensing,

Federal Maritime Commission, 800

North Capitol Street, N.W., Washington,

D.C. 20573, (202) 523–5796.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Service

contracts subject to section 8(c) of the

Shipping Act of 1984 (‘‘1984 Act’’ or

‘‘the Act’’), 46 U.S.C. app. 1707(c),1 are

filed confidentially with the Federal

Maritime Commission (‘‘FMC’’ or

‘‘Commission’’).2 Prior to such filing, a

statement of each contract’s essential

terms (‘‘ET’’) is filed electronically in

the Commission’s Automated Tariff

Filing and Information System

(‘‘ATFI’’), made available to the general

public in tariff format, and offered to all

similarly situated shippers.3

ETs have been required to be filed in

ATFI since November 1993. However,

the associated confidential service

contracts continue to be filed in paper

format and can often be of considerable

length. There is significant duplication

between a service contract’s text and

that of its corresponding ET. To the

extent the overlap between these

interdependent documents can be

minimized, the rate of error between the

two documents should also be reduced.

Because service contracts are filed

confidentially with the Commission,

they must be secured under lock and

key. Given the rapidly rising number of

contract filings, and their sheer physical

bulk, these documents are consuming

an ever larger portion of the

Commission’s limited secured storage

space.

Apart from the foregoing, the

Commission is also proposing to

address a ministerial detail relating to

the content of service contracts. The

current service contract rules do not

require contracts to set forth the

signatories’ addresses. This has resulted

in difficulty in clearly identifying

shipper parties, including named

affiliates, to certain service contracts,

and, in some cases, hampered the

Commission’s investigative efforts.

The Commission therefore proposes

to afford service contract parties the

option of filing their service contracts in

an abbreviated format, on condition that

such filings incorporate by reference the

corresponding ATFI ETs; certify that

said ET contains all aspects of the

parties’ contract which are not set forth

in the service contract filing; and set

forth certain specific information. The

FMC also proposes to require service

contracts to set forth the parties’ names,

titles and addresses.

The collection of information

requirements contained in this proposed

rule have been submitted to the Office

of Management and Budget for review

under the provisions of the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1980 (Pub. L. 96–511),

as amended. Public reporting burden for

this collection of information is

estimated to decrease to an average of

one manhour per response, including

the time for reviewing instructions,

searching existing data sources,

gathering and maintaining the data

needed, and completing and reviewing

the collection of information. Send

comments regarding this burden

estimate or any other aspect of this

collection of information, including

suggestions for reducing the burden, to

Bruce A. Dombrowski, Deputy

Managing Director, Federal Maritime

Commission, Washington, D.C. 20573

and to the Office of Information and

Regulatory Affairs, Office of

Management and Budget, Washington,

D.C. 20503.

The Chairman of the Commission

certifies, pursuant to section 605(b) of

the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C.

601, et seq., that this proposed rule will

not have a significant economic impact

on a substantial number of small

entities, including small businesses,

small organizational units, and small

governmental jurisdictions.

List of Subjects in 46 CFR Part 514

Administrative practice and

procedure, Antitrust, Automatic data

processing, Cargo vessels, Confidential

business information, Contracts,

Exports, Freight, Freight forwarders,

Imports, Maritime carriers, Penalties,

Rates and fares, Reporting and

recordkeeping requirements.

Therefore, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553

and sections 3, 8, and 17 of the

Shipping Act of 1984 (46 U.S.C. app.

1702, 1707 and 1716), the Federal

Maritime Commission proposes to

amend Part 514 of Title 46 of the Code

of Federal Regulations as follows:

PART 514—[AMENDED]

1. The authority citation for Part 514

continues to read:

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552 and 553; 31 U.S.C.

9701; 46 U.S.C. app. 804, 812, 814–817(a),

820, 833a, 841a, 843, 844, 845, 845a, 845b,

847, 1702–1712, 1714–1716, 1718, 1721, and

1722; and sec. 2(b) of Pub. L. 101–92, 103

Stat. 601.

2. Section 514.7 is amended by

revising paragraphs (h)(1)(v) and

(h)(1)(vi) and adding paragraph

(h)(2)(i)(C) to read as follows:
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 99 / Tuesday, May 23, 1995 / Proposed Rules 27249

1See Exhibit II of this part for an example of an

abbreviated format service contract.

§ 514.7 Service contracts in foreign

commerce.

* * * * *

(h) * * *

(1) * * *

(v) The true and complete names and

addresses of the contract parties and the

typewritten names, titles and addresses

of the representatives signing the

contract for the parties. Any further

references in the contract to such parties

shall be consistent with the first

reference (e.g., (exact name), ‘‘carrier,’’

‘‘shipper,’’ or ‘‘association,’’ etc.); and

(vi) The true and complete names and

addresses of every affiliate of each

contract party named under paragraph

(h)(1)(v) of this section entitled to

receive or authorized to offer services

under the contract, except that in the

case of a contract entered into by a

conference or shippers’ association,

individual members need not be named

unless the contract includes or excludes

specific members. In the event the list

of affiliates is too lengthy to be included

on the first page, reference shall be

made to the exact location of such

information.

* * * * *

(2) * * *

(i) * * *

(C) Section 514.7(h)(2)(i)(A) does not

apply to a service contract that

incorporates by reference all of the

associated essential terms filing as

published in ATFI, provided that the

parties certify that, other than for those

provisions set forth in the filed service

contract, such essential terms filing sets

forth the parties’ true and complete

contract.1

* * * * *

By the Commission.

Joseph C. Polking,

Secretary.

Exhibit II to Part 514

Sample Abbreviated Format Service

Contract

Service Contract No.: SC 1–95

FMC File No.: 50,000

Essentials Terms No.: ET 1–95

Amendment No.: lll

Service Contract Essential Terms Publication

No.: 003

Tariff(s) of General Applicability No.: 001,

002

Carrier/Conference Name: Efficient Liner

Transportation, Inc.

Carrier/Conference Address: 1227 Seaway

Drive, Washington, DC 20573

and

Shipper Name: ABC Electronics Company

Shipper Address: 7221 Happiness Lane, New

York, NY 10001

This is a service contract pursuant to the

Shipping Act of 1984 (46 U.S.C. app. 1701 et

seq.) and FMC rules at 46 C.F.R. Part 514,

between ‘‘CARRIER/CONFERENCE’’ and

‘‘SHIPPER’’ parties named herein. The

contract parties certify that the terms set forth

herein and the essential terms as published

in Carrier/Conference Service Contract

Essential Terms Tariff No. 003, ET No. 1–95,

in the Federal Maritime Commission’s

Automated Tariff Filing and Information

System, constitute the true and complete

copy of all aspects of this contract and are

hereby incorporated by reference.

Further, shipper party named herein

certifies its status and that of any affiliate(s)/

subsidiary(ies) named herein as (check

appropriate box(es):

b NVOCC

b Shippers’ Association

b Owner of Cargo

b Other (Please specify)

Records maintained to support shipments

under this service contract are: bills of

lading, shipping manifests, and other related

written correspondence between contract

parties.

Contact person for records in the event of

a request by the Federal Maritime

Commission: Efficient Liner Transportation,

Inc., Traffic Manager, 1227 Seaway Drive,

Washington, DC 20573, (202) 523–5856.

lllllllllllllllllllll

(Carrier/Conference Signature)

Date llllllllllllllllll

Carl T. Booker, President

Efficient Liner Transportation, Inc.

lllllllllllllllllllll

(Shipper Signature)

Date llllllllllllllllll

Vanessa M. Banks, President

ABC Electronics Company

Affiliate of shipper: Quality Compact Discs,

Inc.

Affiliate’s address: 7221–A Happiness Lane,

New York, NY 10001

[FR Doc. 95–12512 Filed 5–22–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6730–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 20

RIN 1018–AD08

Migratory Bird Harvest Information

Program

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service,

Interior.

ACTION: Proposed Rule; Extension of

Comment Period.

SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service (Service) announces the

extension of the comment period for

Service’s March 15, 1995, Proposed

Rule published in the Federal Register

from April 1 to May 31, 1995.

DATES: The comment period for the

proposed framework will end on May

31, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should

be sent to: Chief, Office of Migratory

Bird Management, U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service, 10815 Loblolly Pine

Drive, Laurel, Maryland 20708–4028.

Comments received will be available for

public inspection during normal

business hours in Building 158, 10815

Loblolly Pine Drive (Gate 4, Patuxent

Environmental Science Center), Laurel,

Maryland 20708–4028.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul

I. Padding, Office of Migratory Bird

Management, (301) 497–5980, FAX

(301) 497–5981.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Service announced in the March 15,

1995, Federal Register (60 FR 14194)

the planned expansion of the Migratory

Bird Harvest Information Program

(Program) to include the States of

Michigan, Oklahoma, and Oregon

beginning in the 1995–96 hunting

season, and minor modifications to the

Program. This Program provides

annually a nationwide sample frame of

migratory bird hunters, from which

representative samples of hunters are

selected and asked to participate in a

voluntary survey. State wildlife agencies

provide a sample frame of hunters by

annually collecting the name, address,

date of birth, and a brief summary of

migratory bird hunting activity from the

previous year from each licensed

migratory bird hunter in their State.

States forward this information to the

Service, and the Service samples

hunters and conducts national hunter

activity and harvest surveys.

Dated: May 16, 1995.

George T. Frampton, Jr.

Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and

Parks

[FR Doc. 95–12508 Filed 5–22–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–F