{"id":5062,"date":"2020-09-30T15:32:14","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T19:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=5062"},"modified":"2020-09-30T15:32:14","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T19:32:14","slug":"commission-requests-comments-on-possible-changes-to-regulations-governing-cruise-lines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/commission-requests-comments-on-possible-changes-to-regulations-governing-cruise-lines\/","title":{"rendered":"Commission Requests Comments on Possible Changes to Regulations Governing Cruise Lines"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Federal Maritime Commission has voted to issue an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM). The ANPRM will gather information about possible changes to regulations governing the definition of \u201cnon-performance\u201d by a cruise line and the process for obtaining a refund when a vessel does not sail.<\/p>\n<p>The ANPRM will be published in the Federal Register in the coming days and will include a 30-day public comment period during which interested parties can provide information to the Commission relevant to specific issues that will determine the agency\u2019s next steps.<\/p>\n<p>The genesis of this action was a recommendation made by Commissioner Louis E. Sola in his July <a href=\"https:\/\/www2.fmc.gov\/readingroom\/docs\/FFno30\/RefundsInterimReportFinal.pdf\/\">Fact Finding 30 Interim Report<\/a> examining the refund policies of cruise lines. Specifically, Commissioner Sola recommended that the FMC interpret \u201cnon-performance of transportation\u201d to include cancelling a sailing or delaying passenger boarding by twenty-four hours or more, and recommended that the Commission change its regulations to make clear how passengers may obtain refunds under a cruise line\u2019s financial instruments in certain circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt became apparent early in my work on <a href=\"\/fact-finding-30\/\">Fact Finding 30<\/a> that existing regulations dealing with carrier non-performance and how passengers are compensated when a ship does not sail needed to be clarified and updated.\u00a0 This ANPRM is an important step toward bringing more meaningful rules and requirements for what happens when a voyage does not happen because of the actions of the service provider,\u201d said Commissioner Sola.<\/p>\n<p>In an August vote, the <a href=\"\/commission-initiates-rulemaking-process-addressing-cruise-line-performance-and-refunds\/\">Commission accepted the recommendations<\/a> of Commissioner Sola and directed agency staff to initiate a rulemaking implementing the regulatory changes he proposed.\u00a0 This ANPRM\u00a0 seeks information and responses to detailed questions about the costs and impacts of the proposed regulatory changes being considered by the FMC.<\/p>\n<p>Individuals may share comments responsive to the ANPRM via <a href=\"mailto:secretary@fmc.gov\">secretary@fmc.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While all parties are welcome to provide comments in response to this ANPRM, filings should not be complaints regarding individual cruise experiences.\u00a0 Those communications may be sent to <a href=\"mailto:complaints@FMC.gov\">complaints@FMC.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the 30-day comment period, the Commission will consider the comments received and what further actions should be taken.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Federal Maritime Commission has voted to issue an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM). The ANPRM will gather information about possible changes to regulations governing the definition of \u201cnon-performance\u201d by a cruise line and the process for obtaining a refund when a vessel does not sail. The ANPRM will... <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"\/commission-requests-comments-on-possible-changes-to-regulations-governing-cruise-lines\/\">Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,31],"tags":[42],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fmc.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5062"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fmc.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fmc.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fmc.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fmc.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5062"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fmc.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5063,"href":"https:\/\/www.fmc.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5062\/revisions\/5063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fmc.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fmc.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fmc.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}