I
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4040
To amend title 49, United States Code, relating to intermodal safe container
transportation.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 10, 1996
Mr. SHUSTER (for himself, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. PETRI, and Mr. RAHALL) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To amend title 49, United States Code, relating to
intermodal safe container transportation.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Intermodal Safe Con-
tainer Transportation Act Amendments of 1996’’.
SEC. 2. REFERENCES TO TITLE 49.
Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in
this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms
of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provi-
sion, the reference shall be considered to be made to a
section or other provision of title 49, United States Code.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
Section 5901 is amended—
(1) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the
following:
‘‘(1) except as otherwise provided in this chap-
ter, the definitions in sections 10102 and 13102 of
this title apply.’’;
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (6) and (7) as
paragraphs (7) and (8), respectively; and
(3) by inserting after paragraph (5) the follow-
ing new paragraph:
‘‘(6) ‘gross cargo weight’ means the weight of
the cargo, packaging materials (including ice), pal-
lets, and dunnage.’’.
SEC. 4. NOTIFICATIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS.
Section 5902 is amended to read as follows:
‘‘§ 5902. Notifications and certifications
‘‘(a) PRIOR NOTIFICATION.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the first carrier to which
any loaded container or trailer having a projected
gross cargo weight of more than 29,000 pounds is
tendered for intermodal transportation is a motor
carrier, the person tendering the container or trailer
er is being tendered to it, the subsequent carrier
may presume that no certification is required.
‘‘(3) LIMITATION ON CONSTRUCTION OF FOR-
WARDING.—The act of forwarding the certification
may not be construed as a verification or affirmation
of the accuracy or completeness of the information
in the certification.
‘‘(4) LIABILITY.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—If a person inac-
curately transfers the information on the certifi-
cation or fails to forward the certification to a
subsequent carrier, then that person is liable to
any person who incurs any bond, fine, penalty,
cost (including storage), or interest charge in-
curred as a result of the inaccurate transfer of
information or failure to forward the certifi-
cation.
‘‘(B) LIEN.—A subsequent carrier incur-
ring a bond, fine, penalty, or cost (including
storage), or interest charge as a result of the
inaccurate transfer of the information or the
failure to forward the certification shall have a
lien against the contents of the container or
trailer under section 5905 in the amount of the
bond, fine, penalty, or cost (including storage),
or interest charge and all court costs and legal
fees incurred by the carrier as a result of such
inaccurate transfer or failure.
‘‘(5) NOTICE
TO
LEASED
OPERATORS.—If a
motor carrier knows that the gross cargo weight of
an intermodal container or trailer subject to the cer-
tification requirements of subsection (b) would result
in a violation of applicable State gross vehicle weight
laws—
‘‘(A) a motor carrier must inform the oper-
ator of a vehicle which is leased by the vehicle
operator to a motor carrier which transports an
intermodal container or trailer of the gross
cargo weight of the container or trailer as cer-
tified to the motor carrier pursuant to sub-
section (b);
‘‘(B) the notice must be provided to the
operator prior to the operator being tendered
the container or trailer;
‘‘(C) the notice required by this subsection
must be in writing, but may be transmitted
electronically;
‘‘(D) the motor carrier shall bear the bur-
den of proof to establish that it tendered the re-
quired notice to the operator; and
‘‘(E) if the operator of a leased vehicle
transporting a container or trailer subject to
this chapter should receive a fine because of a
violation of a State’s gross vehicle weight laws
or regulations and lessee motor carrier cannot
establish that it tendered to the operator the
notice required by this section, the operator
shall be entitled to reimbursement from the
motor carrier of the amount of any fine and
court costs resulting from the failure of the
motor carrier to tender the notice to the opera-
tor.
‘‘(d) 
LIABILITY
TO
OWNER
OR
BENEFICIAL
OWNER.—If—
‘‘(1) a person inaccurately transfers informa-
tion on a certification required by subsection (b)(1)
or fails to forward a certification to the subsequent
carrier;
‘‘(2) as a result of the inaccurate transfer of
such information or a failure to forward a certifi-
cation, the subsequent carrier incurs a bond, fine,
penalty, or cost (including storage), or interest
charge; and
‘‘(3) a subsequent carrier exercises its rights to
a lien under section 5905,
then that person is liable to the owner or beneficial owner
or to any other person paying the amount of the lien to
the subsequent carrier for the amount of the lien and all
costs related to the imposition of the lien, including court
costs and legal fees incurred in connection with imposition
of the lien.
‘‘(e) NONAPPLICABILITY.—
‘‘(1) CONSOLIDATED SHIPMENTS.—The notifi-
cation and certification requirements of subsections
(a) and (b) do not apply to any intermodal container
or trailer containing consolidated shipments loaded
by a motor carrier if that motor carrier—
‘‘(A) performs the highway portion of the
intermodal movement; or
‘‘(B) assumes the responsibility for any
weight-related fine or penalty incurred by any
other motor carrier that performs a part of the
highway transportation.
‘‘(2) INTERMODAL TRANSPORTATION OF LOAD-
ED CONTAINERS.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subsections (a) and
(b) and section 5903(c) do not apply to a car-
rier when the carrier is transferring a loaded
container or trailer to another carrier during
intermodal transportation, unless the carrier is
also the person tendering the loaded container
or trailer to the first carrier.
‘‘(B) SPECIAL RULE.—A carrier, agent of
a carrier, broker, customs broker, freight for-
warder, warehouser, or terminal operator is
deemed not to be a person tendering a loaded
container or trailer to a first carrier under this
section, unless the carrier, agent, broker, cus-
toms broker, freight forwarder, warehouser, or
terminal operator assumes legal responsibility
for loading property into the container or trail-
er.’’.
SEC. 5. PROHIBITIONS.
(a) PROVIDING ERRONEOUS INFORMATION.—Section
5903(a) is amended by inserting ‘‘, to whom section
5902(b) applies,’’ after ‘‘A person’’.
(b) TRANSPORTING PRIOR TO RECEIVING CERTIFI-
CATION.—Section 5903(b) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(b) TRANSPORTING PRIOR TO RECEIVING CERTIFI-
CATION.—
‘‘(1) PRESUMPTION.—If no certification is re-
ceived by a motor carrier before or when a loaded
intermodal container or trailer is tendered to it, the
motor carrier may presume that the gross cargo
weight of the container or trailer is less than 29,001
pounds.
‘‘(2) COPY OF CERTIFICATION NOT REQUIRED
TO ACCOMPANY CONTAINER OR TRAILER.—Notwith-
standing any other provision of this chapter, if a cer-
tification is required by section 5902(b), a copy of
the certification is not required to accompany the
intermodal container or trailer.’’.
(c) UNLAWFUL COERCION.—Section 5903(c)(1) is
amended by striking ‘‘10,000 pounds (including packing
materials and pallets)’’ and inserting ‘‘29,000 pounds’’.
SEC. 6. LIENS.
(a) GENERAL RULE.—Section 5905(a) is amended to
read as follows:
‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—If a person involved in the
intermodal transportation of a loaded container or trailer
for which a certification is required by section 5902(b) of
this title is required, because of a violation of a State’s
gross vehicle weight laws or regulations, to post a bond
or pay a fine, penalty, cost (including storage), or interest
charge resulting from—
‘‘(1) erroneous information provided by the cer-
tifying party in the certification to the first carrier
in violation of section 5903(a),
‘‘(2) the failure of the party required to provide
the certification to the first carrier to provide it,
‘‘(3) the failure of a person required under sec-
tion 5902(c) to forward the certification to forward
it, or
‘‘(4) an error occurring in the transfer of infor-
mation on the certification to another document
under section 5902(b)(3) or 5902(c),
then the person posting the bond, or paying any fine, pen-
alty, cost (including storage), or interest charge has a lien
against the contents equal to the amount of the bond, fine,
penalty, cost (including storage), or interest charge in-
curred, until the person receives a payment of that amount
from the owner or beneficial owner of the contents or from
the person responsible for making or forwarding the cer-
tification or transferring the information from the certifi-
cation to another document.’’.
(b) LIMITATIONS.—Section 5905(b)(1) is amended—
(1) by inserting after ‘‘the first carrier’’ the fol-
lowing: ‘‘or the owner or beneficial owner of the con-
tents’’; and
(2) by striking ‘‘cost, or interest.’’ and inserting
‘‘cost (including storage), or interest charge. The
lien shall remain in effect until the lien holder has
received payment for all costs and expenses as de-
scribed in subsection (a).’’.
SEC. 7. PERISHABLE AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES.
Section 5906 is amended by striking ‘‘Sections
5904(a)(2) and 5905 of this title do’’ and insert ‘‘Section
5905 does’’.
SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.
Section 5907 is amended to read as follows:
‘‘§ 5907. Effective date
‘‘This chapter, as amended by the Intermodal Safe
Container Transportation Act Amendments of 1996, is ef-
fective on the date of the enactment of such Act. The pro-
visions of this chapter shall be implemented 180 days after
such date of enactment.’’.
SEC. 9. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAWS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 59 is amended by adding
at the end the following new section:
‘‘§ 5908. Relationship to other laws
‘‘Nothing in this chapter affects—
‘‘(1) chapter 51 (relating to transportation of
hazardous material) or the regulations issued under
that chapter; or
‘‘(2) any State highway weight or size law or
regulation applicable to tractor-trailer combina-
tions.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The analysis for
such chapter is amended by striking the item relating to
section 5907 and inserting the following:
‘‘5907. Effective date.
‘‘5908. Relationship to other laws.’’.
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