Line 2. Registrant. This must be the full legal name of the firm or individual registering for the FMC's Service Contract Filing System and any trade names. The registrant name should match the corporate charter or business license, conference membership, etc. It should be noted that the registrant name cannot be changed by the registrant after the registration without submission of an amended registration fee.

Line 3. Address of Home Office. The complete street address should be shown in addition to the post office box. Also, provide the registrant's Federal Taxpayer Identification Number ("TIN" Number).

Line 4. Billing Address if Different. This should be completed if the billing address differs from the home office address. Show the firm name (if different from the registrant), street address and post office box (if applicable).

Line 5. Organization Number. Complete if known. (Regulated Persons Index or "RPI" number.)

Line 6. Registrant Type. Indicate the type of organization. A registrant cannot be more than one type. This data cannot be changed by the registrant after registration without submission of an amended registration form. Line 7. Permissions Requested and Person Granted These Permissions. Delegation of the authority to file should be noted here.

Maintenance of Organization Record-The person listed in line 8 is authorized to access the organization maintenance functions (i.e., modify organization information, assign publishers, affiliations, and d/b/as).

Service Contract Filing-The person listed in line 8 is authorized only to submit filings.

Line 8. Certified for Batch Filing. Indicate whether the registrant was registered with software certified to perform batch filings prior to May 1, 1999. Otherwise, the registrant must first be certified for batch filing as outlined in 46 CFR part 530. After certification, the registrant can submit an amended registration form to request permission for a person in their organization to perform the batch filing. If the person already has an existing log-on, the log-on (not the password) should be listed on the registration form. Also, the certification date received from the FMC should be listed on the registration form.

PART 535-AGREEMENTS

OCEAN COMMON CARRIERS AND OTHER PERSONS SUBJECT TO THE SHIPPING ACT OF 1984

review-rejection

of

535.606 Requests for additional information. 535.607 Failure to comply with requests for

additional information.

535.608 Confidentiality of submitted mate

rial.

535.609 Negotiations.

A

APPENDIX B TO PART 535-INFORMATION FORM
FOR CLASS C AGREEMENTS AND INSTRUC-
TIONS
APPENDIX C TO PART 535-MONITORING RE-
PORT FOR CLASS AGREEMENTS AND
INSTRUCTIONS
APPENDIX D TO PART 535-MONITORING RE-
PORT FOR CLASS B AGREEMENTS AND IN-
STRUCTIONS

APPENDIX E TO PART 535-MONITORING RE

PORT FOR CLASS C AGREEMENTS AND IN-
STRUCTIONS

AUTHORITY: 5 U.S.C. 553; 46 U.S.C. app. 17011707; 1709-1710, 1712 and 1714-1718; Pub. L. 105383, 112 Stat. 3411.

SOURCE: 49 FR 45351, Nov. 15, 1984, unless otherwise noted. Redesignated at 64 FR 11240, Mar. 8, 1999.

EDITORIAL NOTE: Nomenclature changes to part 535 appear at 64 FR 23794, May 4, 1999.

Subpart A-General Provisions

§ 535.101 Authority.

The rules in this part are issued pursuant to the authority of section 4 of

(a) The Act requires that agreements be processed and reviewed, upon their initial filing, according to strict statutory deadlines. This part is intended to establish procedures for the orderly and expeditious review of filed agreements in accordance with the statutory requirements.

(b) The Act requires that agreements be reviewed, upon their initial filing, to ensure compliance with all applicable provisions of the Act and empowers the Commission to obtain information to conduct that review. This part identifies those classes of agreements which must be accompanied by information submissions when they are first filed, and sets forth the kind of information for each class of agreement which the Commission believes relevant to that review. Only that information which is relevant to such a review is requested. It is the policy of the Commission to keep the costs of regulation to a minimum and at the same time obtain information needed to fulfill its statutory responsibility.

(c) In order to further the goal of expedited processing and review of agreements upon their initial filing, agreements are required to meet certain minimum requirements as to form. These requirements are intended to ensure expedited review and should assist parties in preparing agreements. These

requirements as to form do not affect the substance of an agreement and are intended to allow parties the freedom to develop innovative commerical relationships and provide efficient and economic transportation systems.

(d) The Act itself excludes certain agreements from filing requirements and authorizes the Commission to exempt other classes of agreements from any requirement of the Act or this part. In order to minimize delay in implementation of routine agreements and to avoid the private and public cost of unnecessary regulation, the Commission is exempting certain classes of agreements from the filing requirements of this part.

(e) Under the new regulatory framework established by the Act, the role of the Commission as a monitoring and surveillance agency has been enhanced. The Act favors greater freedom in allowing parties to form their commercial arrangements. This, however, requires greater monitoring of agreements after they have become effective, to assure continued compliance with all applicable provisions of the Act. The Act empowers the Commission to impose certain recordkeeping and reporting requirements. This part identifies those classes of agreements which require specific record retention and reporting to the Commission and prescribes the applicable period of record retention, the form and content of such reporting, and the applicable time periods for filing with the Commission. Only that information which is necessary to assure that Commission monitoring responsibilities will be fulfilled is requested. It is the policy of the Commission to keep the costs of regulations to a minimum and at the same time obtain information needed to fulfill its statutory responsibility.

(f) The Act requires that conference agreements must contain certain mandatory provisions. Each such agreement must: (1) state its purpose; (2) provide reasonable and equal terms and conditions for admission and readmission to membership; (3) allow for withdrawal from membership upon reasonable notice without penalty; (4) require an independent neutral body to police the conference, if requested by a member; (5) prohibit conduct specified in

sections 10(c)(1) or 10(c)(3) of the Act; (6) provide for a consultation process; (7) establish procedures for considering shippers' requests and complaints; and (8) provide for independent action. Parties to conference agreements are free to develop their own mandatory provisions in accordance with the requirements of section 5(b) of the Act.

(g) An agreement filed under the Act must be clear and definite in its terms, must embody the complete understanding of the parties, and must set forth the specific authorities and conditions under which the parties to the agreement will conduct their present operations and regulate the relationships among the agreement members.

(h) In order to promote competitive and efficient transportation and a greater reliance on the marketplace, the Act places limits on carriers' agreements regarding service contracts. Carriers may not enter into an agreement to prohibit or restrict members from engaging in contract negotiations, may not require members to disclose service contract negotiations or terms and conditions (other than those required to be published), and may not adopt mandatory rules or requirements affecting the right of an agreement member or agreement members to negotiate and enter into contracts. However, agreement members may adopt voluntary guidelines covering the terms and procedures of members' contracts.

[49 FR 45351, Nov. 15, 1984, as amended at 61 FR 11573, Mar. 21, 1996; 64 FR 11241, Mar. 8, 1999]

§ 535.104 Definitions.

When used in this part:

(a) Agreement means an understanding, arrangement or association. written or oral (including any modification, cancellation or appendix) entered into by or among ocean common carriers and/or marine terminal operators, but does not include a maritime labor agreement.

(b) Antitrust laws means the Act of July 2, 1890 (ch. 647, 26 Stat. 209), 15 U.S.C. 1, as amended; the Act of October 15, 1914 (ch. 323, 38 Stat. 730), 15 U.S.C. 12, as amended; the Federal Trade Commission Act (38 Stat. 717), 15 U.S.C. 41, as amended; sections 73 and

74 of the Act of August 27, 1894 (28 Stat. 570), 15 U.S.C. 8, 9, as amended; the Act of June 19, 1936 (ch. 592, 49 Stat. 1526), 15 U.S.C. 13, as amended; the Antitrust Civil Process Act (76 Stat. 548), 15 U.S.C. 1311, note as amended; and amendments and Acts supplementary thereto.

(c) Appendix means a document containing additional material of limited application and appended to an agreement, distinctly differentiated from the main body of the basic agreement.

(d) Assessment agreement means an agreement, whether part of a collective bargaining agreement or negotiated separately, to the extent that it provides for the collectively bargained fringe benefit obligations on other than a uniform man-hour basis regardless of the cargo handled or type of vessel or equipment utilized.

(e) Capacity management or capacity regulation agreement means an agreement between two or more ocean common carriers which authorizes withholding some part of the capacity of the parties' vessels from a specified transportation market, without reducing the real capacity of those vessels. The term does not include sailing agreements or space charter agreements.

(f) Common carrier means a person holding itself out to the general public to provide transportation by water of passengers or cargo between the United States and a foreign country for compensation that:

(1) Assumes responsibility for the transportation from the port or point of receipt to the port or point of destination; and

(2) Utilizes, for all or part of that transportation, a vessel operating on the high seas or the Great Lakes between a port in the United States and a port in a foreign country, except that the term does not include a common carrier engaged in ocean transportation by ferry boat, ocean tramp, or chemical parcel tanker, or by a vessel when primarily engaged in the carriage of perishable agricultural commodities:

(i) If the common carrier and the owner of those commodities are wholly owned, directly or indirectly, by a person primarily engaged in the mar

keting and distribution of those commodities; and

(ii) Only with respect to those commodities.

(g) Conference agreement means an agreement between or among two or more ocean common carriers which provides for the fixing of and adherence to uniform tariff rates, charges, practices and conditions of service relating to the receipt, carriage, handling and/ or delivery of passengers or cargo for all members. The term does not include joint service, pooling, sailing, space charter, or transshipment agreements.

(h) Consultation means a process whereby a conference and a shipper confer for the purpose of promoting the commercial resolution of disputes and/ or the prevention and elimination of the occurrence of malpractices.

(i)

Cooperative working agreement means an agreement which establishes exclusive, preferential, or cooperative working relationships which are subject to the Shipping Act of 1984, but which do not fall precisely within the arrangements of any specifically defined agreement.

(j) Effective agreement means an agreement effective under the Act.

(k) Equal access agreement means an agreement between ocean common carriers of different nationalities, as determined by the incorporation or domicile of the carriers' operating companies, whereby such common carriers associate for the purpose of gaining reciprocal access to cargo which is otherwise reserved by national decree, legislation, statute or regulation to carriage by the merchant marine of the carriers' respective nations.

(1) Independent neutral body means a disinterested third party, authorized by a conference and its members to review, examine and investigate alleged breaches or violations by any member of the conference agreement and/or the agreement's properly promulgated tariffs, rules or regulations.

(m) Information form means the form containing economic information which must accompany the filing of certain kinds of agreements and agreement modifications.

(n) Interconference agreement means an agreement between conferences.

(0) Joint service agreement means an agreement between ocean common carriers operating as a joint venture whereby a separate service is established which: (1) Holds itself out in its own distinct operating name; (2) independently fixes its own rates, charges, practices and conditions of service or chooses to participate in its operating name in another agreement which is duly authorized to determine and implement such activities; (3) independently publishes its own tariff or chooses to participate in its operating name in an otherwise established tariff; (4) issues its own bills of lading; and (5) acts generally as a single carrier. The common use of facilities may occur and there is no competition between members for traffic in the agreement trade; but they otherwise maintain their separate identities.

(p) Marine terminal facilities means one or more structures (and services connected therewith) comprising a terminal unit, including, but not limited to docks, berths, piers, aprons, wharves, warehouses, covered and/or open storage space, cold storage plants, grain elevators and/or bulk cargo loading and/or unloading structures, landings, and receiving stations, used for the transmission, care and convenience of cargo and/or passengers or the interchange of same between land and ocean common carriers or between two ocean common carriers. This term is not limited to waterfront or port facilities and includes so-called off-dock container freight stations at inland locations and any other facility from which inbound waterborne cargo may be tendered to the consignee or outbound cargo may be received from shippers for vessel or container loading.

(q) Marine terminal operator means a person engaged in the United States in the business of furnishing wharfage, dock, warehouse, or other terminal facilities in connection with a common carrier, or in connection with a common carrier and a water carrier subject to subchapter II of chapter 135 of Title 49 U.S.C. This term does not include shippers or consignees who exclusively furnish marine terminal facilities or services in connection with tendering or receiving proprietary cargo from a common carrier or water carrier.

(r) Maritime labor agreement means a collective-bargaining agreement between an employer subject to the Act or group of such employers, and a labor organization representing employees in the maritime or stevedoring industry, or an agreement preparatory to such a collective-bargaining agreement among members of a multiemployer bargaining group, or an agreement specifically implementing provisions of such a collective-bargaining agreement or providing for the formation, financing or administration of a multiemployer bargaining group; but the term does not include an assessment agreement.

(s) Modification means any change, alteration, correction, addition, deletion, or revision of an existing effective agreement or to any appendix to such an agreement.

(t) Monitoring report means the report containing economic information which must be filed at defined intervals with regard to certain kinds of agreements that are effective under the Act.

(u) Ocean common carrier means a common carrier that operates, for all or part of its common carrier service, a vessel on the high seas or the Great Lakes between a port in the United States and a port in a foreign country, except that the term does not include a common carrier engaged in Ocean transportation by ferry boat, ocean tramp, or chemical parcel-tanker.

(v) Ocean freight forwarder means a person in the United States that (1) dispatches shipments from the United States via common carriers and books or otherwise arranges space for those shipments on behalf of shippers, and (2) processes the documentation or performs related activities incident to those shipments.

(w) Person means individuals, corporations, partnerships and associations existing under or authorized by the laws of the United States or of a foreign country.

(x) Pooling agreement means an agreement between ocean common carriers which provides for the division of cargo carryings, earnings, or revenue and/or losses between the members in accordance with an established formula or scheme.