Service Contracts Subject to the Shipping Act of 1984

The Federal Maritime Commission has revised its regulations governing service contracts between shippers and ocean common carriers to implement changes made to the Shipping Act of 1984 (``Act'') by Pub. L. 105-258 (the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998) and section 424 of Pub. L. 105-383 (the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1998). Specifically, the Commission has revised its regulations implementing section 8(c) of the Act and has created a new 46 CFR part 530 to govern service contract filing. The interim nature of this rule is due to a major revision of the proposed regulation, which did not include the internet-based filing system of the interim final rule. The proposed regulations have been revised to accommodate the alternative system. Portions of the proposed rule have been redrafted for clarity, repetitive sections have been deleted and the remaining sections are accordingly renumbered.