Forward, Summer 2016 Issue

airforwarders.org

Summer 2016

Forward Magazine

At the Bar

y a notice dated November 3,

2015, Federal Maritime Com-

mission (“FMC”) issued a Final

Rule amending the agency’s regulations

governing licensing, financial responsibility

requirements and duties of Ocean Trans-

portation Intermediaries (“OTI”)

. The

vast majority of the provisions in the Final

Rule became effective on December 9,

2015, with the exception of one provision

which will not become effective till Decem-

ber 9, 2016, as noted below.

According to the FMC the Final Rule

“adapts to changing industry conditions,

improves regulatory effectiveness, improves

transparency and reduces regulatory

burdens.” In many respects the Final

Rule parallels the recent revisions to the

FMCSA’s regulations raising the standards

for the licensing and oversight of domestic

freight forwarders and property brokers.

Both reflect an increase in the bureaucratic

control of the transportation intermediary

service industries.

The amendment of the regulations is

described as “significant” by the FMC.

The full extent of the amendments cannot

be properly addressed in this article,

which only highlights some of the more

significant changes. Consequently, any

company engaging in providing OTI

services, or that works with OTIs, is well

advised to become familiar with the revi-

sions to the regulations.

One procedural change made by the

Final Rule is that license applications

and registration forms must now be

filed electronically, absent a waiver from

the FMC. A waiver may be obtained by

submitting a written request to the FMC,

and the applicant must demonstrate

that electronic filing imposes an undue

Defined by the regulations as an ocean freight forwarder or a non-vessel-operating common carrier. 46 C.F.R. § 515.2(m).

An NVO without any physical presence in the U.S. The new rules replace “unlicensed NVOCC” with the phrase “registered NVOCC.”

New FMC Regulations Tighten Licensing and

Oversight of NVOCC’s and Freight Forwarders

by the Federal Maritime Commission

At the Bar Column

Editorial Board:

Richard Furman, Chairman

Carroll McNulty & Kull LLC

New York New York

Jeika Prichard

Dachser Transport

of America, Inc.

Atlanta, Georgia

Henry Seaton

Law Offices of Seaton

& Husk, LP

Vienna, Virginia

Martha Payne

Benesch Friedlander Coplan

& Aronoff LLP

Lincoln City, Oregon

Jacob Fisher

Scopelitis, Garvin, Light,

Hason & Feary

Boston, Massachusetts

Byron Countryman

Countryman & McDaniel

Los Angeles, California