FMC Asks for Comments on NCBFAA Petition for New Tariff Publication Exemptions for NVOCCs
The Federal Maritime Commission is asking for comments on possible changes to its regulations governing Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier (NVOCC) Negotiated Rate Arrangements (NRAs), in a notice published in the April 28 Federal Register (here). Requested in a petition filed April 16 by the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America (here), the changes would expand the NRA exemption for NVOCCs from publishing shipping rates in tariffs to also cover “non-rate economic terms.” Comments are due by June 8.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
Current regulations governing NRAs, which were created in 2011 to exempt NVOCCs from publishing the rates they negotiate with each shipper in their tariffs, do not allow NRAs to cover “non-rate economic terms” like credit and payment terms, rate methodology, minimum quantities, or arbitration clauses. Instead, non-rate terms must still be published in the NVOCC’s tariff and, if negotiated for an individual shipper, the varying terms agreed by each of the NVOCC’s customers must be “separately and carefully published so as to be limited to just the parties that had agreed to those terms,” said the NCBFAA’s petition.
The requirement creates an unnecessary burden because shippers would still be protected by a written agreement even if the non-rate terms aren’t put in tariffs, said the NCBFAA. The petition asks the FMC to “(1) allow inclusion of economic terms beyond rates in NRAs, and (2) permit NRAs to be modified at any time upon mutual agreement between a Non-Vessel-Operating Common Carrier (NVOCC) and shipper; and revise 46 CFR Part 531, NVOCC Negotiated Service Arrangements (NSAs), to either eliminate the filing and essential terms publication requirement of NSAs or eliminate 46 CFR Part 531 in its entirety.”
(Federal Register 04/28/15)