FMC Announces Interim Complaint Filing Procedures
The Federal Maritime Commission this week announced new interim procedures for shippers, forwarders and others filing charge complaints for alleged violations of U.S. shipping regulations. The new procedures will help the FMC “take prompt action” to adjudicate complaints and guide the commission as it works to create a permanent filing process, which will be established through a future rulemaking.
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The commission outlined the steps it will take when it receives a complaint, including how the complaint will be adjudicated. If a charge complaint is “perfected” -- meaning it has “sufficient information and details” -- it will be “promptly” investigated by FMC staff in the Office of Investigations, the FMC said. If the investigation “supports a finding that the common carrier’s charge is not in compliance,” the commission’s Office of Enforcement will recommend that the FMC’s commissioners issue an “Order to Show Cause” to the common carrier to “formally adjudicate the Charge Complaint.”
In that scenario, the carrier “must show why it should not be ordered to refund the fees or charges paid or waive the fees in question.” After that, the FMC will issue its decision and may also initiate a separate civil penalty proceeding with the FMC’s administrative law judge “for consideration of penalties.”
The FMC said an initial determination to not refer a complaint to the Office of Enforcement doesn’t “bar a party from filing a subsequent small claim or formal complaint with the Commission.” The party can also “seek alternative dispute resolution services” through the FMC’s Office of Consumer Affairs and Dispute Resolution Services.