News
The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) Wednesday took an important step in its regulatory reform efforts when it voted to advance a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that simplifies and streamlines its Non-Vessel-Operating Common Carrier (NVOCC) Service Arrangements (NSA) and Negotiated Rate Arrangements (NRA) rules and procedures.
Through the NPRM, the commission seeks feedback on three key proposals: ending the requirement for NSAs to be filed with the Commission; expanding the ability of NVOCCs and shippers to amend NRAs; and, finally, allowing the act of tendering cargo to be considered acceptance of a rate under the terms of an NRA. The NPRM will include a specific request for public comments addressing whether the Commission should expand the NRA rules to allow inclusion of non-rate economic terms.
The NPRM will be published in the Federal Register in the coming weeks and will include instructions on how interested parties can file comments.
Elements of the changes being proposed were originally brought to the Commission via Petition P2-15, filed by the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) in 2015 and an Order Granting Petition was served in August 2016. Shortly after its establishment in March 2017, in voluntary response to two Executive Orders, the FMC Regulatory Reform Taskforce identified P2-15 as an immediate objective to rapidly and successfully address burdensome, unnecessary and outdated directives.
