§555.3. Scope. — Inbound Citations

(a) A petition for investigation to determine the existence of adverse conditions as described in § 555.3 may be submitted by any person, including any common carrier, shipper, shippers' association, ocean freight forwarder, or marine terminal operator, or any branch, department, agency, or other component of the Government of the United States. Petitions for relief under this part shall be in writing, and filed in the form of an original and fifteen copies with the Secretary, Federal Maritime Commission, Washington, DC 20573. The petition must be accompanied by remittance of a $450 filing fee.

(a) An investigation to determine the existence of adverse conditions as described in § 555.3 may be initiated by the Commission on its own motion or on the petition of any person pursuant to § 555.4. An investigation shall be considered to have been initiated for the purpose of the time limits imposed by the Foreign Shipping Practices Act of 1988 upon the publication in the Federal Register of the Commission's notice of investigation, which shall announce the initiation of the proceeding upon either the Commission's own motion or the filing of a petition.

(a) Whenever, after notice and opportunity for comment or hearing, the Commission determines that the conditions specified in § 555.3 of this part exist, the Commission shall take such action as it considers necessary and appropriate against any foreign carrier which it identifies as a contributing cause to, or whose government is a contributing cause to, such conditions, in order to offset such conditions. Such action may include, but is not limited to:

(1) Limitations on sailings to and from United States ports or on the amount or type of cargo carried;

(2) Suspension, in whole or in part, of any or all tariffs or service contracts, including the right of an ocean common carrier to use any or all tariffs or service contracts of conferences in United States trades of which it is a member for such period as the Commission specifies;

(3) Suspension, in whole or in part, of the right of an ocean common carrier to operate under any agreement filed with the Commission, including agreements authorizing preferential treatment at terminals, preferential terminal leases, space chartering, or pooling of cargo or revenues with other ocean common carriers;

(4) Imposition of a charge, not to exceed $1,000,000 per voyage;

(5) A request to the collector of customs at any port or place of destination in the United States to refuse the clearance required by section 4197 of the Revised Statutes(46 U.S.C. 60105), to any vessel of a foreign carrier that is identified by the Commission under this section;

(6) A request to the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to deny entry, for purposes of oceanborne trade, of any vessel of a foreign carrier that is identified by the Commission under this section to any port or place in the United States or the navigable waters of the United States, or to detain any such vessel at the port or place in the United States from which it is about to depart for any other port or place in the United States; and

(7) Any other action the Commission finds necessary and appropriate to address adverse foreign shipping practices as described in § 555.3 of this part.