DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY TO CLASSIFICATION SOCIETIES.

SEC. 607. DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY TO CLASSIFICATION SOCIETIES. (a) Authority to Delegate.— Section 3316 of title 46, United States Code, is amended— (1) by striking subsections (a) and (d); (2) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as subsections (a) and (b), respectively; (3) by striking “Bureau” in subsection (a), as redesignated, and inserting “American Bureau of Shipping”; and (4) in subsection (b), as so redesignated, by— (A) redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (3); and 110 STAT. 3932 (B) striking so much of the subsection as precedes paragraph (3), as so redesignated, and inserting the following: “(b) (1) The Secretary may delegate to the American Bureau of Shipping or another classification society recognized by the Secretary as meeting acceptable standards for such a society, for a vessel documented or to be documented under chapter 121 of this title, the authority to— “(A) review and approve plans required for issuing a certificate of inspection required by this part; “(B) conduct inspections and examinations; and “(C) issue a certificate of inspection required by this part and other related documents. “(2) The Secretary may make a delegation under paragraph (1) to a foreign classification society only— “(A) to the extent that the government of the foreign country in which the society is headquartered delegates authority and provides access to the American Bureau of Shipping to inspect, certify, and provide related services to vessels documented in that country; and “(B) if the foreign classification society has offices and maintains records in the United States”. (b) Conforming Amendments.— (1) The heading for section 3316 of title 46, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: “§ 3316. Classification societies”. (2) The table of sections for chapter 33 of title 46, United States Code, is amended by striking the item relating to section 3316 and inserting the following: “3316. Classification societies.”.