AGREEMENTS.

SEC. 104. AGREEMENTS. (a) In General.—Section 5 of the Shipping Act of 1984 (46 U.S.C. App. 1704) is amended by— (1) striking subsection (b)(8) and inserting the following: “(8) provide that any member of the conference may take independent action on any rate or service item upon not more than 5 calendar days’ notice to the conference and that, except for exempt commodities not published in the conference tariff, the conference will include the new rate or service item in its tariff for use by that member, effective no later than 5 calendar days after receipt of the notice, and by any other member that notifies the conference that it elects to adopt the independent rate or service item on or after its effective date, in lieu of the existing conference tariff provision for that rate or service item; (2) redesignating subsections (c) through (e) as subsections (d) through (f); and (3) inserting after subsection (b) the following: “(c) Ocean Common Carrier Agreements.—An ocean common carrier agreement may not— “(1) prohibit or restrict a member or members of the agreement from engaging in negotiations for service contracts with 1 or more shippers; “(2) require a member or members of the agreement to disclose a negotiation on a service contract, or the terms and conditions of a service contract, other than those terms or conditions required to be published under section 8(c)(3) of this Act; or “(3) adopt mandatory rules or requirements affecting the right of an agreement member or agreement members to negotiate and enter into service contracts. An agreement may provide authority to adopt voluntary guidelines relating to the terms and procedures of an agreement member’s 112 STAT. 1905or agreement members’ service contracts if the guidelines explicitly state the right of members of the agreement not to follow the guidelines. These guidelines shall be confidentially submitted to the Commission.”. (b) Application.— (1) subsection (e) of section 5 of that Act, as redesignated, is amended by striking “this Act, the Shipping Act, 1916, and the Intercoastal Shipping Act, 1933, do” and inserting “this Act does”; and (2) subsection (f) of section 5 of that Act, as redesignated, is amended by— (A) striking “and the Shipping Act, 1916, do” and inserting “does”; (B) striking “or the Shipping Act, 1916,”; and (C) inserting “or are essential terms of a service contract” after “tariff”.