TARIFFS.

SEC. 106. TARIFFS. (a) In General.—Section 8(a) of the Shipping Act of 1984 (46 U.S.C. App. 1707(a)) is amended by— (1) inserting “new assembled motor vehicles,” after “scrap,” in paragraph (1); (2) striking “file with the Commission, and” in paragraph(1); (3) striking “inspection,” in paragraph (1) and inserting “inspection in an automated tariff system.”; (4) striking “tariff filings” in paragraph (1) and inserting “tariffs”; (5) striking “freight forwarder” in paragraph (1)(C) and inserting “transportation intermediary, as defined in section 3 (17)(A),; (6) striking “and” at the end of paragraph (1)(D); (7) striking “loyalty contract,” in paragraph (1)(E): (8) striking “agreement.” in paragraph (1)(E) and inserting “agreement; and”; (9) adding at the end of paragraph (1) the following: “(F) include copies of any loyalty contract, omitting the shipper’s name.”; and (10) striking paragraph (2) and inserting the following: “(2) Tariffs shall be made available electronically to any person, without time, quantity, or other limitation, through appropriate access from remote locations, and a reasonable charge may be assessed for such access. No charge may be assessed a Federal agency for such access.”. (b) Service Contracts.—subsection (c) of that section is amended to read as follows: “(c) Service Contracts.— 112 STAT. 1906 “(1) In General.—An individual ocean common carrier or an agreement between or among ocean common carriers may enter into a service contract with one or more shippers subject to the requirements of this Act. The exclusive remedy for a breach of a contract entered into under this subsection shall be an action in an appropriate court, unless the parties otherwise agree. In no case may the contract dispute resolution forum be controlled by or in any way affiliated with a controlled carrier as defined in section 3(8) of this Act, or by the government which owns or controls the carrier. “(2) Filing requirements.—Except for service contracts dealing with bulk cargo, forest products, recycled metal scrap, new assembled motor vehicles, waste paper, or paper waste, each contract entered into under this subsection by an individual ocean common carrier or an agreement shall be filed confidentially with the Commission. Each service contract shall include the following essential terms— “(A) the origin and destination port ranges; “(B) the origin and destination geographic areas in the case of through intermodal movements; “(C) the commodity or commodities involved; “(D) the minimum volume or portion; “(E) the line–haul rate; “(F) the duration; “(G) service commitments; and “(H) the liquidated damages for nonperformance, if any. “(3) Publication of certain terms.—When a service contract is filed confidentially with the Commission, a concise statement of the essential terms described in paragraphs 2(A), (C), (D), and (F) shall be published and made available to the general public in tariff format. “(4) Disclosure of certain terms.— “(A) An ocean common carrier, which is a party to or is subject to the provisions of a collective bargaining agreement with a labor organization, shall, in response to a written request by such labor organization, state whether it is responsible for the following work at dock areas and within port areas in the United States with respect to cargo transportation under a service contract described in paragraph (1) of this subsection— “(i) the movement of the shipper’s cargo on a dock area or within the port area or to or from railroad cars on a dock area or within the port area; “(ii) the assignment of intraport carriage of the shipper’s cargo between areas on a dock or within the port area; “(iii) the assignment of the carriage of the shipper’s cargo between a container yard on a dock area or within the port area and a rail yard adjacent to such container yard; and “(iv) the assignment of container freight station work and container maintenance and repair work performed at a dock area or within the port area. “(B) The common carrier shall provide the information described in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph to the 112 STAT. 1907requesting labor organization within a reasonable period of time. “(C) This paragraph requires the disclosure of information by an ocean common carrier only if there exists an applicable and otherwise lawful collective bargaining agreement which pertains to that carrier. No disclosure made by an ocean common carrier shall be deemed to be an admission or agreement that any work is covered by a collective bargaining agreement. Any dispute regarding whether any work is covered by a collective bargaining agreement and the responsibility of the ocean common carrier under such agreement shall be resolved solely in accordance with the dispute resolution procedures contained in the collective bargaining agreement and the National Labor Relations Act, and without reference to this paragraph. “(D) Nothing in this paragraph shall have any effect on the lawfulness or unlawfulness under this Act, the National Labor Relations Act, the Taft–Hartley Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act, the antitrust laws, or any other Federal or State law, or any revisions or amendments thereto, of any collective bargaining agreement or element thereof, including any element that constitutes an essential term of a service contract under this subsection. “(E) For purposes of this paragraph the terms ‘dock area’ and ‘within the port area’ shall have the same meaning and scope as in the applicable collective bargaining agreement between the requesting labor organization and the carrier.”. (c) Rates.—subsection(d) of that section is amended by— (1) striking the subsection caption and inserting “(d) Tariff Rates.—”; (2) striking “30 days after filing with the Commission.” in the first sentence and inserting “30 calendar days after publication.”; (3) inserting “calendar” after “30” in the next sentence; and (4) striking “publication and filing with the Commission.” in the last sentence and inserting “publication.”. (d) Refunds.—subsection (e) of that section is amended by— (1) striking “tariff of a clerical or administrative nature or an error due to inadvertence” in paragraph and inserting a comma; and (2) striking “file a new tariff,” in paragraph (1) and inserting “publish a new tariff, or an error in quoting a tariff,”; (3) striking “refund, filed a new tariff with the Commission” in paragraph (2) and inserting “refund for an error in a tariff or a failure to publish a tariff, published a new tariff”; (4) inserting “and” at the end of paragraph (2); and (5) striking paragraph (3) and redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (3). (e) Marine Terminal Operator Schedules.—subsection (f) of that section is amended to read as follows: “(f) Marine Terminal Operator Schedules.—A marine terminal operator may make available to the public, subject to section 10(d) of this Act, a schedule of rates, regulations, and practices, including limitations of liability for cargo loss or damage, pertaining 112 STAT. 1908to receiving, delivering, handling, or storing property at its marine terminal. Any such schedule made available to the public shall be enforceable by an appropriate court as an implied contract without proof of actual knowledge of its provisions.”. (f) Automated Tariff System Requirements; Form.—Section 8 of that Act is amended by adding at the end the following: “(g) Regulations.—The Commission shall by regulation prescribe the requirements for the accessibility and accuracy of automated tariff systems established under this section. The Commission may, after periodic review, prohibit the use of any automated tariff system that fails to meet the requirements established under this section. The Commission may not require a common carrier to provide a remote terminal for access under subsection (a)(2). The Commission shall by regulation prescribe the form and manner in which marine terminal operator schedules authorized by this section shall be published.”.