OCEAN FREIGHT FORWARDERS.

SEC. 116. OCEAN FREIGHT FORWARDERS. Section 19 of the Shipping Act of 1984 (46 U.S.C. App. 1718) is amended by— (1) striking “freight forwarders” in the section caption and inserting “transportation intermediaries”; (2) striking subsection (a) and inserting the following: “(a) License.—No person in the United States may act as an ocean transportation intermediary unless that person holds a license issued by the Commission. The Commission shall issue an intermediary’s license to any person that the Commission determines to be qualified by experience and character to act as an ocean transportation intermediary.”; (3) redesignating subsections (b), (c), and (d) as subsections (c), (d), and (e), respectively;112 STAT. 1913 (4) inserting after subsection (a) the following: “(b) Financial Responsibility.— “(1) No person may act as an ocean transportation intermediary unless that person furnishes a bond, proof of insurance, or other surety in a form and amount determined by the Commission to insure financial responsibility that is issued by a surety company found acceptable by the Secretary of the Treasury. “(2) A bond, insurance, or other surety obtained pursuant to this section— “(A) shall be available to pay any order for reparation issued pursuant to section 11 or 14 of this Act, or any penalty assessed pursuant to section 13 of this Act; “(B) may be available to pay any claim against an ocean transportation intermediary arising from its transportation–related activities described in section 3(17)of this Act with the consent of the insured ocean transportation intermediary and subject to review by the surety company, or when the claim is deemed valid by the surety company after the ocean transportation intermediary has failed to respond to adequate notice to address the validity of the claim; and “(C) shall be available to pay any judgment for damages against an ocean transportation intermediary arising from its transportation–related activities under section 3(17) of this Act, provided the claimant has first attempted to resolve the claim pursuant to subparagraph (B) of this paragraph and the claim has not been resolved within a reasonable period of time. “(3) The Commission shall prescribe regulations for the purpose of protecting the interests of claimants, ocean transportation intermediaries, and surety companies with respect to the process of pursuing claims against ocean transportation intermediary bonds, insurance, or sureties through court judgments. The regulations shall provide that a judgment for monetary damages may not be enforced except to the extent that the damages claimed arise from the transportation–related activities of the insured ocean transportation intermediary, as defined by the Commission. “(4) An ocean transportation intermediary not domiciled in the United States shall designate a resident agent in the United States for receipt of service of judicial and administrative process, including subpoenas.”; (5) striking, each place such term appears— (A) “freight forwarder” and inserting “transportation intermediary”; (B) “a forwarder’s” and inserting “an intermediary’s”; (C) “forwarder” and inserting “intermediary”; and (D) “forwarding” and inserting “intermediary”; (6) striking “a bond in accordance with subsection (a)(2).”in subsection (c), as redesignated, and inserting “a bond, proof of insurance, or other surety in accordance with subsection(b)(1).”; (7) striking “Forwarders.—” in the caption of subsection (e), as redesignated, and inserting “Intermediaries.—”; (8) striking “intermediary” the first place it appears in subsection (e)(1), as redesignated and as amended by paragraph 112 STAT. 1914(5)(A), and inserting “intermediary, as defined in section 3(17)(A) of this Act,”; (9) striking “license” in paragraph (1) of subsection (e), as redesignated, and inserting “license, if required by subsection (a),”; (10) striking paragraph (3) of subsection (e), as redesignated, and redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (3); and (11) adding at the end of subsection (e), as redesignated, the following: “(4) No conference or group of 2 or more ocean common carriers in the foreign commerce of the United States that is authorized to agree upon the level of compensation paid to an ocean transportation intermediary, as defined in section 3(17)(A) of this Act, may— “(A) deny to any member of the conference or group the right, upon notice of not more than 5 calendar days, to take independent action on any level of compensation paid to an ocean transportation intermediary, as so defined; or “(B) agree to Limit the payment of compensation to an ocean transportation intermediary, as so defined, to less than 1.25 percent of the aggregate of all rates and charges which are applicable under a tariff and which are assessed against the cargo on which the intermediary services are provided.”.