March 1, 1999 | Oakland, California |
SIGNALS provides detailed information on the regulations and activities of the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), and related developments in the ocean freight industry.
FMC Finalizes New Tariff Publication Regulations:
effective May 1, 1999ATFI Standards Retained: the new regulations bring forward many of the standards of the FMC’s "ATFI" tariff database system. Spellings used in tariffs for ports and cities must agree with those used in ATFI. Much of the standardized tariff terminology used by the ATFI system is required or recommended. The only significant change is the elimination of the mandatory requirement for assessorials to support rate calculation by the FMC-ATFI system. Assessorials will be strictly optional, but DPI will continue to provide these for customers who need them for use in their internal systems.
ATFI Will be Replaced by Private Systems Monitored by FMC: effective 01May1999 tariffs will no longer be electronically transmitted to the ATFI computer system operated by the FMC. Instead, each carrier, or an FMC certified tariff publisher acting its behalf, must provide the FMC with free access to its computerized tariff database system. The FMC will monitor tariffs published on certified databases, and notify carriers when it finds items that are not acceptable. Carriers will be required to provide FMC with a written certification that the information in their tariffs is true and accurate. Carriers who fail to comply with FMC instructions risk substantial penalties. DPI will distribute the new tariff certification forms and assist with filing during April 1999.
The FMC will maintain a master listing of certified tariff database systems: access to each database system must also be provided to the shipping public, at reasonable charge, via the Internet or via telephone dial-in services. Tariff database systems must provide retrieval abilities similar to those currently provided by ATFI, and must maintain data on-line for a period of 5 years. In response to comments, the proposed requirement for bottom-line rate calculation was removed by FMC.
Tariffs published by Distribution-Publications, Inc. (DPI) will meet FMC’s new requirements: Here at DPI, we expect to gain FMC certification for our tariff database systems, and for each of the tariffs published on behalf of our customers in good standing. DPI will also continue to print page based paper tariffs for our customers, and provide tariffs on CD-ROM disks and via the Internet. Current procedures for tariff updating by DPI will be maintained without change. Except for essential term tariffs, only minor amendments will be needed to ensure tariffs currently published by DPI meet the new regulations. DPI will ensure a smooth transition to the new tariff regulations for all its customers.