China's New Shipping Regulations Concern U.S. Maritime Officials
(Administrator to lead U.S. delegation to China March 19-21) (420) By Stephen La Rocque Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- U.S. maritime officials have expressed concern over Chinese regulations and practices that appear to adversely impact non-Chinese shipping companies, shippers, and intermediaries. Maritime Administrator William Schubert will lead a delegation of U.S. officials to China March 19-21 to discuss Chinese regulations that appear to impose "sweeping new restrictions on U.S. and other non-Chinese maritime companies," according to a March 15 news release from the Department of Transportation. Schubert's visit to the People's Republic of China (PRC) will also focus on restrictive Chinese government controls on U.S. maritime carriers' operations that have affected the carriers' ability to deploy vessels, market services and conduct intermodal operations, the release says. China's maritime regulations were also the subject of a March 12 announcement by the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC). The FMC issued a Notice of Inquiry March 12 linked to investigations "into restrictive practices of the PRC affecting shipping in the U.S. trade with China," according to a news release issued the same day. FMC Chairman Harold J. Creel, Jr. said the Commission is seeking "information and comments from the public concerning the effects" of a Chinese decree, "Regulations of the PRC on the International Maritime Transportation," that became effective January 1 of this year. "The Commission seeks to ensure that it has the most accurate information with regard to these issues, so that it may determine whether any current Chinese laws, rules, regulations or practices merit the initiation of a proceeding under section 19 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1920 or the Foreign Shipping Practices Act of 1988," the FMC said. Under Section 19 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, the FMC can issue rules and regulations "to adjust or meet general or special conditions unfavorable to shipping in the foreign trade." Under the Foreign Shipping Practices Act of 1988, the FMC can also impose "limitations on sailings, suspension of tariffs, suspension of agreements, or fees not to exceed $1,000,000 per voyage" if it finds a country's laws, rules, regulations, policies, or practices result in conditions that "adversely affect the operations" of U.S. carriers and that such conditions do not exist for foreign carriers of that country in the United States. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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