GKG Law’s Ed Greenberg Leads Successful Campaign to Ease Federal Maritime Commission Tariff Obligations on NVOCCs
August 2, 2018
GKG Law’s Ed Greenberg recently won a major victory for non-vessel operating common carriers (“NVOCCs”) in regard to the overturning of specific long-standing Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) regulations. In response to a petition filed by Ed, on July 19, 2018 the FMC issued a final decision agreeing to ease tariff related obligations on NVOCCs by eliminating burdensome regulations.
This action by the FMC is the direct result of a 15-year campaign led by Ed, who acts as General Counsel for the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America (“NCBFAA”), the trade association representing international freight forwarders. Over the course of this campaign, Ed and the NCBFAA have already seen the implementation of several interim deregulatory steps and partial exemptions from regulation issued by the agency. With this new decision, NVOCCs are now essentially freed of any rate tariff filing or publication requirement and can-do business with their customers in a manner akin to totally deregulated industries.
The technical specifications of the FMC decision (Docket No. 17-10, Amendments to Regulations Governing NVOCC Negotiated Rate Arrangements and NVOCC Service Arrangements) allow for the following:
- For NVOCC Service Arrangements (“NSA’s”), NVOCCs are no longer required to file their confidential contracts with the FMC or publish the essential terms of those contracts in their tariffs.
- For NVOCC Rate Arrangements (“NRA’s”), NVOCCS are now able (1) amend the NRAs, (2) include other economic terms besides rates, and (3) not be concerned as to any form by which shippers are required to accept the rate and service offers.
This decision’s resulting changes will significantly deregulate the services NVOCCs are able to offer. For the first time since NVOCCs were regulated in 1984, they will now be able to freely enter into arrangements with their customers that address their mutual commercial interests without having to follow government-imposed guidelines, restrictions and filing obligations. In other words, NVOCCs will now be able to conduct business in a deregulated environment.
Of particular note was the FMC’s acknowledgement and appreciation of Ed’s efforts on behalf of the NCBFAA and the forwarding industry. In the FMC press release announcing the decision, Acting Chairman Michael Khouri commented that “The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America petition has had a long road here and they must be commended for their work.” Commissioner Rebecca Dye followed, saying “This is one of the first pieces of major deregulation accomplished by the Commission….”
For more information on this importance decision for NVOCCs, please contact GKG Law’s Ed Greenberg at egreenberg@gkglaw.com.