On August 31, 2004, the Commission published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPR”), 69 FR 53027, in Docket No. 04-11, Update of Existing and Addition of New Filing Fees. This NPR proposed to update the Commission's current filing and service fees which have been in effect since July 15, 2002, and are no longer representative of the Commission's actual costs for providing such services. Fee increases primarily reflected increases in salary and indirect (overhead) costs. For some services, the increase in processing or review time accounted in part for the increase in the level of fees. For other services, fees were lower due to overall reduced costs to provide those services.

The Commission also established a separate fee for terminal exempt agreements. Currently, the Commission maintains the same filing fee for carrier and terminal exempt agreements; however, terminal exempt agreements generally require less processing time than carrier exempt agreements. Consequently, the Commission proposed to establish a separate filing fee for terminal exempt agreements to reflect better the difference in processing times.

The Commission received one comment, from B. Sachau, a private citizen. The commenter suggested that fees should be much higher because, since 2002, everything has gone up by a commenter-estimated one hundred percent. The commenter also suggested that fees should be updated annually, and that all fees should be a minimum of $550, except for document searches, which should cost $8.00 per hour maximum. Further, the commenter suggested that it should not cost anything to have one's name on a mailing list for specific dockets.

The Commission followed established OMB guidelines enumerated in OMB Circular A-25 (“Circular”) when developing its user fee schedule. The Circular provides that costs be determined from agency records, and that costs cover the direct and indirect costs to the Government of carrying out an activity, including, but not limited to, personnel costs, physical overhead, management and supervisory costs, and the costs of enforcement, collection, search, establishment of standards and regulations, etc. This method of determining fees addresses the concern raised in the comment that fees pay for the operation of the agency. With regard to specific fee suggestions in the comments, no documentary basis is provided for setting fees at an arbitrary minimum, for increasing fees beyond those proposed in the NPR, for setting document search costs at a certain maximum amount, or for providing mailing list services for no fee. As the Commission followed standard Government guidelines in developing its fees and the comment provides no basis for their modification, the fees set out in the NPR will be made final.

This Final Rule reflects changes in certain CFR section numbers and Commission bureau names which were put into effect in other Commission rulemakings which became final after the NPR was issued in this proceeding.

The Commission intends to update its fees biennially in keeping with OMB guidance. In updating its fees, the Commission will incorporate changes in employee salaries into direct labor costs associated with its services, and recalculate its indirect costs (overhead) based on the current level of costs.

In accordance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq. , the Chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission has certified that the rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. As stated in the NPR, while the Commission recognized that the rule may impact businesses that qualify as small entities under Small Business Administration guidelines, the Commission is required to assess recipients of specific governmental services reasonable charges to recover the costs of providing these services. The charges in the rule reflect the costs of specific Commission services mandated by statute, and these services benefit the shipping industry and the foreign commerce of the United States. The Commission believes that the charges in the rule will not have a harmful effect on entities within the Commission's jurisdiction, the general public, or the U.S. economy. Furthermore, the Commission's regulations provide for waiver or reduction of any charge in extraordinary situations pursuant to 46 CFR 503.41. Requests for fee waiver or reduction are to be made to the Secretary of the Commission, and should demonstrate either that the waiver or reduction is in the best interest of the public or that imposition of the fee would impose an undue hardship. No comments disputed the Commission's certification. The certification, therefore, remains in effect.

This regulatory action was not subject to OMB review under Executive Order 12866, dated September 30, 1993. This regulatory action is not a “major rule” under 5 U.S.C. 804(2). This rule does not contain any collection of information requirements as defined by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, as amended. Therefore, OMB review is not required.