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[CHAPTER 318-2D SESSION]

[S. 210]

AN ACT

To amend the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended, to provide for the regulation of freight forwarders.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended, is further amended by adding after part III thereof the following part IV:

"PART IV

"SHORT TITLE

"SEC. 401. This part, divided into sections according to the following table of contents, may be cited as part IV of the Interstate Commerce Act:

"Sec. 401. Short title.

"TABLE OF CONTENTS

"Sec. 402. Definitions and exemptions.

"Sec. 403. General powers and duties of Commission.

"Sec. 404. Rates, charges, and practices.

"Sec. 405. Tariffs of freight forwarders.

"Sec. 406. Commission's authority over rates and practices.

"Sec. 407. Motor carrier rates applicable to small parcel forwarding.

"Sec. 408. Authority for assembling and distribution rates.

"Sec. 409. Adjustment period pending establishment of assembling and distribution rates. Permits.

"Sec. 410.

"Sec. 411. Relationships between freight forwarders and other persons. "Sec. 412. Accounts, records, and reports.

"Sec. 413. Bills of lading and delivery of property.

"Sec. 414. Collection of rates and charges.

"Sec. 415. Allowances to shippers for transportation service.

"Sec. 416. Notices, orders, and service of processes.

"Sec. 417. Enforcement and procedure.

"Sec. 418. Carriers the services of which freight forwarders may utilize.

"Sec. 419. Liability for past acts and omissions.

"Sec. 420. Special powers during time of war or other emergency.

"Sec. 421. Unlawful acts and penalties.

"Sec. 422. Separability of provisions.

"DEFINITIONS AND EXEMPTIONS

"SEO. 402. (a) For the purposes of this part

"(1) The term 'person' includes an individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, or joint-stock association, and includes a trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal representative thereof.

"(2) The term 'Commission' means the Interstate Commerce Commission.

"(3) The term 'State' means a State of the United States or the District of Columbia.

"(4) The term 'United States' means the States of the United States and the District of Columbia.

"(5) The term 'freight forwarder' means any person which (otherwise than as a carrier subject to part I, II, or III of this Act) holds itself out to the general public to transport or provide transportation of property, or any class or classes of property, for compensation, in interstate commerce, and which, in the ordinary and usual course of its undertaking, (A) assembles and consolidates or provides for assembling and consolidating shipments of such property, and performs or provides for the performance of break-bulk and distributing operations with respect to such consolidated shipments, and (B) assumes responsibility for the transportation of such property from point of receipt to point of destination, and (C) utilizes, for the whole or any part of the transportation of such shipments, the services of a carrier or carriers subject to part I, II, or III of this Act.

"(6) The term 'interstate commerce' means transportation (A) between a point in a State and a point in another State, whether or not such transportation takes place wholly within the United States; (B) between points within the same State but through any place outside thereof; or (C) from or to any point in the United States to or from any point outside thereof, but only insofar as such transportation takes place within the United States.

"(7) The term 'service subject to this part' means any or all of the service in connection with the transportation in interstate commerce which any person undertakes to perform or provide as a freight forwarder, or which such person is authorized or required by or under the authority of this part to perform or provide; but such term shall not include that part of the undertaking of any such person for the performance of which the services of an air carrier subject to the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938, as amended, are utilized, or for the performance of which transportation by motor vehicle exempted under the provisions of section 203 (b) (7a) of this Act is utilized. "(8) Wherever reference is made to control (in referring to a relationship between any person or persons and another person or persons), such reference shall be construed to include actual as well as legal control, whether maintained or exercised through or by reason of the method of or circumstances surrounding organization or operation, through or by common directors, officers, or stockholders, a voting trust or trusts, a holding or investment company or companies, or through or by any other direct or indirect means; and to include the power to exercise control.

"(b) The provisions of this part shall not apply (1) to service performed by or under the direction of a cooperative association, as defined in the Agricultural Marketing Act, approved June 15, 1929, as amended, or by a federation of such cooperative associations, if such federation possesses no greater powers or purposes than cooperative associations so defined, or (2) where the property with respect to which service is performed consists of ordinary livestock, fish (including shellfish), agricultural commodities (not including manufactured products thereof), or used household goods, if the person performing such service engages in service subject to this part with respect to not more than one of the classifications of property above specified.

"(4) The term 'United States' means the States of the United States and the District of Columbia.

"(5) The term 'freight forwarder' means any person which (otherwise than as a carrier subject to part I, II, or III of this Act) holds itself out to the general public to transport or provide transportation of property, or any class or classes of property, for compensation, in interstate commerce, and which, in the ordinary and usual course of its undertaking, (A) assembles and consolidates or provides for assembling and consolidating shipments of such property, and performs or provides for the performance of break-bulk and distributing operations with respect to such consolidated shipments, and (B) assumes responsibility for the transportation of such property from point of receipt to point of destination, and (C) utilizes, for the whole or any part of the transportation of such shipments, the services of a carrier or carriers subject to part I, II, or III of this Act.

"(6) The term 'interstate commerce' means transportation (A) between a point in a State and a point in another State, whether or not such transportation takes place wholly within the United States; (B) between points within the same State but through any place outside thereof; or (C) from or to any point in the United States to or from any point outside thereof, but only insofar as such transportation takes place within the United States.

"(7) The term 'service subject to this part' means any or all of the service in connection with the transportation in interstate commerce which any person undertakes to perform or provide as a freight forwarder, or which such person is authorized or required by or under the authority of this part to perform or provide; but such term shall not include that part of the undertaking of any such person for the performance of which the services of an air carrier subject to the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938, as amended, are utilized, or for the performance of which transportation by motor vehicle exempted under the provisions of section 203 (b) (7a) of this Act is utilized. "(8) Wherever reference is made to control (in referring to a relationship between any person or persons and another person or persons), such reference shall be construed to include actual as well as legal control, whether maintained or exercised through or by reason of the method of or circumstances surrounding organization or operation, through or by common directors, officers, or stockholders, a voting trust or trusts, a holding or investment company or companies, or through or by any other direct or indirect means; and to include the power to exercise control.

"(b) The provisions of this part shall not apply (1) to service performed by or under the direction of a cooperative association, as defined in the Agricultural Marketing Act, approved June 15, 1929, as amended, or by a federation of such cooperative associations, if such federation possesses no greater powers or purposes than cooperative associations so defined, or (2) where the property with respect to which service is performed consists of ordinary livestock, fish (including shellfish), agricultural commodities (not including manufactured products thereof), or used household goods, if the person performing such service engages in service subject to this part with respect to not more than one of the classifications of property above specified.

"(f) The Commission may investigate, either upon complaint or upon its own initiative, whether any freight forwarder has failed to comply with any provision of this part or with any order, rule, regulation, or requirement issued or established pursuant thereto, and, after notice and hearing, take appropriate action to compel compliance therewith. Whenever the Commission is of opinion that any complaint does not state reasonable grounds for action on its part, it may dismiss such complaint.

“RATES, CHARGES, AND PRACTICES

"SEC. 404. (a) It shall be the duty of every freight forwarder to provide and furnish, upon reasonable request therefor, the service subject to this part covered by its permit issued under this part, and to establish, observe, and enforce just and reasonable rates and charges therefor and just and reasonable classifications, regulations, and practices relating thereto and to the issuance, form, and substance of receipts and bills of lading, the manner and method of presenting, marking, packing, and delivering property for transportation in service subject to this part, the facilities for such transportation, and all other matters relating to or connected with such transportation, and every unjust or unreasonable rate, charge, classification, regulation, or practice is prohibited and declared unlawful.

"(b) It shall be unlawful for any freight forwarder, in service subject to this part, to make, give, or cause any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any particular person, port, port district, gateway, transit point, locality, region, district, territory, or description of traffic n any respect whatsoever; or to subject any particular person, port, port district, gateway, transit point, locality, region, district, territory, or description of traffic to any unjust discrimination or any undie or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever: Provided, That this subsection shall not be construed to apply to discriminations, prejudice, or disadvantage to the traffic of any carrier of whatever description.

"(c) It shall be unlawful for any common carrier subject to part I, II, or III of this Act to make, give, or cause any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any freight forwarder, whether or not such freight forwarder is controlled by such carrier, in any respect whatsoever; or to subject any freight forwarder, whether or not such freight forwarder is controlled by such carrier, to any undue or unreasonable prejudic or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever. "(d) Nothing in this part shall be construed to prohibit any freight forwarder from entering into an agreement with another freight forwarder for the joint loading of traffic between points in transportation subject to this part, except that the Commission may cancel, suspend, or require the modification of any such agreement which it finds, after reasonable opportunity for hearing, to be inconsistent with the national transportation policy declared in this Act.

"TARIFFS OF FREIGHT FORWARDERS

"SEO. 405. (a) Every freight forwarder shall file with the Commission and print, and keep open to public inspection, tariffs showing its rates and charges for service subject to this part, and all classifications, rules, regulations, and practices with respect thereto. Such

tariffs shall become effective only after thirty days' notice, and shall plainly state the points between which property will be transported, the classification of property, and, separately, all terminal charges, or other charges which the Commission shall require to be so stated, all privileges or facilities granted or allowed, and any rules or regulations which in any wise change, affect, or determine any part or the aggregate of such rates or charges, or the value of the service rendered to the shipper or consignee.

"(b) All rates and charges of freight forwarders for service subject to this part shall be stated in lawful money of the United States. The Commission shall by regulations prescribe the form and manner in which the tariffs to which this section applies shall be published, filed, and posted; and the Commission is authorized to reject any tariff filed with it which is not in accordance with this section and with such regulations. Any tariff so rejected by the Commission shall be void and its use shall be unlawful.

"(c) No freight forwarder shall charge or demand or collect or receive a greater or less or different compensation for or in connection with service subject to this part than the rates or charges specified therefor in its tariffs lawfully in effect; and no freight forwarder shall refund or remit in any manner or by any device any portion of the rates or charges so specified, or extend to any person any privileges or facilities in connection with such service and affecting the value thereof except such as are specified in its tariffs: Provided, That the provisions of section 22 of part I of this Act, as amended (relating to transportation free or at reduced rates), insofar as such provisions relate to transportation or service in the case of property, shall apply with respect to freight forwarders, in the performance of service subject to this part, with like force and effect as in the case of the persons and service to which such provisions are specifically applicable.

"(d) No change shall be made in any rate, charge, classification, regulation, or practice specified in any effective tariff of a freight forwarder for or in connection with service subject to this part, except after thirty days' notice of the proposed change, filed and posted in accordance with this section. Such notice shall plainly state the change proposed to be made and the time when such change will take effect. The Commission may, in its discretion and for good cause shown, allow changes upon notice less than that herein specified, or modify the requirements of this section with respect to posting and filing of tariffs, either in particular instances or by general order applicable to special circumstances or conditions.

(e) No freight forwarder shall engage in service subject to this part unless the rates and charges for such service have been filed and published in accordance with the provisions of this section.

"COMMISSION'S AUTHORITY OVER RATES AND PRACTICES

"SEC. 406. (a) Any person may make complaint in writing to the Commission that anything done or omitted to be done by any freight forwarder is or will be in violation of this part. Every complaint shall state fully the facts complained of and the reasons for such complaint. If such freight forwarder shall not satisfy the complaint within a time specified by the Commission, or there shall be any

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