interest rates on outstanding debt that may be made, shall, in a supplemental report and order, modify, or refuse to modify, any plan which it has approved, stating the reasons for such modification or for its refusal to modify the plan. The Commission, if it modifies the plan, shall certify the modified plan to the court, together with a transcript of the proceeding before it and a copy of its report and order approving the modified plan. Thereafter proceedings upon the plan shall be governed by the provisions of subsection (e) of section 77 of the Bankruptcy Act, as amended, and of this section. If the Commission refuses to modify the plan, it shall transmit to the court a copy of its report and order, together with a transcript of the proceedings before it. Thereafter, if the court shall find that the refusal of the Commission to modify the plan is based on sufficient findings and is supported by the record, the proceeding upon the plan shall continue as if the plan had not been returned to the Commission; otherwise the court shall return the plan to the Commission for further consideration. Upon such consideration, the Commission shall again certify the plan to the court with such modifications, if any, as it may find necessary, and thereafter further proceedings upon the plan shall be as provided in said subsection (e) and in this section. SEC. 4. If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the remainder of this Act, and the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances, shall not be affected thereby. Approved April 9, 1948. [PUBLIC LAW 583-801H CONGRESS] [CHAPTER 386-2D SESSION] [H. R. 3730] AN ACT To amend section 20 (12) of the Interstate Commerce Act, with respect to recourse, by an initial or delivering carrier, against the carrier on whose line loss of, or damage or injury to, property is sustained, on account of expense incurred in defending actions at law. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That paragraph (12) of section 20 of the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows: "(12) That the common carrier, railroad, or transportation company issuing such receipt or bill of lading, or delivering such property so received and transported, shall be entitled to recover from the common carrier, railroad, or transportation company on whose line the loss, damage, or injury shall have been sustained, the amount of such loss, damage, or injury as it may be required to pay to the owners of such property, as may be evidenced by any receipt, judgment, or transcript thereof, and the amount of any expense reasonably incurred by it in defending any action at law brought by the owners of such property." Approved June 3, 1948. [CHAPTER 457-2D SESSION] [H. R. 6078] AN ACT To amend section 303 (e) of the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That subsection (e) of section 303 of the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended, is amended to read as follows: "(e) (1) Notwithstanding any provision of this part the Commission may, by order, from time to time, upon application, or upon its own initiative without application, exempt from the requirements of this part the transportation of passengers between points in the United States by way of a foreign port or ports, upon a finding that application of such requirements thereto is not necessary to carry out the national transportation policy declared in this Act. "(2) It is hereby declared to be the policy of Congress to exclude from the provisions of this part, in addition to the transportation otherwise excluded under this section, transportation by contract carriers by water which, by reason of the inherent nature of the commodities transported, their requirement of special equipment or their shipment in bulk, is not actually and substantially competitive with_transportation by any common carrier subject to this part or part I or part II. Upon application of a carrier, made in such manner and form as the Commission may by regulations prescribe, the Commission shall, subject to such reasonable conditions and limitations as the Commission may prescribe, by order exempt from the provisions of this part such of the transportation engaged in by such carrier as it finds necessary to carry out the policy above declared. A carrier (other than a carrier subject, at the time this part takes effect, to the provisions of the Intercoastal Shipping Act, 1933, as amended) making such application prior to January 1, 1941, shall be exempt from the provisions of this part until a final determination has been made upon such application if such carrier or a predecessor in interest was in bona fide operation as a contract carrier by water on January 1, 1940, over the route or routes or between the ports with respect to which application is made and has so operated since that time (or, if engaged in furnishing seasonal service only, was in bona fide operation during the seasonal period, prior to or including such date, for operations of the character in question) except, in either event, for interruptions of service over which such carrier or its predecessor in interest had no control". Approved June 12, 1948. [PUBLIC LAW 662-80TH CONGRESS] [CHAPTER 491-2D SESSION] [S. 110] AN ACT To amend the Interstate Commerce Act with respect to certain agreements between carriers. 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 amended by adding after section 5 thereof a new section as follows: "SEC. 5a. (1) For purposes of this section "(A) The term 'carrier' means any common carrier subject to part I, II, or III, or any freight forwarder subject to part IV, of this Act; and "(B) The term 'antitrust laws' has the meaning assigned to such term in section 1 of the Act entitled 'An Act to supplement existing laws against unlawful restraints and monopolies, and for other purposes', approved October 15, 1914. "(2) Any carrier party to an agreement between or among two or more carriers relating to rates, fares, classifications, divisions, allowances, or charges (including charges between carriers and compensation paid or received for the use of facilities and equipment), or rules and regulations pertaining thereto, or procedures for the joint consideration, initiation or establishment thereof, may, under such rules and regulations as the Commission may prescribe, apply to the Commission for approval of the agreement, and the Commission shall by order approve any such agreement (if approval thereof is not prohibited by paragraph (4), (5), or (6)) if it finds that, by reason of furtherance of the national transportation policy declared in this Act, the relief provided in paragraph (9) should apply with respect to the making and carrying out of such agreement; otherwise the application shall be denied. The approval of the Commission shall be granted only upon such terms and conditions as the Commission may prescribe as necessary to enable it to grant its approval in accordance with the standard above set forth in this paragraph. "(3) Each conference, bureau, committee, or other organization established or continued pursuant to any agreement approved by the Commission under the provisions of this section shall maintain such accounts, records, files, and memoranda and shall submit to the Commission such reports, as may be prescribed by the Commission, and all such accounts, records, files, and memoranda shall be subject to inspection by the Commission or its duly authorized representatives. "(4) The Commission shall not approve under this section any agreement between or among carriers of different classes unless it finds that such agreement is of the character described in paragraph (2) of this section and is limited to matters relating to transportation under joint rates or over through routes; and for purposes of this paragraph carriers by railroad, express companies, and sleeping-car companies are carriers of one class; pipe-line companies are carriers of one class; carriers by motor vehícle are carriers of one class; carriers by water are carriers of one class; and freight forwarders are carriers of one class. "(5) The Commission shall not approve under this section any agreement which it finds is an agreement with respect to a pooling, division, or other matter or transaction, to which section 5 of this Act is applicable. "(6) The Commission shall not approve under this section any agreement which establishes a procedure for the determination of any matter through joint consideration unless it finds that under the agreement there is accorded to each party the free and unrestrained right to take independent action either before or after any determination arrived at through such procedure. "(7) The Commission is authorized, upon complaint or upon its own initiative without complaint, to investigate and determine whether any agreement previously approved by it under this section, or terms and conditions upon which such approval was granted, is not or are not in conformity with the standard set forth in paragraph (2), or whether any such terms and conditions are not necessary for purposes of conformity with such standard, and, after such investigation, the Commission shall by order terminate or modify its approval of such agreement if it finds such action necessary to insure conformity with such standard, and shall modify the terms and conditions upon which such approval was granted to the extent it finds necessary to insure conformity with such standard or to the extent to which it finds such terms and conditions not necessary to insure such conformity. The effective date of any order terminating or modifying approval, or modifying terms and conditions, shall be postponed for such period as the Commission determines to be reasonably necessary to avoid undue hardship. "(8) No order shall be entered under this section except after interested parties have been afforded reasonable opportunity for hearing. "(9) Parties to any agreement approved by the Commission under this section and other persons are, if the approval of such agreement is not prohibited by paragraph (4), (5), or (6), hereby relieved from the operation of the antitrust laws with respect to the making of such agreement, and with respect to the carrying out of such agreement in conformity with its provisions and in conformity with the terms and conditions prescribed by the Commission. "(10) Any action of the Commission under this section in approving an agreement, or in denying an application for such approval, or in terminating or modifying its approval of an agreement, or in prescribing the terms and conditions upon which its approval is to be granted, or in modifying such terms and conditions, shall be construed as having effect solely with reference to the applicability of the relief provisions of paragraph (9)." JOSEPH W. MARTIN Jr Speaker of the House of Representatives. H. C. LODGE, Jr. Acting President of the Senate pro tempore. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, June 16 (legislative day, June 15), 1948. The Senate having proceeded to reconsider the bill (S. 110) entitled "An Act to amend the Interstate Commerce Act with respect to certain agreements between carriers", returned by the President of the United States with his objections, to the Senate, in which it originated, it was Resolved, That the said bill pass, two-thirds of the Senators present having voted in the affirmative. The House of Representatives having proceeded to reconsider the bill (S. 110) entitled "An Act to amend the Interstate Commerce Act with respect to certain agreements between carriers", returned by the President of the United States with his objections, to the Senate, in which it originated, it was Resolved, That the said bill pass, two-thirds of the House of Representatives agreeing to pass the same. Attest: JOHN ANDREWS Clerk |