Posted:
October 19, 2010
Legislation includes several important provisions for mariners
President Barack Obama on Oct. 15 signed into law the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010, the first Coast Guard authorization to become law in several years. The legislation will affect mariners by:
Several sections address the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC), but further rulemaking is necessary before these provisions will come into effect. Further information will be available on AMO Currents and/or the AMO newspaper as these rules become available.
President signs Coast Guard authorization into law
Legislation includes several important provisions for mariners
President Barack Obama on Oct. 15 signed into law the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010, the first Coast Guard authorization to become law in several years. The legislation will affect mariners by:
- Requiring the Coast Guard to "provide a system for seamen assigned to a vessel" at a port or maritime facility - as well as pilots and representatives of seamen's welfare and labor organizations - to board and depart vessels "through that facility in a timely manner at no cost to the individual." This provision will go a long way toward helping the Coast Guard enforce shore access for mariners, particularly in those terminals where the terminal operator has prevented shore access.
- Establishing a Merchant Mariner Medical Advisory Committee, to advise the Secretary of Homeland Security on medical certification determinations for issuance of licenses, certificates of registry and merchant mariners' documents and medical standards and guidelines for mariners' physicals. The committee will be composed of 10 healthcare professionals and four "professional mariners with knowledge and experience in mariner occupational requirements." This action will promote a common-sense interpretation of NVIC, the medical guidelines for merchant mariner credentials, and will assist with implementation of international guidelines, once they are approved.
- Authorizing the Coast Guard to enforce the coastwise trade laws, which reserve the movement of goods between U.S. domestic points to Jones Act-qualified vessels. The coastwise laws are currently enforced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
- Giving the Coast Guard the authority to extend a mariner's expiring license or certificate of registry if the Secretary of Homeland Security determines that the extension is required to eliminate a backlog in processing applications or in response to a natural disaster or national emergency.
- Directing the commandant of the Coast Guard to prepare a report analyzing how to simplify the application process for a "merchant mariner's document," allow mariners to check the status of their applications by electronic means, and store information related to "merchant mariner documents" electronically.
- Protecting mariners who use or authorize force to defend a U.S. vessel against an act of piracy "if such force was in accordance with standard rules for the use of force in self-defense of vessels prescribed by the secretary [of the DHS]." Mariners will be protected from monetary damages for any injury or death caused by such force to "any person engaging in an act of piracy."
Several sections address the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC), but further rulemaking is necessary before these provisions will come into effect. Further information will be available on AMO Currents and/or the AMO newspaper as these rules become available.