[8 207] 46 U.S.C. 1118. 49 Stat. 1988. Reports to 46 U.S.C. 1119. 49 Stat. 1988. 50 Stat. 830. Appropriations authorized. Shipping Board poration funds without regard expendable to apportionment. Post Office Department funds Ibid., supra. the Commission's financial transactions shall be audited in the General Accounting Office according to approved commercial practice as provided in the Act of March 20, 1922 (42 Stat. 444): Provided, That it shall be recognized that, because of the business activities authorized by this Act, the accounting officers shall allow credit for all expenditures shown to be necessary because of the nature of such authorized activities, notwithstanding any existing statutory provision to the contrary. The Comptroller General shall report annually or oftener to Congress any departure by the Commission from the provisions of this Act. SEC. 208. The Commission shall, at the beginning of each regular session, make a report to Congress, which shall include the results of its investigations, a summary of its transactions, its recommendations for legislation, a statement of all receipts under this Act, and the purposes for which all expenditures were made. SEC. 209. (a) There are hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. (b) All appropriations and unexpended balances of appropriations available for expenditure by the United States Shipping Board Bureau and United States Shipping Board Merchant Fleet Corporation which would otherwise be applicable to functions transferred to the Commission by this Act, including the fund appropriated to enable the United States Shipping Board Merchant Fleet Corporation to operate ships or lines of ships which have been or may be taken back from purchasers by reason of competition or other methods employed by foreign shipowners or operators as appropriated by the Independent Offices Act, 1928, approved February 11, 1927 (44 Stat. 1082), and reappropriated by the Department of Commerce Appropriation Acts, shall be available for expenditure by or at the direction of the Commission for any and all objects of expenditure authorized by this Act in the discretion of the Commission, without regard to the requirement of apportionment under the Antideficiency Act of February 27, 1906 (U.S.C., title 31, sec. 665), and, notwithstanding any other provision of law, without deduction, allocation, or segregation in any manner for amounts of unclaimed wages, salvage awards, and miscellaneous unclaimed items carried as liabilities on the books of the United States Shipping Board Merchant Fleet Corporation. (c) After the transfer, under section 404 of this Act, to the Commission of the powers and duties of the Postmaster General with respect to existing ocean-mail contracts entered into pursuant to title IV, Merchant Marine Act, 1928 (U.S.C., Supp. VII, title 46, secs. 891e to 891r, inclusive), all appropriations and unexpended balances of appropriations available for expenditure by the Post Office Department for the transportation of foreign mails under contracts authorized by the Merchant Marine Act, 1928, less any amount necessary to be paid out by the Post Office Department, shall be available for any and all objects of expenditure authorized by this Act, by or at the direction of the Commission, without regard to the requirement of apportionment under the Antideficiency Act of February 27, 1906. (d) Funds made available under the provisions of subsection (b) of this section shall be available for expenditures authorized by the Commission under the provisions of section 201 of this Act as soon as a majority of the members of the Commission shall have taken the oath of office, notwithstanding the provisions of section 907 of this Act. [§ 211(a)] 49 Stat. 1989. ican merchant marine. SEC. 210. It shall be the duty of the Commission to 46 U.S.C. 1120. make a survey of the American merchant marine, as it now exists, to determine what additions and replacements are required to carry forward the national policy Survey-Amerdeclared in section 101 of this Act, and the Commission is directed to study, perfect, and adopt a long-range program for replacements and additions to the American merchant marine so that as soon as practicable the following objectives may be accomplished: Creation of rine for essencommerce merchant ma tial foreign routes. First, the creation of an adequate and well-balanced merchant fleet, including vessels of all types, to provide shipping service on all routes essential for maintaining the flow of the foreign commerce of the United States, the vessels in such fleet to be so designed as to be readily and quickly convertible into transport and supply vessels in a time of national emergency. In planning the development of such a fleet the Commission is directed to cooperate closely with the Navy Department as to national-defense needs and the possible speedy adaptation of the merchant fleet to national-defense requirements. Second, the ownership and the operation of such a American merchant fleet by citizens of the United States insofar as may be practicable. ownership. Third, the planning of vessels designed to afford the Safety. best and most complete protection for passengers and crew against fire and all marine perils. 49 Stat. 1989. SEC. 211. The Commission is authorized and directed 46 U.S.C. 1121. to investigate, determine, and keep current records of(a) The ocean services, routes, and lines from ports in the United States, or in a Territory, district, or possession thereof, to foreign markets, which are, or may be, determined by the Commission to be essential for the Commission to determine. [§ 211(a)] Essential services, routes, lines to foreign markets. Consideration of maintenance costs, sailings, and types of vessels. Type, size, and requirements of vessels for promotion, development, expansion, and maintenance of the foreign commerce of the United States, and in reaching its determination the Commission shall consider and give due weight to the cost of maintaining each of such steamship lines, the probability that any such line cannot be maintained except at a heavy loss disproportionate to the benefit accruing to foreign trade, the number of sailings and types of vessels that should be employed in such lines, and any other facts and conditions that a prudent businessman would consider when dealing with his own business, with the added consideration, however, of the intangible benefit the maintenance of any such line may afford to the foreign commerce of the United States and to the national defense; (b) The type, size, speed, and other requirements of speed and other the vessels, including express-liner or super-liner vessels, which should be employed in such services or on such routes or lines, and the frequency and regularity of the sailings of such vessels, with a view to furnishing adequate, regular, certain, and permanent service; service. Relative construction cost. Relative cost of operation. Foreign subsidies. Location, etc., of domestic shipyards. Applicabilityshipping acts to aircraft. Advisabilitylegislation aiding farmers and producers in emergency (c) The relative cost of construction of comparable vessels in the United States and in foreign countries; (d) The relative cost of marine insurance, maintenance, repairs, wages and subsistence of officers and crews, and all other items of expense, in the operation of comparable vessels in particular services, routes, and lines under the laws, rules, and regulations of the United States and under those of the foreign countries whose vessels are substantial competitors of any such American service, route, or line; (e) The extent and character of the governmental aid and subsidies granted by foreign governments to their merchant marine; (f) The number, location, and efficiency of the shipyards existing on the date of the enactment of this Act or thereafter built in the United States; (g) To investigate and determine what provisions of this Act and other Acts relating to shipping should be made applicable to aircraft engaged in foreign commerce in order to further the policy expressed in this Act, and to recommend appropriate legislation to this end; (h) The advisability of enactment of suitable legislation authorizing the Commission, in an economic or commercial emergency, to aid the farmers and cotton, coal, lumber, and cement producers in any section of the United States in the transportation and landing of their products in any foreign port, which products can be carried in dry-cargo vessels by reducing rates, by supplying additional tonnage to any American operator, or by operation of vessels directly by the Commission, until such time as the Commission shall deem such special rate reduction and operation unnecessary for the benefit of the American farmers and such producers; and (i) New designs, new methods of construction, and new types of equipment for vessels; the possibilities of promoting the carrying of American foreign trade in American vessels; and intercoastal and inland water transportation, including their relation to transportation by land and air. SEC. 212. The Commission is authorized and directed(a) To study all maritime problems arising in the carrying out of the policy set forth in title I of this Act; (b) To study, and to cooperate with vessel owners in devising means by which (1) the importers and exporters of the United States can be induced to give preference to vessels under United States registry; and (2) there may be constructed by or with the aid of the United States express-liner or super-liner vessels comparable with those of other nations, especially with a view to their use in national emergency, and the use in connection with or in lieu of such vessels of transoceanic aircraft service; (c) To collaborate with vessel owners and shipbuilders in developing plans for the economical construction of vessels and their propelling machinery, of most modern economical types, giving thorough consideration to all well-recognized means of propulsion and taking into account the benefits accruing from standardized production where practicable and desirable; (d) To establish and maintain liaison with such other boards, commissions, independent establishments, and departments of the United States Government, and with such representative trade organizations throughout the United States as may be concerned, directly or indirectly, with any movement of commodities in the water-borne export and import foreign commerce of the United States, for the purpose of securing preference to vessels of United States registry in the shipment of such commodities; and (e) To investigate, under the regulatory powers transferred to it by this Act, any and all discriminatory rates, charges, classifications, and practices whereby exporters and shippers of cargo originating in the United States are required by any common carrier by water in the foreign trade of the United States to pay a higher rate from any United States port to a foreign port than the rate charged by such carrier on similar cargo from such foreign port to such United States port, and recommend to Congress measures by which such discrimination may be corrected. [8211(f)] Recommendations for legislation. Merchant Marine. Reports. 46 U.S.C. 1122a. 70 Stat. 332. 76 Stat. 1074. P.L. 87-839. Appropriation. Foreign currencies. P.L. 89-66 79 Stat. 211 Report to (f) To make recommendations to Congress, from time to time, for such further legislation as it deems necessary better to effectuate the purpose and policy of this Act. SEC. 212. (A) The operator of a vessel in waterborne foreign commerce of the United States shall file at such times and in such manner as the Secretary of Commerce may prescribe by regulations, such report, account, record, or memorandum relating to the utilization and performance of such vessel in commerce of the United States, as the Secretary may determine to be necessary or desirable in order to carry out the purposes and provisions of this Act, as amended. Such report, account, record, or memorandum shall be signed and verified in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary. An operator who does not file the report, account, record, or memorandum as required by this section and the regulations issued hereunder, shall be liable to the United States in a penalty of $50 for each day of such violation. The amount of any penalty imposed for any violation of this section upon the operator of any vessel shall constitute a lien upon the vessel involved in the violation, and such vessel may be libeled therefor in the district court of the United States for the district in which it may be found. The Secretary of Commerce may, in his discretion, remit or mitigate any penalty imposed under this section on such terms as he may deem proper. SEC. 212. (B) (a) The Secretary of Commerce shall encourage and promote the development and use of mobile trade fairs which are designed to show and sell the products of United States business and agriculture at foreign ports and at other commercial centers throughout the world where the operator or operators of the mobile trade fairs exclusively use United States flag vessels and aircraft in the transportation of their exhibits. (b) The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to provide to the operator or operators of such mobile trade fairs technical assistance and support as well as financial assistance for the purpose of defraying certain expenses incurred abroad, when the Secretary determines that such operations provide an economical and effective means of promoting export sales. (c) There is authorized to be appropriated not to exceed $500,000 per fiscal year for each of the six fiscal years during the period beginning July 1, 1962, and ending June 30, 1968. In addition to such appropriated sums, the President shall make maximum use of foreign currencies owned by or owed to the United States to carry out the purposes of this section. (d) The Secretary of Commerce shall submit annually to the Congress a report on his activities under this Act. |