Electronic Submission of Mariner Course Completion Data, 29013-29035 [2023-06472]
Download as PDF
29013
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
distribution of power and
responsibilities among the various
levels of government, as specified in
Executive Order 13132, entitled
‘‘Federalism’’ (64 FR 43255, August 10,
1999). Executive Order 13132, requires
EPA to develop an accountable process
to ensure ‘‘meaningful and timely input
by State and local officials in the
development of regulatory policies that
have federalism implications.’’ ‘‘Policies
that have federalism implications’’ is
defined in the Executive order to
include regulations that have
‘‘substantial direct effects on the States,
on the relationship between the
National Government and the States, or
on the distribution of power and
responsibilities among the various
levels of government.’’ This proposed
rule directly regulates growers, food
processors, food handlers, and food
retailers, not States. This proposed rule
does not alter the relationships or
distribution of power and
responsibilities established by Congress
in the preemption provisions of FFDCA
section 408(n)(4). For these same
reasons, the Agency has determined that
this proposed rule does not have any
‘‘tribal implications’’ as described in
Executive Order 13175, entitled
‘‘Consultation and Coordination with
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 180
Environmental protection,
Administrative practice and procedure,
Agricultural commodities, Pesticides
and pests, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements.
Dated: May 1, 2023.
Edward Messina,
Director, Office of Pesticide Programs.
Therefore, it is proposed that 40 CFR
chapter I be amended as follows:
PART 180—TOLERANCES AND
EXEMPTIONS FOR PESTICIDE
CHEMICAL RESIDUES IN FOOD
1. The authority citation for part 180
continues to read as follows:
■
Authority: 21 U.S.C. 321(q), 346a and 371.
2. In § 180.940:
a. Amend paragraph (a) the table by,
adding in alphabetical order, the entries
‘‘Ortho-benzyl-para-chlorophenol’’;
‘‘Potassium 2-benzyl-4-chlorophenate’’
and ‘‘Sodium 2-benzyl-4chlorophenate’’.
■ b. Amend paragraph (c) the table by
removing the entry for ‘‘Phenol, 4chloro-2-(phenylmethyl)-’’.
The additions read as follows:
■
■
§ 180.940 Tolerance exemptions for active
and inert ingredients for use in
antimicrobial formulations (Food-contact
surface sanitizing solutions).
*
*
*
*
*
Pesticide chemical
CAS reg. No.
*
*
Ortho-benzyl-para-chlorophenol ............
*
120–32–1 ................
*
*
*
*
When ready for use, the end-use concentration is not to exceed 2080 ppm.
*
*
Potassium 2-benzyl-4-chlorophenate ....
*
35471–49–9 ............
*
*
*
*
When ready for use, the end-use concentration is not to exceed 2080 ppm.
*
*
Sodium 2-benzyl-4-chlorophenate .........
*
3184–65–4 ..............
*
*
*
*
When ready for use, the end-use concentration is not to exceed 2080 ppm.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND
SECURITY
Coast Guard
46 CFR Parts 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 30,
35 and 39
RIN 1625–AC75
Electronic Submission of Mariner
Course Completion Data
AGENCY:
Coast Guard, DHS.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
*
Notice of proposed rulemaking.
The Coast Guard proposes to
require Coast Guard-approved training
providers to electronically submit
student course completion data to the
Coast Guard within 5 business days of
completing a Coast Guard-approved
course. The National Maritime Center
would use this information to validate
mariner course completion as part of an
application for a Merchant Mariner
Credential. In addition, the Coast Guard
proposes to replace gendered titles for
certain officer and rating endorsements
in keeping with Coast Guard policy of
using gender-neutral language. We
expect these proposed changes to lessen
the probability of credentials being
issued to mariners who have not met the
professional requirements for their
SUMMARY:
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
[Docket No. USCG–2021–0097]
Limits
*
ACTION:
[FR Doc. 2023–09640 Filed 5–4–23; 8:45 am]
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
Indian Tribal Governments’’ (65 FR
67249, November 9, 2000). Executive
Order 13175, requires EPA to develop
an accountable process to ensure
‘‘meaningful and timely input by tribal
officials in the development of
regulatory policies that have tribal
implications.’’ ‘‘Policies that have tribal
implications’’ is defined in the
Executive order to include regulations
that have ‘‘substantial direct effects on
one or more Indian tribes, on the
relationship between the Federal
Government and the Indian tribes, or on
the distribution of power and
responsibilities between the Federal
Government and Indian tribes.’’ This
proposed rule will not have substantial
direct effects on tribal governments, on
the relationship between the Federal
Government and Indian tribes, or on the
distribution of power and
responsibilities between the Federal
Government and Indian tribes, as
specified in Executive Order 13175.
Thus, Executive Order 13175 does not
apply to this proposed rule.
PO 00000
Frm 00011
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
*
*
endorsements and to appropriately
conform terms that should be genderneutral.
Comments and related material
must be received by the Coast Guard on
or before July 5, 2023.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments
identified by docket number USCG–
2021–0097 using the Federal
eRulemaking Portal at https://
www.regulations.gov. See the ‘‘Public
Participation and Request for
Comments’’ portion of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for
further instructions on submitting
comments.
Collection of information. Submit
comments on the collection of
information discussed in section VI.D.
of this preamble both to the Coast
DATES:
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
29014
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
Guard’s online docket and to the Office
of Information and Regulatory Affairs
(OIRA) in the White House Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) using
their website www.reginfo.gov/public/
do/PRAMain. Comments sent to OIRA
on the collection of information must
reach OMB on or before the comment
due date listed on their website.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
information about this document call or
email Mr. Brian T. Eichelberger, Office
of Merchant Mariner Credentialing,
Coast Guard; telephone 202–372–1450,
email Brian.T.Eichelberger@uscg.mil.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents for Preamble
I. Public Participation and Request for
Comments
II. Abbreviations
III. Basis and Purpose
IV. Background
V. Discussion of Proposed Rule
VI. Regulatory Analyses
A. Regulatory Planning and Review
B. Small Entities
C. Assistance for Small Entities
D. Collection of Information
E. Federalism
F. Unfunded Mandates
G. Taking of Private Property
H. Civil Justice Reform
I. Protection of Children
J. Indian Tribal Governments
K. Energy Effects
L. Technical Standards
M. Environment
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
I. Public Participation and Request for
Comments
The Coast Guard views public
participation as essential to effective
rulemaking, and will consider all
comments and material received during
the comment period. Your comment can
help shape the outcome of this
rulemaking. If you submit a comment,
please include the docket number for
this rulemaking, indicate the specific
section of this document to which each
comment applies, and provide a reason
for each suggestion or recommendation.
Submitting comments. We encourage
you to submit comments through the
Federal eRulemaking Portal at https://
www.regulations.gov. To do so, go to
https://www.regulations.gov, type
USCG–2021–0097 in the search box,
and click ‘‘Search.’’ Next, look for this
document in the Search Results column,
and click on it. Then click on the
Comment option. If you cannot submit
your material by using https://
www.regulations.gov, call or email the
person in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT section of this proposed rule
for alternate instructions.
Viewing material in docket. To view
documents mentioned in this proposed
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
rule as being available in the docket,
find the docket as described in the
previous paragraph, and then select
‘‘Supporting & Related Material’’ in the
Document Type column. Public
comments will also be placed in our
online docket and can be viewed by
following instructions on the https://
www.regulations.gov Frequently Asked
Questions (FAQ) web page. That FAQ
page also explains how to subscribe for
email alerts that will notify you when
comments are posted or if a final rule is
published. We review all comments
received, but we will only post
comments that address the topic of the
proposed rule. We may choose not to
post off-topic, inappropriate, or
duplicate comments that we receive.
Personal information. We accept
anonymous comments. Comments we
post to https://www.regulations.gov will
include any personal information you
have provided. For more about privacy
and submissions in response to this
document, see the Department of
Homeland Security’s eRulemaking
System of Records notice (85 FR 14226,
March 11, 2020).
Public meeting. We do not plan to
hold a public meeting, but we will
consider doing so if we determine from
public comments that a meeting would
be helpful. We would issue a separate
Federal Register notice to announce the
date, time, and location of such a
meeting.
II. Abbreviations
DHS Department of Homeland Security
FR Federal Register
ICR Information collection request
MRN Mariner reference number
MMC Merchant Mariner Credential
MMLD Merchant Mariner Licensing and
Documentation
MTAD Marine Training and Assessment
Data
NMC National Maritime Center
NPRM Notice of proposed rulemaking
OMB Office of Management and Budget
QSS Quality Standard System
RA Regulatory analysis
STCW International Convention on
Standards of Training, Certification, and
Watchkeeping, 1978, as amended
§ Section
U.S.C. United States Code
III. Basis and Purpose
The legal basis of this rulemaking is
Title 46 of the United States Code
(U.S.C.), Sections 7101(b) and 7301(b),
which authorize the Secretary of the
department in which the Coast Guard is
operating to prescribe regulations
relating to issuing Merchant Mariner
Credentials (MMCs) for officer and
rating endorsements. The Secretary of
the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) has delegated the rulemaking
PO 00000
Frm 00012
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
authority under 46 U.S.C. 7101(b) and
7301(b) to the Coast Guard through 46
U.S.C. 2104 and DHS Delegation No.
00170.1, Revision No. 01.3, paragraph
(II)(92)(e). Additionally, 14 U.S.C.
102(3) grants the Coast Guard broad
authority to issue and enforce
regulations to promote safety of life and
property on waters subject to the
jurisdiction of the United States, which
includes establishing the experience,
professional qualifications, and
processes required for issuing
credentials.
This proposed rule would require
Coast Guard-approved training
providers to submit students’ course
completion data electronically to the
Coast Guard within 5 business days of
the course ending. This action would
lessen the probability of issuing MMCs
to mariners who have not met the
professional requirements for their
endorsements and improve the
efficiency of the credentialing process.
In addition, the proposed rule would
replace gendered titles for certain officer
and rating endorsements to align with
the Coast Guard’s policy of using
gender-neutral language.
IV. Background
The Coast Guard issues MMCs to
mariners who have met the regulatory
requirements for individual
endorsement(s), as described in title 46
of the Code of Federal Regulations
(CFR), parts 10, 11, 12, and 13.
Professional requirements for an MMC
endorsement generally include sea
service, completion of Coast Guardapproved training, and having a met a
standard of competence through
practical demonstration and completion
of a written examination.
Title 46 CFR 10.209(a) states that for
any application for an MMC, whether
for an original, renewal, duplicate, raise
of grade, or new endorsement on a
previously issued MMC, the applicant
must establish that they satisfy all the
requirements for the MMC and
endorsement(s) sought before the Coast
Guard will issue the MMC. When an
individual submits a Form CG–719B
Application for an MMC to the Coast
Guard, supporting documentation must
be included to establish that they have
met the requirements for individual
MMC endorsement(s). Supporting
documentation for an MMC application
may include evidence of sea service,
course or program completion
certificates, and documentation of
having met a required standard of
competence as appropriate for the
endorsement requested.
The National Maritime Center (NMC),
in accordance with the requirements of
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
46 CFR part 10, subpart D, approves
training required for MMC
endorsements. As described in 46 CFR
10.402, the Coast Guard may approve
training designed to fulfill or substitute
for MMC requirements, including a
portion of required sea service, an
examination required by the Coast
Guard, professional competency
requirements, or other regulatory
requirements.
The general standards for Coast
Guard-approved courses and programs
are found in 46 CFR 10.403. Coast
Guard-approved training providers are
required to maintain physical or
electronic records of all students who
took a course for at least 5 years after the
completion of the course. Although
Coast Guard-approved training
providers are required to maintain these
student records, there is no requirement
for them to submit a student’s course
completion data to the Coast Guard. The
NMC receives approximately 55,000
MMC applications annually. Coast
Guard evaluators at the NMC review
applications for MMCs to determine
whether the mariner has met the
regulatory requirements for the
endorsement(s) that they are seeking.
The NMC uses the Merchant Mariner
Licensing and Documentation (MMLD)
database to maintain records of U.S.
merchant mariners and issue MMCs to
qualified mariners.
Validation of data has been a
longstanding challenge for the mariner
credentialing program. In 2011,
Transport Canada conducted an
independent evaluation of how the
United States implemented the
International Convention on Standards
of Training, Certification, and
Watchkeeping, 1978 as amended
(STCW). The evaluation noted that the
Coast Guard could not provide evidence
of having established sufficient
procedures and controls to ensure the
authenticity and validity of documents
submitted as part of an MMC
application package. In 2016, Transport
Canada conducted another independent
evaluation of how the United States
implemented STCW and restated the
lack of verification controls to ensure
the validity and authenticity of
documents submitted as part of an MMC
application package.
In 2019, as part of an ongoing
investigation surrounding mariner
examinations, the Coast Guard
discovered that over an extended
period, numerous mariners had
submitted fraudulent course completion
certificates to the NMC as part of their
MMC application. As of June 2021, the
Coast Guard identified 428 mariners
involved in course certificate fraud
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
since 2016.1 In the absence of available
procedures and resources to validate the
authenticity of course completion
certificates, the NMC accepted
fraudulent certificates submitted by
mariners as part of an MMC application
package as evidence of completing
required training for an MMC
endorsement. As a result, the Coast
Guard-issued these mariners
endorsements that they were not
professionally qualified to hold.
While training providers are required
to retain course completion data, they
are not required to submit the data to
the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard
typically reviews those records only as
part of an audit of Quality Standard
Systems (QSS) of Coast Guard-approved
training providers under 46 CFR
10.410(g), as well as Coast Guard
administrative visits and inspections
under 46 CFR 10.403(a)(9). The Coast
Guard is proposing to require Coast
Guard-approved training providers to
submit course completion data
electronically to the Coast Guard within
5 business days of the course’s
completion. This data would be used to
verify that mariners have met the
regulatory training requirements for the
MMC endorsements requested, and
reduce opportunities for fraudulent
information being accepted as part of an
MMC application package.
The titles of MMC endorsements are
prescribed in 46 CFR 10.109. This
proposed rule would make nonsubstantive changes to 46 CFR parts 10,
11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 30, 35, and 39 to
ensure the titles of certain officer and
rating endorsements are gender-neutral
to align with the Coast Guard’s policy of
removing gendered language from its
rules and regulations. This policy is
demonstrated by final rules published
in 2002 and 2012 that made technical
amendments to the CFR in order to
remove gendered language.2
V. Discussion of Proposed Rule
This proposed rule would amend 46
CFR 10.403 to require Coast Guardapproved training providers to submit
data on Coast Guard-approved courses
conducted and mariners completing the
courses to the NMC.
The information would be submitted
electronically, in a manner specified by
the Coast Guard, within 5 business days
1 Email communication with Mariner
Credentialing Fraud Task Force from July 20, 2021.
2 The rule published on September 30, 2002 (67
FR 61276) made changes to 46 CFR part 401 to
change any use of the word ‘‘he’’ to ‘‘the
individual.’’ The rule published on October 1, 2012
(77 FR 59768) changed the definition of ‘‘Secretary
of Homeland Security’’ in 46 CFR part 401, to
include ‘‘he or she’’ and ‘‘his or her’’ rendering it
gender-neutral.
PO 00000
Frm 00013
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
29015
of completing a Coast Guard-approved
course. Mariners submitting course
completion data to the Coast Guard as
part of their MMC application and Coast
Guard-approved training providers
submitting course completion data
electronically to the Coast Guard would
attest, under criminal penalty, that the
records are accurate to the best of their
knowledge and that no false entries or
statements were made. See 18 U.S.C.
1001. The NMC would use this
information to validate that mariners
have completed the training required for
the MMC endorsement requested. This
action would lessen the probability of
the Coast Guard accepting a fraudulent
course completion certificate as part of
an application for an MMC and improve
the efficiency of the credentialing
process.
The proposed 5-business day window
to submit course completion data would
ensure that a mariner’s application
would not be delayed because the NMC
is waiting for training providers to
submit the course completion data.
Delaying the evaluation of an
application and issuance of an MMC
may result in loss of employment for a
mariner, which is in conflict with
NMC’s mission to issue credentials to
fully qualified mariners in the most
effective and efficient manner possible.
Although the Coast Guard would
electronically receive course completion
data, Coast Guard-approved training
providers should continue to issue
course completion certificates to their
students. Mariners would still be
responsible for including their course
completion certificates as supporting
documentation with their MMC
application package. This would allow
Coast Guard evaluators to validate the
information submitted by the mariner
with their MMC application against the
information submitted electronically by
the training provider.
Under this proposed rule, training
providers would be required to submit
the name of the training provider, the
training provider’s Coast Guard-issued
provider code, the title of the Coast
Guard-approved course or program, the
Coast Guard-issued course code, the
dates the training provider held the
course, and the name of the approved
instructor. This information would
allow the Coast Guard to validate that a
course was approved by the Coast
Guard, conducted by an approved
instructor, and the dates the course was
conducted. The proposed electronic
submission would also require the
student’s full name as it appears on
their MMC or other valid Governmentissued identification, and their Coast
Guard-issued mariner reference number
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
29016
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
(MRN), or their date of birth and place
of birth if they do not currently have an
MRN.3 This information is critical
should the Coast Guard need to verify
whether a student attended a certain
course or program.
The Coast Guard seeks comments
regarding how course completion data
from Coast Guard-approved courses can
be submitted electronically to the Coast
Guard. Submitting copies of course
completion certificates by email,
sending data files or spreadsheets listing
required information, or adding data
through a direct system entry or forms
have been used or suggested as
methods. The Coast Guard seeks
specific information (example: data file
type) and recommendations of how
Coast Guard-approved training
providers would submit this data.
Information received through public
comments will be used to determine the
most effective method for training
providers to submit course completion
data to the Coast Guard. If a final rule
is published, the Coast Guard will
provide guidance to specify the
submission process.
The Coast Guard has a voluntary
program for submitting course
completion data electronically through
Homeport.4 Currently, approximately 30
Coast Guard approved training
providers voluntarily submit
information to the Coast Guard using
Homeport. This process is more fully
discussed in the regulatory analysis of
this proposal.
The Coast Guard recognizes that
Homeport may be limited in the volume
of submissions it can support as we
move from voluntary to mandatory
electronic submission of course
completion data. The Coast Guard is
currently in the process of replacing
MMLD with a more secure, agile, and
user-friendly system that provides better
service to the maritime industry. This
new system has yet to be developed,
and the best way for training providers
to comply with the proposed
requirements to electronically submit
course completion data continues to be
through Homeport. When the new
system is developed and fully
operational, the Coast Guard will
3 The Coast Guard handles personally identifiable
information (PII) according to the DHS Handbook
for Safeguarding Sensitive PII. A privacy impact
assessment for the Merchant Mariner Licensing and
Documentation System can be found online at
https://www.dhs.gov/publication/dhsuscgpia-015merchant-mariner-licensing-and-documentationsystem. The applicable System of Records Notice
(SORN) is DHS/USCG–030 Merchant Seamen’s
Records, 74 FR 30308 (June 25, 2009).
4 Homeport is the Coast Guard’s enterprise
internet portal for the maritime community and can
be accessed at https://homeport.uscg.mil/.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
publish a document announcing that in
the Federal Register and detailing the
new system and best practice for
compliance. The new system is not
being created specifically for the
electronic submission of mariner course
completion data, so the cost of the new
IT system will not be included in this
proposed rule’s cost analysis.
The Coast Guard understands that
instant compliance upon publication of
the final rule finalizing the new system
may not be feasible for many training
providers submitting mariner course
completion data. For that reason, in this
rulemaking the Coast Guard seeks
public input regarding what a
reasonable length of time would be
needed to allow course providers to
modify their procedures following
publication of a final rule, as well as
what kind of adjustments training
providers would be required to make in
order to pivot from current practices to
compliant practices. The Coast Guard is
taking comment on whether or not a
‘‘phased-in’’ applicability or multiple
phased in applicability period(s) is
necessary for training providers to
modify their procedures to meet the
proposed requirements set forth in this
NPRM. If a final rule is published before
the implementation of a system to
replace MMLD, the Coast Guard will
work with course providers to ensure
they can submit course completion data
using the existing Homeport process.
The Coast Guard also seeks comments
from training providers explaining what
alternative approaches they might use in
the event of IT issues. Public comments
may include new information about any
aspect of the proposed rule that would
require a revision of the cost analysis. If
that occurs, the Coast Guard will update
it and publish a Supplemental Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking (SNPRM) with
the revised cost analysis, so that the
public can ascertain the new cost of the
proposed rule. An SNPRM will also
begin a new period of public comments,
so the Coast Guard can receive
additional comments, including
feedback on the revised cost analysis of
the proposed rule. As any potentially
impactful information from public
comments are not known at this time, it
is impossible to incorporate that
information into the current cost
analysis.
This NPRM also proposes to amend
46 CFR parts 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 30,
35, and 39 to ensure the names of
certain officer and rating endorsements
are gender-neutral. If a final rule is
published, the Coast Guard will update
any other regulations using the
historical endorsement titles through
future rulemakings. In this initiative, the
PO 00000
Frm 00014
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
Coast Guard specifically proposes to
change the following endorsement titles
as described in table 1:
TABLE 1—PROPOSED NOMENCLATURE
CHANGES TO 46 CFR PARTS 10, 11
12, 13, 15, 16, 30, AND 35
Current CFR
Nomenclature change
Apprentice mate
(steersman).
Crewman ........................
Fireman ...........................
Hospital corpsman ..........
Lifeboatman ....................
Pumpman .......................
Seaman ..........................
Tankerman ......................
Apprentice mate towing.
Crew.
Boiler technician.
Medical technician.
Lifeboat operator.
Pump technician.
Seafarer.
Tank vessel.
If a final rule is issued, the Coast
Guard would no longer issue
endorsements using the current
endorsement titles. Mariners would not
have to submit an application to have
the endorsements titles changed on their
MMC. The endorsement titles would be
updated at the next credential
transaction when an application is
submitted to the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard is proposing to
change the name of the Able Seaman
endorsement to Able Seafarer. To
differentiate in 46 CFR 10.231(c)(6)(ii)
between the already established STCW
endorsements of Able Seafarer-Deck and
Able Seafarer-Engine and the proposed
Able Seafarer endorsements, the
endorsements would be referred as
national Able Seafarer.
In addition, in some provisions of 46
CFR part 12, the legacy names of
endorsements would not be changed to
the proposed names. Specifically,
§§ 12.501(b)(2) 12.607(b), 12.613(c), and
12.615(c) reference endorsements that
would have been held before 2017 and
would have been held with the legacy
name.
Finally, the Coast Guard is proposing
to remove the expired grandfathering
provisions in 46 CFR 13.603(e),
13.605(e), 13.607(e), 13.609(b), and
13.611(b). These provisions provided a
method for mariners who held valid
national tankerman endorsements
issued before March 24, 2014 to qualify
for original STCW tanker cargo
operations endorsements. Any national
tankerman endorsements issued before
March 24, 2014 would have expired as
of March 23, 2019; therefore, the
grandfathering provisions have expired
and mariners who wish to obtain
original STCW tanker cargo
endorsements must meet the
requirements of the applicable section.
VI. Regulatory Analyses
We developed this proposed rule after
considering numerous statutes and
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
Executive orders related to rulemaking.
A summary of our analyses based on
these statutes or Executive orders
follows.
A. Regulatory Planning and Review
Executive Orders 12866 (Regulatory
Planning and Review) and 13563
(Improving Regulation and Regulatory
Review) direct agencies to assess the
costs and benefits of available regulatory
alternatives and, if regulation is
necessary, to select regulatory
approaches that maximize net benefits
(including potential economic,
environmental, public health and safety
effects, distributive impacts, and
equity). Executive Order 13563
emphasizes the importance of
quantifying costs and benefits, reducing
29017
costs, harmonizing rules, and promoting
flexibility.
The Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) has not designated this proposed
rule a significant regulatory action
under section 3(f) of Executive Order
12866. OMB has not reviewed this rule.
Table 2 shows the summary of the
estimated impacts of this proposed rule.
A regulatory analysis (RA) follows.
TABLE 2—SUMMARY OF THE IMPACTS OF THE PROPOSED RULE
Category
Affected Population ..............
Cost to Industry over 10
Years (2021 dollars, 7%
discount rate).
Cost to Government over 10
Years (2021 dollars, 7%
discount rate).
Unquantified Benefits ...........
Summary
Approximately 236 Coast Guard-approved training providers out of a total population of 326 providers.
Between $242,490 and $1,327,767.
$371,894.
The proposed rule would reduce the probability of mariners obtaining an MMC without meeting the regulatory
training requirements, which in turn would reduce fraud and improve safety onboard vessels. The rule serves
the Coast Guard mission of Maritime Prevention, which requires the Coast Guard to prevent marine casualties
and property loss.
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
Affected Population
The affected population for this
proposed rule includes training
providers approved by the NMC who
offer training to meet the regulatory
requirements for MMC endorsements.
From 2010 to 2019, NMC reports that
the number of Coast Guard-approved
training providers ranged from a low of
299 training providers in 2010 to a high
of 340 training providers in 2016, with
an average of 326 training providers.
The number of courses approved by the
Coast Guard ranged from a low of 2,835
courses in 2010 to a high of 3,252
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
courses in 2017, for an average of 3,115
courses that were approved by the Coast
Guard in a given year. The number of
Coast Guard-approved courses offered
by each training provider varies greatly
depending on demand for the course,
instructor availability, etc. Many
providers may offer a single course,
while some providers offer as many as
107 courses. The average number of
courses per training provider is 6
courses, and there is a mode of 1 course
offered per training provider.
Figure 1 shows the distribution of
how many Coast Guard-approved
PO 00000
Frm 00015
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
courses each training provider has in a
given year. The first bar shows that 164
training providers have between 1 and
7 approved courses. The NMC does not
track how many times a training
provider offers each of their approved
courses; it is possible that a training
provider with only one Coast Guard
approved course offers that course
multiple times in a year. The analysis
for this proposed rule focuses on the
number of student records submitted
rather than the number of courses
offered, in order to best account for the
unknown frequency in course offerings.
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
29018
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
All course approvals are valid for 5
years per 46 CFR 10.407(e) and are not
contingent on the frequency a Coast
Guard-approved training provider may
offer a course. The NMC receives
mariner course completion data in two
ways: as part of a mariner’s MMC
application, or through a training
provider’s electronic submission to the
Coast Guard through Homeport.
Applicants submit course completion
certificates as evidence that they have
met the regulatory training requirement
for the MMC endorsement(s) they are
requesting. As part of the evaluation of
an MMC application, Coast Guard
evaluators verify that a course
completion certificate from a Coast
Guard-approved training provider is
submitted for each course required to
obtain the requested endorsement, and
NMC adds the course completion data
to the mariner’s record within MMLD
manually.
In 2010, a secondary method to
receive course completion data was
established. Coast Guard approved
training providers could now
voluntarily submit course completion
data electronically to the Coast Guard
through Homeport, the Coast Guard’s
enterprise internet portal for the
maritime community. Homeport’s
secure, role-based environment brings
together Coast Guard personnel,
members of the maritime community,
and other designated individuals
allowing them to share information
quickly. The course completion data
provided through Homeport is added to
a database known as MTAD (Mariner
Training and Assessment Data) and is
then uploaded to individual mariner
records in MMLD.
From 2010 to 2020, an average of
68,783 course completion records were
submitted to the Coast Guard annually,
of which an average of 12,498 course
completion records were submitted by
training providers electronically
through Homeport. All other records
were submitted by mariners as part of
their application for an MMC. If a final
rule is published, training providers
will be submitting all the data
electronically through Homeport. This
proposed rule would require training
providers to electronically submit
course completion data directly to NMC.
To validate the course completion data
provided with a mariner’s MMC
application package, Coast Guard
evaluators would match information
submitted electronically by the training
provider to the documentation provided
by the mariner with their MMC
application.
The Homeport Submissions column
shows the number of student records
that training providers submitted
electronically through Homeport over a
10-year period, and can be considered
the pilot program for the rulemaking.
The cost estimate of the proposed rule
includes the annual cost of submitting
course completion data through
Homeport over a 10-year period.
TABLE 3—NUMBER OF STUDENT RECORDS SUBMITTED ELECTRONICALLY ANNUALLY
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
...............................................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................................
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
PO 00000
Frm 00016
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
1,555
3,011
7,018
12,348
14,151
17,640
21,903
19,090
20,499
12,596
05MYP1
Total
(homeport
submissions &
MMC applications)
47,320
55,250
61,853
70,770
79,391
81,202
86,891
70,723
76,014
70,710
EP05MY23.055
Homeport
submissions
Year
29019
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
TABLE 3—NUMBER OF STUDENT RECORDS SUBMITTED ELECTRONICALLY ANNUALLY—Continued
Homeport
submissions
Year
Total
(homeport
submissions &
MMC applications)
2020 ...............................................................................................................................................................
7,664
56,486
Average ..................................................................................................................................................
12,498
68,783
Cost to Industry
The cost of submitting course
completion data through Homeport from
2010 to 2020 was $269,946, for an
average of $24,541 per year. This has an
annualized cost of $22,787 at the 7%
discount rate. This cost may be
considered the pilot program of the
proposed rule and is not included in the
cost analysis, as those training providers
who already submit course completion
data through Homeport have been
included in the industry cost below.
The cost of the pilot program is detailed
in Table 4.
TABLE 4—COST OF SUBMISSIONS THROUGH HOMEPORT, 2010–2020
Year
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
MTAD
Time to
submit
(hours)
Wage of submitter
(hourly)
Yearly cost
3%
7%
................................................
................................................
................................................
................................................
................................................
................................................
................................................
................................................
................................................
................................................
................................................
1,555
3,011
7,018
12,348
14,151
17,640
21,903
19,090
20,499
12,596
7,664
0.04
0.04
0.04
0.04
0.04
0.04
0.04
0.04
0.04
0.04
0.04
$49.09 .......................................................
49.09 .........................................................
49.09 .........................................................
49.09 .........................................................
49.09 .........................................................
49.09 .........................................................
49.09 .........................................................
49.09 .........................................................
49.09 .........................................................
49.09 .........................................................
49.09 .........................................................
$3,053
5,912
13,781
24,247
27,787
34,638
43,009
37,485
40,252
24,734
15,049
$4,226
7,945
17,981
30,715
34,175
41,360
49,859
42,190
43,984
26,240
15,500
$6,426
11,630
25,336
41,661
44,620
51,982
60,322
49,135
49,310
28,318
16,102
Average ...................................
12,498
................
Total ...................................................
269,946
314,176
384,843
Annualized .........................................
......................
23,816
22,787
Note: Figures may not sum due to rounding.
The main industry cost of the
proposed rule for training providers is
the additional time they would spend
submitting course completion data to
NMC: there are approximately 326
providers, who would submit an annual
average of 68,783 records. Additionally,
training providers would have to
register for an account to use Homeport.
Cost to the government is detailed in
the ‘‘Cost to the Federal Government’’
section. The initial cost to training
providers would be the cost of time
spent to register for a Homeport account
so that they can submit course
completion data. According to an NMC
Subject Matter Expert (SME) familiar
with Homeport, they estimate it would
take a training provider 20 minutes to
establish a Homeport account. All 326
providers would need to establish an
account and given the wages for the
personnel who would register the
account, we find that the cost to
industry would be a one-time total of
$5,334.
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
TABLE 5—THE COST TO TRAINING PROVIDERS TO ESTABLISH A HOMEPORT ACCOUNT
Number of training providers
Time to complete
Wages
Total cost
A
B
C
A*B*C
326 ...................................................
.33 hours (20 minutes) ..............................................................................
To estimate the time cost for
submitting records electronically, we
surveyed training providers that
currently use Homeport. Under the
limits of the Paperwork Reduction Act
of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501–3520), we
contacted eight providers and received
four complete responses back, three of
which quantified the time required to
submit data through Homeport. If you
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
have comments or questions concerning
the sample, data, or assumption, please
submit them identified by docket
number USCG–2021–0097 using the
Federal eRulemaking Portal at https://
www.regulations.gov.
It is assumed that if the Coast Guard
implements a new IT system, training
providers would spend the same
amount of time submitting course
PO 00000
Frm 00017
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
$49.09/hour
$5,334
completion data through the new IT
system as they do submitting through
Homeport.
The key questions asked as part of the
survey were:
• ‘‘Excluding time already spent on
issuance of conventional paper course
completion certificates, what is the
minimum additional amount of time
you estimate it takes to enter data into
Homeport for each course?’’
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
29020
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
• ‘‘What is the maximum additional
amount of time you estimate it takes to
enter data into Homeport for each
course?’’
Using an average of the three survey
responses, we estimate the time to
submit each student record to be
approximately 0.0114 hours (0.68
minutes) on the lower end and 0.0688
hours (4.13 minutes) on the higher end.
Assuming that each course has an
average of 20 students, the total hours
of submission per course would be a
range of .228 hours and 1.376 hours.
The loaded mean hourly wage rate of
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
submitters is approximately $49.09 for
2021, derived from an unloaded mean
hourly wage rate of $32.51 for Training
and Development Specialists 5 and a
load factor of 1.51.6 Applying the
5 The 2021 mean hourly wage rate of $32.51 is for
Training and Development Specialists. https://
www.bls.gov/oes/2021/may/oes131151.htm.
6 We calculated the load factor by dividing total
compensation by wages and salaries, (56.56/37.42)
= a load factor of 1.51. Bureau of Labor Statistics’
National Compensation Survey, September 2021.
‘‘Table 4. Civilian workers, by industry group:
employer costs per hour worked for employee
compensation and costs as a percentage of total
compensation—Educational Services,’’ epage 112.
https://www.bls.gov/web/ecec/ececqrtn.pdf.
PO 00000
Frm 00018
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
loaded hourly wage rate to the burden
range, we estimate a total cost range of
approximately $0.56 to $3.38 per
student record. We estimate that
training providers would submit 68,783
student records electronically annually,
equal to the 10-year average number of
student records manually entered to
MMLD. Table 6 shows the calculation of
the total cost to training providers of
this proposed rule when we multiply
the hourly burden per student record by
the number of new records submitted
electronically. We then multiply this
amount by the wage of submitters.
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
We estimate the total discounted cost
of the proposed rule on the lower end,
as shown in Table 7. The total 10-year
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
discounted cost would be
approximately $237,156 at the 7%
discount rate, and the annualized costs
PO 00000
Frm 00019
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
29021
to be approximately $33,766 at the 7%
discount rate.
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
EP05MY23.056
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
29022
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
TABLE 7—ESTIMATED COST TO TRAINING PROVIDERS OF THE PROPOSED RULE: LOW ESTIMATE, 10 YEARS
[2021 Dollars]
Year
Total cost
3%
7%
1 ...................................................................................................................................................
2 ...................................................................................................................................................
3 ...................................................................................................................................................
4 ...................................................................................................................................................
5 ...................................................................................................................................................
6 ...................................................................................................................................................
7 ...................................................................................................................................................
8 ...................................................................................................................................................
9 ...................................................................................................................................................
10 .................................................................................................................................................
$33,766
33,766
33,766
33,766
33,766
33,766
33,766
33,766
33,766
33,766
$32,782
31,827
30,900
30,000
29,127
28,278
27,455
26,655
25,879
25,125
$31,557
29,492
27,563
25,760
24,074
22,499
21,028
19,652
18,366
17,165
Total ......................................................................................................................................
337,656
288,028
237,156
Annualized ............................................................................................................................
........................
33,766
33,766
Note: Figures may not sum due to rounding.
We also estimated the total
discounted cost of the proposed rule on
the higher end, as shown in Table 8.
The total 10-year discounted cost would
be approximately $1,322,433 at the 7%
discount rate. We estimate the
annualized costs to be about $188,285 at
the 7% discount rate.
TABLE 8—ESTIMATED COSTS TO TRAINING PROVIDERS OF THE PROPOSED RULE: HIGH ESTIMATE, 10 YEARS
[2021 Dollars]
Year
Total cost
3%
7%
1 ...................................................................................................................................................
2 ...................................................................................................................................................
3 ...................................................................................................................................................
4 ...................................................................................................................................................
5 ...................................................................................................................................................
6 ...................................................................................................................................................
7 ...................................................................................................................................................
8 ...................................................................................................................................................
9 ...................................................................................................................................................
10 .................................................................................................................................................
$188,285
188,285
188,285
188,285
188,285
188,285
188,285
188,285
188,285
188,285
$182,801
177,476
172,307
167,289
162,416
157,686
153,093
148,634
144,305
140,102
$175,967
164,455
153,696
143,642
134,244
125,462
117,254
109,583
102,414
95,714
Total ......................................................................................................................................
1,882,848
1,606,107
1,322,433
Annualized ............................................................................................................................
........................
188,285
188,285
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
Note: Figures may not sum due to rounding.
The total cost to training providers of
the proposed rule over a 10-year period
includes both the one-time cost of
establishing a Homeport account
($5,334) and the cost of electronically
submitting course data over 10 years,
including a low estimate ($337,656) and
a high estimate ($1,882,848). The 7%
discount cost of the rule over 10 years
is between $237,156 and $1,322,433.
Therefore, the total cost of the rule to
training providers is between $342,990
and $1,888,182, with a mean of
$1,115,586. The total discounted cost
over 10 years, is between $242,490 and
$1,327,767, with a mean of $785,129.
Cost to the Federal Government
The cost to government includes the
cost of Coast Guard personnel to verify
training provider accounts on
Homeport, and the wages of personnel
who would verify course completion
data in MMLD for the amount of time
they would perform that work.
In order for a training provider to be
able to electronically submit course
completion data through Homeport,
they must first establish a user account
by registering on the site. User accounts
must be verified by Coast Guard
personnel at the NMC before they can be
ready for use. According to a NMC SME
familiar with Homeport, it would take a
GS–07 approximately 20 minutes to
verify a Homeport user account. NMC
personnel would need to verify the
Homeport user accounts for all 326
training providers.
Wages for civilian federal employees
are calculated by taking the wages for a
federal employee in their locality, with
their grade, at a step of 5 (which is
considered an average). For a GS–07
employee in the national capital region,
this is $26.69 per hour as of January
2021. To account for the total cost of the
position, wages must be multiplied by a
load factor, which found by taking the
total compensation for federal
employees and dividing by average
wages for federal employees.7 The
calculation creates a load factor of 1.69,
and when multiplied by the hourly
7 Congressional Budget Office, Comparing the
Compensation of Federal and Private-Sector
Employees, 2011 to 2015 (April 2017),
www.cbo.gov/publication/52637.
‘‘Federal and Private-Sector Total Compensation,
by Workers’ Educational Attainment’’: Federal
Government, All Levels of Education. Page 16.
‘‘Federal and Private-Sector Wages, by Workers’
Educational Attainment’’: Federal Government, All
Levels of Education. Page 11.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
PO 00000
Frm 00020
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
29023
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
wage, the total wages for a GS–07
employee becomes $45.11 per hour.
The total cost of verification would be
a one-time cost of $4,902, as detailed in
Table 9.
TABLE 9—COST TO GOVERNMENT OF VERIFYING HOMEPORT USER ACCOUNTS
Number of training providers
Time to verify a new homeport
user account
GS–07
wages
Total cost
A
B
C
A*B*C
326 ....................................................
20 minutes (.33 hours) .................................................................................
The course completion data that the
training provider submits through
Homeport is added to the MTAD
database and is automatically matched
to the mariner’s profile in the MMLD
using the individual’s MRN. If a mariner
does not have an MRN, such as when
they are completing courses in
anticipation of applying for their first
MMC, the course data appears in MMLD
as an unmatched entry because it does
not match to an existing MRN. This
situation prompts manual review by
personnel at NMC.
The mariner provides their Social
Security number as required on Form
CG–719B, and they are issued an MRN
after they apply for their first MMC. The
MRN is used by the Coast Guard to
identify them in all future credentialing
transactions, and all records are
matched to the MRN rather than the
Social Security number. Students may
voluntarily submit their Social Security
number to a training provider as a
means of identifying them with their
records.
However, records may not match due
to a misspelling or other error in data
entry. If neither a Social Security
number nor an MRN are provided, the
certificate would remain unmatched to
a mariner’s record in MMLD until it can
be matched manually. The need for
manual review to match records in
MMLD represents a cost to the Coast
Guard.
The Coast Guard estimates that
manually matching records in MMLD
would require 3 hours per week at the
GS–7 level and 0.5 hours per week at
the GS–13 level for the current 18
percent of course completion records
entered into the MMLD. This number
would need to be projected at an
additional 82 percent when all Coast
Guard-approved training providers
submit course completion data to the
NMC. The projected total cost to the
Coast Guard would be an additional 17
hours per week at the GS–7 level, and
$45.11/hour
$4,902
2.5 hours per week at the GS–13 level.
There would be a total annual burden of
1,014 hours—884 hours for a GS–7 and
130 hours for a GS–13.
Total wages for GS–07 employees are
$45.11 per hour, and total wages for GS–
13 are $95.16 per hour.8
To find the cost of the proposed rule
to the federal government over a 10 year
period, we must first multiply the wages
of personnel by the hours they would
work verifying course completion data
in a given year. For GS–07 personnel,
they would work for 884 hours at the
rate of $45.11 per hour, totaling to
$39,877. For GS–13 personnel, they
would work for 130 hours at the rate of
$95.16 per hour, totaling to $12,371.
Combining these figures, the proposed
rule would cost the federal government
$52,248 over 10 years. If we divided this
amount by the total hours of
verification, we find the weighted
average wage of $51.53. The details of
this cost, and the discounted cost at 3%
and 7%, are provided in Table 10.
TABLE 10—ESTIMATED COSTS OF THE PROPOSED RULE TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: 2022 DOLLARS
Year
Total time
(hours)
Weighted
average wage
Total annual
A
B
A*B
3% Discount
7% Discount
1 ...........................................................................................
2 ...........................................................................................
3 ...........................................................................................
4 ...........................................................................................
5 ...........................................................................................
6 ...........................................................................................
7 ...........................................................................................
8 ...........................................................................................
9 ...........................................................................................
10 .........................................................................................
1,014
1,014
1,014
1,014
1,014
1,014
1,014
1,014
1,014
1,014
$51.53
51.53
51.53
51.53
51.53
51.53
51.53
51.53
51.53
51.53
$52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
$50,730
49,252
47,817
46,425
45,073
43,760
42,485
41,248
40,046
38,880
$48,833
45,638
42,653
39,862
37,255
34,817
32,540
30,411
28,421
26,562
Total ..............................................................................
........................
........................
522,514
445,715
366,992
Annualized ...........................................................................
........................
........................
........................
52,251
52,251
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
Note: Figures may not sum due to rounding.
Currently, when a mariner submits a
course completion certificate as part of
an application, evaluators at NMC enter
that data into the mariner’s profile in
MMLD. Under the proposed rule, rather
than spending time entering course
completion data, evaluators would
verify that the information submitted by
the mariner matches the data submitted
8 GS–07 Step 5: 26.69 × 1.69 = 45.11 per hour,
GS–13 Step 5: 56.31 × 1.69 = 95.16 per hour.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
PO 00000
Frm 00021
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
29024
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
by the training provider. We do not
anticipate there would be a difference in
time between entering course
completion data and verifying a course
completion certificate. Therefore, we do
not estimate a cost for verification.
The Coast Guard would not realize
cost savings from reduced fraud
investigations because it must still
investigate accusations of fraud. The
additional records generated by this
proposed rule would aid in completing
investigations accurately and in a timely
manner, but would not reduce the
number of investigations the Coast
Guard must conduct annually.
The total cost to the government is the
one-time cost of verification at $4,902
and the 10-year operating cost of
$522,514, for a total cost of $527,416.
The total cost at a 7% discount over 10
years (including the one-time cost of
account verification) would be
$371,570.
Net Total Cost of the Proposed Rule
Table 11 shows the net cost of the
proposed rule using the lower estimated
cost, and Table 12 shows the net cost of
the proposed rule using the higher
estimated cost.
TABLE 11—NET COSTS OF THE PROPOSED RULE: LOW ESTIMATE, 2022 DOLLARS
Cost to
training
providers
(low)
Cost to govt.
Total net cost
(low)
A
B
A+B
1 ...........................................................................................
2 ...........................................................................................
3 ...........................................................................................
4 ...........................................................................................
5 ...........................................................................................
6 ...........................................................................................
7 ...........................................................................................
8 ...........................................................................................
9 ...........................................................................................
10 .........................................................................................
$33,766
33,766
33,766
33,766
33,766
33,766
33,766
33,766
33,766
33,766
$52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
$86,017
86,017
86,017
86,017
86,017
86,017
86,017
86,017
86,017
86,017
$83,512
81,079
78,718
76,425
74,199
72,038
69,940
67,903
65,925
64,005
$80,390
75,131
70,215
65,622
61,329
57,317
53,567
50,063
46,788
43,727
Total ..............................................................................
........................
........................
860,170
733,742
604,147
Annualized ...........................................................................
........................
........................
........................
86,017
86,017
Year
3% Discount
7% Discount
Note: Figures may not sum due to rounding.
TABLE 12—NET COSTS OF THE PROPOSED RULE: HIGH ESTIMATE, 2022
Year
Cost to
training
providers
(low)
Cost to govt.
Total net cost
(low)
A
B
A+B
3% Discount
7% Discount
1 ...........................................................................................
2 ...........................................................................................
3 ...........................................................................................
4 ...........................................................................................
5 ...........................................................................................
6 ...........................................................................................
7 ...........................................................................................
8 ...........................................................................................
9 ...........................................................................................
10 .........................................................................................
$188,285
188,285
188,285
188,285
188,285
188,285
188,285
188,285
188,285
188,285
$52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
52,251
$240,536
240,536
240,536
240,536
240,536
240,536
240,536
240,536
240,536
240,536
$233,530
226,728
220,124
213,713
207,488
201,445
195,578
189,881
184,351
178,981
$224,800
210,093
196,349
183,504
171,499
160,279
149,794
139,994
130,836
122,276
Total ..............................................................................
........................
........................
2,405,358
2,051,819
1,689,423
Annualized ...........................................................................
........................
........................
........................
240,536
240,536
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
Note: Figures may not sum due to rounding.
The annualized cost of the rule,
discounted at 7% over a 10-year period
of time, would be between a low
estimate of $604,147 and a high estimate
of $1,689,423. Adding in the one-time
cost for creating a Homeport account for
training course providers ($5,334) and
the one-time cost for verifying a
Homeport account by the government
($4,902) for both the high and low
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
estimates, we find that the total net cost
of the rule is between a low estimate of
$614,383 and a high estimate of
$1,699,659.
Benefits
The Coast Guard has identified that
approximately .12% of student course
completion data submissions had been
fraudulent from 2016 to June 2021. The
PO 00000
Frm 00022
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
primary benefit of this proposed rule is
prevention of fraud and a reduction of
the potential for a mariner to be issued
an MMC endorsement they are not
qualified to hold. Ensuring mariners
have met the requirements for their
MMC endorsements would decrease
shipboard operational risk . This would
improve safety onboard vessels. The
proposed rule also serves the Coast
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
Guard mission of Maritime Prevention,
which requires the Coast Guard to
prevent marine casualties and property
loss.
Currently, a mariner course
completion data can be verified by
having Coast Guard personnel call the
training provider to confirm the
mariner’s reported course completion
information matches the records of the
provider, and then evaluate any
discrepancies. This has been done
sporadically when evaluating mariners
MMC applications, and instances in
which verification was not completed
have allowed for a degree of fraud for
mariners submitting false or inaccurate
documentation supporting their MMC
application. Under the proposed rule,
both the mariner and the training
provider would submit their course
completion data to the Coast Guard. The
mariner would submit course
completion data with their application
for an MMC and the training provider
would submit course completion data
through Homeport. NMC evaluators
would verify that data submitted by the
mariner matches data submitted by the
training providers. If any discrepancies
are found, an investigation may then be
initiated, to determine the nature of the
discrepancy, if any fraudulent data was
submitted and whether or not the
mariner should be issued the credential.
Alternatives Considered
1. No action. We rejected this
alternative because potentially issuing
credentials to unqualified mariners not
only puts the Coast Guard at risk, but
also poses a risk to the marine
transportation system, other mariners,
and the marine environment through
increased likelihood of marine
casualties and related damages
associated with unqualified personnel.
2. Coast Guard-provided serial
numbers for training certificates. Under
this alternative, the Coast Guard would
provide training providers with a list of
serial numbers to use on the course
completion certificates they issue to
students. We rejected this alternative
because to implement this alternative,
the Coast Guard would need to develop
an electronic system to track certificate
serial numbers. Prior attempts at adding
new capabilities to the MMLD have
been unsuccessful. Implementing this
alternative would require additional
human resources to develop and
manage a secondary system to track
certificate numbers and increase
application evaluation times due to the
need to access multiple databases to
verify data. None of these requirements
are feasible in the immediate near-term.
This alternative also does not align
with current Coast Guard initiatives to
replace MMLD and transition to an
electronic system for the application
and issuance of MMCs. Due to the safety
concerns associated with the results of
investigations of mariner fraud, the
Coast Guard is pursuing this proposed
rule to mitigate opportunities for the
NMC to accept fraudulent certificates as
part of an MMC application.
3. Training providers submit course
completion data to the NMC (preferred
alternative). This is the selected
alternative because it achieves the Coast
Guard’s desired benefit of providing the
ability for the NMC evaluators to verify
the course completion data submitted
by an MMC applicant while also taking
advantage of existing programs to have
training providers submit records
electronically. This NPRM limits the
cost of the proposed rule because it
would not require adding new
functionality to the MMLD. We
analyzed the costs and benefits of this
alternative in the regulatory analysis of
this proposed rule.
B. Small Entities
Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act,
5 U.S.C. 601–612, we have considered
whether this proposed rule would have
a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities.
The term ‘‘small entities’’ comprises
small businesses, not-for-profit
organizations that are independently
owned and operated and are not
dominant in their fields, and
governmental jurisdictions with
populations of less than 50,000.
The impact of this proposed rule on
each training provider would vary by
29025
how many Coast Guard-approved
courses a training provider offers in any
given year, and how many student
records a training provider submits to
the Coast Guard. Larger training
providers that offer many courses, and
thus manage more student records,
would have a larger burden from the
proposed rule, but they also have larger
revenues. Conversely, smaller training
providers that manage fewer student
records would have a smaller burden
under this proposed rule, but may have
less revenue to mitigate the burden. To
assess the potential burden on small
entities, we took a random sample of the
total population of Coast Guardapproved training providers and
multiplied the cost per course by the
number of courses each training
provider offered in a year.
Of the 236 training providers that this
proposed rule would affect, we took a
random sample of 173 companies to
achieve a 95 percent confidence
interval. We found 147 of the companies
in the random sample that had known
revenues or employee information; 100
had both measures while 47 had only
known employee information. The
sample represented 59 different North
American Industry Classification
System codes, including schools,
professional training centers, and
specific trades reflecting the range of
courses required to obtain mariner
credentials and associated
endorsements.
Out of a sample of 173 companies
(training providers), we found 166 small
entities overall that could potentially be
affected by this proposed rule.9 Among
the sample of 173 companies, we found
74 are small entities based on a revenue
size standard, and 11 are small entities
based on an employee size standard.
There was insufficient information to
determine the size of 81 companies, so
the Coast Guard assumed that they are
small entities. Overall, we found 166
small entities that could potentially be
affected by this proposed rule. Table 13
presents the number of small entities
based on employee size standard,
revenue size standard, or other
information.
TABLE 13—NUMBER OF SMALL ENTITIES
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
Category
Number
Small entities by revenue standard .........................................................................................................................................................
Small entities by employee standard ......................................................................................................................................................
Entities assumed to be small with insufficient information ......................................................................................................................
9 The definitions for small entities was based on
the July 2022 SBA Small Business Size Standards,
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2022-07/
Table%20of%20Size%20Standards_Effective%20
PO 00000
Frm 00023
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
74
11
81
July%2014%202022_Final-508.pdf, accessed Dec.
3rd, 2022.
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
29026
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
TABLE 13—NUMBER OF SMALL ENTITIES—Continued
Category
Number
Total small entities ............................................................................................................................................................................
166
Number of entities in sample ...................................................................................................................................................................
173
The annual impact of this proposed
rule on each entity would be
proportional to the number of courses
offered. Here, we use the number of
courses rather than the number of
students because the number of Coast
Guard-approved courses was known,
but the number of students per training
provider was not. To estimate the
impact, we multiply the number of
Coast Guard-approved courses offered
by the estimated time burden per course
in hours (see Table 6), and then
multiply by the loaded hourly wage rate
of the submitters. For example, if a
training provider offered 2 Coast Guardapproved courses, their burden would
be approximately $22.39 on the lower
end (2 courses × 0.228 hours × $49.09)
and approximately $135.00 on the
higher end (2 courses × 1.375 hours ×
$49.09). For the lower cost to represent
more than 1% of revenues, an entity
would need to have annual revenues
less than or equal to $2,244, or $13,530
on the higher end.
The mode of courses offered by small
entities is 1: most small entities only
offer 1 course. The mean of courses
offered by small entities is 9.22.
TABLE 14—NUMBER OF COURSES AND COST OF RULE BY SMALL ENTITIES
Number of
small entities
Number of courses
1 .................................................................................................................
2 .................................................................................................................
3 .................................................................................................................
4 .................................................................................................................
5 .................................................................................................................
6 .................................................................................................................
7 .................................................................................................................
8 .................................................................................................................
9 .................................................................................................................
10 ...............................................................................................................
11 ...............................................................................................................
12 ...............................................................................................................
13 ...............................................................................................................
14 ...............................................................................................................
16 ...............................................................................................................
18 ...............................................................................................................
19 ...............................................................................................................
20 ...............................................................................................................
>20 * ...........................................................................................................
Percentage of
small entities
49
17
13
16
11
3
6
4
9
6
2
5
1
2
1
2
1
3
16
Cost of rule,
low estimate
29
10
8
10
7
2
4
2
5
4
1
3
1
1
1
1
1
2
10
Cost of rule,
high estimate
$11.19
22.39
33.58
44.77
55.96
67.16
78.35
89.54
100.73
111.93
123.12
134.31
145.50
156.70
179.08
201.47
212.66
223.85
358.16
$67.50
135.00
202.50
270.00
337.49
404.99
472.49
539.99
607.49
674.99
742.49
809.99
877.48
944.98
1,079.98
1,214.98
1,282.48
1,349.98
2,159.96
Note: Percentages may not sum to 100% due to rounding.
* Estimates for the ‘‘over 20 courses’’ category uses a mean of 32 courses as a representative sample.
Of the small entities for whom we
found revenue data, over the 10-year
period of analysis, one small entity
would experience an impact of greater
than 1 percent of its total annual
revenues on the lower end, and 6 small
entities would experience an impact of
greater than 1 percent of its total annual
revenues on the higher end. Table 15
shows the number of small entities with
a greater than 1 percent impact on their
annual revenues as the percentage of the
total population of small entities that we
found through our analysis. While this
impact is 0.60 percent at the low end
and 3.01 percent at the high end of the
population of small entities, this is not
a substantial number of small entities
out of the entire population of 303
training providers that offer at least one
course.
TABLE 15—ESTIMATED INITIAL AND ANNUAL IMPACT OF THE PROPOSED RULE ON SMALL ENTITIES
Lower
estimate
Category
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
Number of small entities where impact is greater than 1% of revenues ........................................................................
Percentage of small entities where impact is greater than 1% of revenues ..................................................................
Table 16 shows the number of small
entities that would be affected by the
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
proposed rule as a percentage of the
small entities’ total annual revenues.
PO 00000
Frm 00024
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
1
0.60%
Higher
estimate
6
3.01%
29027
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
TABLE 16—ESTIMATED INITIAL AND ANNUAL PERCENTAGE REVENUE IMPACT OF THE PROPOSED RULE ON SMALL ENTITIES
Lower
estimate
Category
Impact
Impact
Impact
Impact
Impact
<1% of revenues .................................................................................................................................................
1 to 2% of revenues ............................................................................................................................................
2 to 3% of revenues ............................................................................................................................................
3 to 4% of revenues ............................................................................................................................................
greater than 4% of revenues ...............................................................................................................................
Hence, we found that 99 percent of
the small entities would fall into the 0
to 1 percent category using the lower
estimate, and 96 percent of them would
fall into the 0 to 1 percent category
using the higher estimate. Therefore, the
Coast Guard certifies under 5 U.S.C.
605(b) that this proposed rule would not
have a significant economic impact on
a substantial number of small entities.
If you think that your business,
organization, or governmental
jurisdiction qualifies as a small entity
and that this proposed rule would have
a significant economic impact on it,
please submit a comment to the docket
at the address listed in the ADDRESSES
section of this preamble. In your
comment, explain why you think it
qualifies and how and to what degree
this proposed rule would economically
affect it.
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
C. Assistance for Small Entities
Under section 213(a) of the Small
Business Regulatory Enforcement
Fairness Act of 1996, Public Law 104–
121, we want to assist small entities in
understanding this proposed rule so that
they can better evaluate its effects on
them and participate in the rulemaking.
If the proposed rule would affect your
small business, organization, or
governmental jurisdiction and you have
questions concerning its provisions or
options for compliance, please call or
email the person in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this
proposed rule. The Coast Guard will not
retaliate against small entities that
question or complain about this
proposed rule or any policy or action of
the Coast Guard.
Small businesses may send comments
on the actions of Federal employees
who enforce, or otherwise determine
compliance with, Federal regulations to
the Small Business and Agriculture
Regulatory Enforcement Ombudsman
and the Regional Small Business
Regulatory Fairness Boards. The
Ombudsman evaluates these actions
annually and rates each agency’s
responsiveness to small business. If you
wish to comment on actions by
employees of the Coast Guard, call 1–
888–REG–FAIR (1–888–734–3247).
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
D. Collection of Information
This proposed rule would call for a
collection of information under the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44
U.S.C. 3501–3520. As defined in 5 CFR
1320.3(c), ‘‘collection of information’’
comprises reporting, recordkeeping,
monitoring, posting, labeling, and other
similar actions. The title and
description of the information
collections, a description of those who
must collect the information, and an
estimate of the total annual hour burden
follow. The estimate covers the time for
reviewing instructions, searching
existing sources of data, gathering and
maintaining the data needed, and
completing and reviewing the
collection.
The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
requires the Coast Guard to consider the
impact of paperwork and other
information collection burdens imposed
on the public. According to the 1995
amendments to the Paperwork
Reduction Act, an agency may not
collect or sponsor the collection of
information, nor may it impose an
information collection requirement,
unless it displays a currently valid OMB
control number.
This action contains proposed
amendments to the existing information
collection requirements previously
approved under OMB Control Number
1625–0028. This ICR governs all of the
information collected for training
provider approvals, including
information required to evaluate and
approve the initial course, review of
these materials by the NMC, and
ongoing recordkeeping requirements for
each student taking a course. The
proposed rule increases the hour burden
of recordkeeping for each Coast Guardapproved course but does not increase
the number of responses (number of
Coast Guard-approved courses).
The hour burden of the ICR represents
the total annual burden per Coast
Guard-approved course, assuming that
each Coast Guard-approved course is
offered 12 times with 20 students in
each class. The current hour burden is
40 hours for each Coast Guard-approved
course, or 0.1667 hours for each student
record. Since the regulatory analysis for
PO 00000
Frm 00025
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
91
0
1
0
0
Higher
estimate
87
2
1
1
1
the proposed rule used a range for the
estimated burden, we use the higher end
of the range to provide a conservative
estimate of the increase in
recordkeeping burden. This proposed
rule would increase the hour burden per
student record by 0.0688 from 0.1667 to
0.2355 hours. This creates a total
increase of about 16.32 hours in the
hour burden per response, from 40
hours per course (0.1667 × 20 students
× 12 courses) to about 56.33 hours for
each course (0.2347 × 20 students × 12
courses).
The title and description of the
information collection, a description of
those who must collect the information,
and an estimate of the total annual
burden follow. The estimates cover the
time for reviewing instructions,
searching existing sources of data,
gathering and maintaining the data
needed, and completing and reviewing
the collection. The current OMBapproved number of responses is 2,757.
Title: Course Approval and Records
for Merchant Mariner Training Schools.
OMB Control Number: 1625–0028.
Summary of the Collection of
Information: This ICR governs all of the
information collected for training
provider approvals (including
information required to evaluate and
approve the course and any information
regarding the STCW QSS manual)
review of these materials by the NMC,
and ongoing recordkeeping
requirements for each student taking a
course.
Need for Information: Title 46 of the
CFR, 10.402 specifies the information
that must be submitted for the Coast
Guard to evaluate and approve each
course. Title 46 of the CFR, section
10.403 specifies recordkeeping
requirements that a Coast Guardapproved training provider offering
courses must meet for each student
taking each course. The Coast Guard is
obligated under the STCW Convention
to validate the training completed by
mariners and to ensure that the
approved training is monitored under a
QSS.
Proposed Use of Information: NMC
personnel review submitted information
to ensure training courses and programs
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
29028
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
meet minimum standards for Coast
Guard approval. Members of the public,
including U.S. merchant mariners,
attend Coast Guard-approved courses to
meet regulatory requirements or to
enhance their ability to perform their
jobs. The agency uses the information to
enforce regulations, and to compare
existing courses with new international
standards for specific training. The
recordkeeping requirements help the
Coast Guard monitor the performance of
schools with Coast Guard-approved
courses.
Description of the Respondents:
Training providers approved to provide
maritime courses or programs.
Number of Respondents: The OMBapproved number of respondents for
this collection of information remains
329, who offer 3,183 courses annually.
However, this proposed rule would
affect 236 training providers who offer
2,255 courses annually with an
estimated 55,789 student records
submitted.
Frequency of Response: When a
training provider requires course
approval from the Coast Guard and after
concluding an approved course.
Training providers submit student
records yearly based on the courses
offered and the number of students
completing those courses.
Burden of Response: The total burden
per response is 56.33 hours per course,
which would increase from the
previously approved number of 40
hours per course.
Estimate of Annual Hour Burden: The
proposed rule would increase the
estimated annual burden by 36,824
hours (16.33 hours/course times 2,255
affected courses).
As required by 44 U.S.C. 3507(d), we
will submit a copy of this proposed rule
to OMB for its review of the collection
of information.
We ask for public comment on the
proposed collection of information to
help us determine, among other
things—
• How useful the information is;
• Whether the information can help
us perform our functions better;
• How we can improve the quality,
usefulness, and clarity of the
information;
• Whether the information is readily
available elsewhere;
• How accurate our estimate is of the
burden of collection;
• How valid our methods are for
determining the burden of collection;
and
• How we can minimize the burden
of collection.
If you submit comments on the
collection of information, submit them
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
to both the OMB and to the docket
where indicated under ADDRESSES.
You need not respond to a collection
of information unless it displays a
currently valid control number from
OMB. Before the Coast Guard could
enforce the collection of information
requirements in this proposed rule,
OMB would need to approve the Coast
Guard’s request to collect this
information.
E. Federalism
A rule has implications for federalism
under Executive Order 13132
(Federalism) if it has a substantial direct
effect on States, on the relationship
between the National Government and
the States, or on the distribution of
power and responsibilities among the
various levels of government. We have
analyzed this proposed rule under
Executive Order 13132 and have
determined that it is consistent with the
fundamental federalism principles and
preemption requirements described in
Executive Order 13132. Our analysis
follows.
It is well settled that States may not
regulate in categories reserved for
regulation by the Coast Guard. It is also
well settled that all of the categories
covered in 46 U.S.C. 7101 and 7301
(personnel qualifications of officers and
ratings serving on board merchant
vessels) and any other category in which
Congress intended the Coast Guard to be
the sole source of a vessel’s obligations,
are within the field foreclosed from
regulation by the States. See the
Supreme Court’s decision in United
States v. Locke, 529 U.S. 89, 120 S.Ct.
1135 (2000), which found that the states
are foreclosed from regulating tanker
vessels). See also Ray v. Atlantic
Richfield Co., 435 U.S. 151, 157, 98
S.Ct., 988 (1978), which found that state
regulation is preempted where ‘‘the
scheme of federal regulation may be so
pervasive as to make reasonable the
inference that Congress left no room for
the States to supplement it [or where]
the Act of Congress may touch a field in
which the federal interest is so
dominant that the federal system will be
assumed to preclude enforcement of
state laws on the same subject.’’
(Citations omitted). Because this
proposed rule involves the credentialing
of merchant mariner officers and ratings
under 46 U.S.C. 7101 and 7301
respectively, it relates to personnel
qualifications for vessels subject to a
pervasive scheme of Federal regulation
and is therefore foreclosed from
regulation by the States. Because the
States may not regulate within these
categories, this proposed rule is
consistent with the fundamental
PO 00000
Frm 00026
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
federalism principles and preemption
requirements in Executive Order 13132.
While it is well settled that States may
not regulate in categories in which
Congress intended the Coast Guard to be
the sole source of a vessel’s obligations,
the Coast Guard recognizes the key role
that State and local governments may
have in making regulatory
determinations. Additionally, for rules
with federalism implications and
preemptive effect, Executive Order
13132 specifically directs agencies to
consult with State and local
governments during the rulemaking
process. If you believe this proposed
rule would have implications for
federalism under Executive Order
13132, please call or email the person
listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT section of this preamble.
F. Unfunded Mandates
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
of 1995, 2 U.S.C. 1531–1538, requires
Federal agencies to assess the effects of
their discretionary regulatory actions. In
particular, the Act addresses actions
that may result in the expenditure by a
State, local, or tribal government, in the
aggregate, or by the private sector of
$100 million (adjusted for inflation) or
more in any one year. Although this
proposed rule would not result in such
an expenditure, we do discuss the
effects of this proposed rule elsewhere
in this preamble.
G. Taking of Private Property
This proposed rule would not cause a
taking of private property or otherwise
have taking implications under
Executive Order 12630 (Governmental
Actions and Interference with
Constitutionally Protected Property
Rights).
H. Civil Justice Reform
This proposed rule meets applicable
standards in sections 3(a) and 3(b)(2) of
Executive Order 12988, (Civil Justice
Reform), to minimize litigation,
eliminate ambiguity, and reduce
burden.
I. Protection of Children
We have analyzed this proposed rule
under Executive Order 13045
(Protection of Children from
Environmental Health Risks and Safety
Risks). This proposed rule is not an
economically significant rule and would
not create an environmental risk to
health or risk to safety that might
disproportionately affect children.
J. Indian Tribal Governments
This proposed rule does not have
tribal implications under Executive
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
Order 13175 (Consultation and
Coordination with Indian Tribal
Governments), because it would not
have a substantial direct effect on one or
more Indian tribes, on the relationship
between the Federal Government and
Indian tribes, or on the distribution of
power and responsibilities between the
Federal Government and Indian tribes.
K. Energy Effects
We have analyzed this proposed rule
under Executive Order 13211 (Actions
Concerning Regulations That
Significantly Affect Energy Supply,
Distribution, or Use). We have
determined that it is not a ‘‘significant
energy action’’ under that order because
it is not a ‘‘significant regulatory action’’
under Executive Order 12866 and is not
likely to have a significant adverse effect
on the supply, distribution, or use of
energy.
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
L. Technical Standards
The National Technology Transfer
and Advancement Act, codified as a
note to 15 U.S.C. 272, directs agencies
to use voluntary consensus standards in
their regulatory activities unless the
agency provides Congress, through
OMB, with an explanation of why using
these standards would be inconsistent
with applicable law or otherwise
impractical. Voluntary consensus
standards are technical standards (e.g.,
specifications of materials, performance,
design, or operation; test methods;
sampling procedures; and related
management systems practices) that are
developed or adopted by voluntary
consensus standards bodies.
This proposed rule does not use
technical standards. Therefore, we did
not consider the use of voluntary
consensus standards.
M. Environment
We have analyzed this proposed rule
under DHS Management Directive 023–
01, Rev. 1, associated implementing
instructions, and Environmental
Planning COMDTINST 5090.1 (series),
which guide the Coast Guard in
complying with the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), and have made a
preliminary determination that this
action is one of a category of actions that
do not individually or cumulatively
have a significant effect on the human
environment. A preliminary Record of
Environmental Consideration
supporting this determination is
available in the docket. For instructions
on locating the docket, see the
ADDRESSES section of this preamble.
This proposed rule would be
categorically excluded under paragraphs
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
L54 and L56 of Appendix A, Table 1 of
DHS Instruction Manual 023–01–001–
01, Rev. 1. Paragraph L54 pertains to
regulations that are editorial or
procedural. Paragraph L56 pertains to
regulations concerning training,
qualifying, licensing, and disciplining
maritime personnel.
This proposed rule involves
establishing a new procedure for issuing
MMCs to mariners who have met the
regulatory requirements for the
individual endorsements as described in
46 CFR parts 11 and 12. Under this new
procedure, Coast Guard-approved
training providers would be required to
electronically submit student course
completion data to the Coast Guard
within 5 business days of a course
ending. The NMC would use this
information to validate mariner course
completion certificates submitted as
part of an application for an MMC. We
seek any comments or information that
may lead to the discovery of a
significant environmental impact from
this proposed rule.
List of Subjects
46 CFR Part 10
Penalties, Personally identifiable
information, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements, Seamen.
46 CFR Part 11
Penalties, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements, Schools,
Seamen.
46 CFR Part 12
Penalties, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements, Schools,
Seamen.
46 CFR Part 13
Cargo vessels, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements, Seamen.
46 CFR Part 15
Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements, Seamen, Vessels.
46 CFR Part 16
Drug testing, Marine safety, Reporting
and recordkeeping requirements, Safety,
Transportation.
46 CFR Part 30
Cargo Vessels, Foreign relations,
Hazardous materials transportation,
Penalties, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements, Seamen.
46 CFR Part 35
Cargo vessels, Marine safety,
Navigation (water), Occupational safety
and health, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements, Seamen.
PO 00000
Frm 00027
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
29029
46 CFR Part 39
Cargo vessels, Fire prevention,
Hazardous materials transportation,
Marine safety, Occupational safety and
health, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements.
For the reasons discussed in the
preamble, the Coast Guard is proposing
to amend 46 CFR parts 10, 11, 12, 13,
15, 16, 30, 35, and 39 as follows:
Title 46—Shipping
PART 10—MERCHANT MARINER
CREDENTIAL
1. The authority citation for part 10 is
revised to read as follows:
■
Authority: 14 U.S.C. 503; 31 U.S.C. 9701;
46 U.S.C. 2101, 2103, 2104, 2110; 46 U.S.C.
chapter 71; 46 U.S.C. chapter 73; 46 U.S.C.
chapter 75; 46 U.S.C. 7701, 8903, 8904, and
70105; Executive Order 10173; DHS
Delegation No. 00170.1, Revision No. 01.3.
PART 10—[Amended]
2. Amend part 10 by, removing the
following references wherever they
appear and adding, in their place:
■ a. ‘‘crewman’’ to read ‘‘crewmember’’;
■ b. ‘‘Fireman’’ to read ‘‘Boiler
technician’’;
■ c. ‘‘fireman’’ to read ‘‘boiler
technician’’;
■ d. ‘‘Hospital corpsman’’ to read
‘‘Medical technician’’;
■ e. ‘‘hospital corpsman’’ to read
‘‘medical technician’’;
■ f. ‘‘Lifeboatman’’ to read ‘‘Lifeboat
operator’’;
■ g. ‘‘lifeboatman’’ to read ‘‘lifeboat
operator’’;
■ h. ‘‘Pumpman’’ to read ‘‘Pump
technician’’;
■ i. ‘‘seaman’’ to read ‘‘seafarer’’; and
■ j. ‘‘seamen’’ to read ‘‘seafarers’’.
■ 3. Amend § 10.107 paragraph (b) by:
■ a. Removing in the definition for
‘‘Apprentice mate (steersman) of towing
vessels’’, the word ‘‘(steersman)’’;
■ b. Removing in the definition for
‘‘Directly supervised/direct supervision
(only when referring to issues related to
tankermen)’’, the word ‘‘tankermen’’
and adding, in its place, the words
‘‘tank vessel endorsements’’;
■ c. Removing in the definition for
‘‘Participation’’, the word ‘‘tankerman’’
and adding, in its place, the words
‘‘tank vessel endorsements’’;
■ d. Removing in the definition for
‘‘Qualified rating’’ the words
‘‘tankerman’’ and adding, in its place,
the words ‘‘tank vessel’’;
■ e. Removing the term ‘‘Restricted
tankerman endorsement’’;
■ f. Adding in alphabetical order the
term ‘‘Restricted tank vessel
endorsement’’;
■
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
29030
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
g. Removing in the definition for
‘‘Simulated transfer’’, the word
‘‘tankerman’’ and adding, in its place,
the words ‘‘tank vessel endorsements’’;
■ h. Adding in alphabetical order the
terms for ‘‘Tank Barge PIC’’, ‘‘Tank
vessel assistant’’, ‘‘Tank vessel
engineer’’, ‘‘Tank vessel PIC’’; and
■ i. Removing the term ‘‘Tankerman
assistant’’, ‘‘Tankerman engineer’’,
‘‘Tankerman PIC’’ and ‘‘Tankerman PIC
(Barge)’’.
The additions read as follows:
■
§ 10.107
Definitions in subchapter B.
*
*
*
*
*
Restricted tank vessel endorsement
means a valid tank vessel endorsement
on a merchant mariner credential
restricting its holder as the Coast Guard
deems appropriate. For instance, the
endorsement may restrict the holder to
one or a combination of the following:
A specific cargo or cargoes; a specific
vessel or vessels; a specific facility or
facilities; a specific employer or
employers; a specific activity or
activities (such as loading or unloading
in a cargo transfer); or a particular area
of water.;
*
*
*
*
*
Tank Barge PIC means a person
holding a valid ‘‘Tank Barge PIC’’
endorsement on his or her MMC. See 46
CFR part 13, subpart C.
*
*
*
*
*
Tank vessel assistant means a person
holding a valid ‘‘Tank vessel-Assistant’’
endorsement on his or her MMC. See 46
CFR, part 13, subpart D.;
*
*
*
*
*
Tank vessel engineer means a person
holding a valid ‘‘Tank vessel-Engineer’’
endorsement on his or her MMC. See 46
CFR part 13, subpart E.
*
*
*
*
*
Tank vessel PIC means a person
holding a valid ‘‘Tank vessel-PIC’’
endorsement on his or her MMC. See 46
CFR part 13, subpart B.
*
*
*
*
*
■ 4. Revise § 10.109 paragraphs (a)(9)
and (10) and (c)(1) through (6) to read
as follows:
§ 10.109
Classification of endorsements.
(a) * * *
(9) Apprentice mate towing
(10) Apprentice mate towing
*
*
*
*
*
(c) * * *
(1) Tank vessel—PIC.
(2) Tank Barge—PIC.
(3) Restricted Tank vessel—PIC.
(4) Restricted Tank Barge—PIC.
(5) Tank vessel assistant.
(6) Tank vessel engineer.
*
*
*
*
*
§ 10.223
§ 10.225
[Amended]
6. Amend § 10.225 paragraph
(b)(3)(iii) by removing the words
‘‘tankerrating’’ and adding, in their
place, the words ‘‘tank vessel’’.
■
§ 10.227
[Amended]
7. Amend § 10.227 paragraphs (e)(7)
and (i)(4) by removing the word
‘‘tankerman’’ and adding, in its place,
the words ‘‘tank vessel’’.
■
§ 10.231
[Amended]
8. Amend § 10.231 by:
a. Removing in paragraph (c)(3)(iii) by
the words ‘‘tankerman rating’’ and
adding, in their place, the words ‘‘tank
vessel’’.
■ b. Adding in paragraph (c)(6)(ii) the
word ‘‘national’’ before the word ‘‘able’’
and removing the word ‘‘tankerman’’
and adding in its place the words ‘‘a
tank vessel endorsement’’.
■
■
§ 10.239
[Amended]
9. Amend § 10.239 the heading for
Table 1 by removing the word
‘‘tankerman’’ and adding, in its place,
the words ‘‘tank vessel’’.
■ 10. Amend Table 1 to § 10.302(a) by
revising entry ‘‘(12) Tankerman’’ to read
as follows:
■
[Amended]
5. Amend § 10.223 paragraph
(c)(3)(iii) by removing the words
‘‘tankerman rating’’ and adding, in their
place, the words ‘‘tank vessel’’.
■
§ 10.302 Medical and physical
requirements.
*
*
*
*
*
TABLE 1 TO § 10.302(a)—MEDICAL AND PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR MARINER ENDORSEMENTS
1
2
3
4
5
Credential
Vision test
Hearing test
General
medical exam
Demonstration
of physical
ability
*
*
*
*
(12) Tank vessel endorsement ....................................................................
§ 10.305(b)
*
§ 10.304(a)
*
§ 10.304(c)
*
*
*
§§ 10.305
*
*
*
*
*
[Amended]
11. Amend § 10.305 paragraph (b) by
removing the word ‘‘tankerman’’ and
adding, in its place, the words ‘‘tank
vessel endorsement’’.
■ 12. Amend § 10.403 by:
■ a. Removing in paragraph (a)(6) the
words, ‘‘Effective March 24, 2014, keep’’
and adding, in its place, the word
‘‘Keep’’; and
■ b. Removing in paragraph (a)(6)(iii),
the word ‘‘attendance.’’ and adding, in
its place, the words ‘‘attendance, which
includes their full name, Coast Guard
issued Mariner Reference Number or
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
■
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
*
*
§ 10.306
*
date of birth and place of birth if they
do not have a Mariner Reference
Number.’’.
■ c. Redesignating paragraphs (a)(7), (8),
and (9) as paragraphs (a)(8), (9), and
(10), respectively; and
■ d. Adding new paragraph (a)(7).
The addition reads as follows:
§ 10.403
General Standards.
(a) * * *
(7) For each student who successfully
completes an approved course or
program, in a manner specified by the
Coast Guard, the school must
electronically submit to the Coast
Guard, within 5 business days of
PO 00000
Frm 00028
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
*
*
completion, the specified information.
By submitting records electronically to
the Coast Guard, the submitter attests
that they are accurate to the best of their
knowledge and no false entries or
statements were made under penalty of
18 U.S.C. 1001.
(i) The name of the school and Coast
Guard-issued course provider code.
(ii) The title of the approved course or
program, the Coast Guard-issued course
code, and the dates the course was held.
(iii) The name of the Coast Guard
approved instructor who conducted the
course.
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
29031
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
(iv) The name of the student as it
appears on their MMC or valid
Government-issued identification, along
with their Coast Guard-issued Mariner
Reference Number or date of birth and
place of birth if they do not have a
Mariner Reference Number.
*
*
*
*
*
PART 11—REQUIREMENTS FOR
OFFICER ENDORSEMENTS
13. The authority citation for part 11
is revised to read as follows:
■
Authority: 14 U.S.C. 503; 31 U.S.C. 9701;
46 U.S.C. 2101, 2103, and 2110; 46 U.S.C.
chapter 71; 46 U.S.C. 7502, 7505, 7701, 8903,
8904, and 70105; Executive Order 10173;
DHS Delegation No. 00170.1, Revision No.
01.3. Section 11.107 is also issued under the
authority of 44 U.S.C. 3507.
adding, in its place, the word ‘‘towing’’;
and
■ c. Removing in paragraphs (h)(3)(ii)
the word ‘‘(steersman)’’.
PART 11—[Amended]
14. Amend part 11 by, removing the
following references wherever they
appear, and adding in their place:
■ a. ‘‘fireman’’ to read ‘‘boiler
technician’’;
■ b. ‘‘Hospital corpsman’’ to read
‘‘Medical technician’’;
■ c. ‘‘seaman’’ to read ‘‘seafarer’’;
■ d. ‘‘Seaman’s’’ to read ‘‘Seafarer’s’’;
and
■ e. ‘‘seaman’s’’ to read ‘‘seafarer’s’’.
■
§ 11.201
§ 11.463
[Amended]
16. Amend § 11.463 by:
■ a. Removing in the section heading
the word ‘‘(steersman); and
■ b. Removing in paragraphs (a)(4), (5),
(e)(1)(ii), (e)(2)(ii), and (e)(3)(ii) the word
‘‘(steersman)’’ and replacing it with the
word ‘‘towing’’.
■ 17. In § 11.464 amend the Table 1 in
paragraph (c) by revising the entry
‘‘Route endorsed’’ to read as follows:
■
[Amended]
15. Amend § 11.201 by:
a. Removing in paragraphs (e)(2)(vii)
the word ‘‘(steersman)’’;
■ b. Removing in paragraph (h)(2)(ii) the
words ‘‘(steersman) of the vessels’’ and
■
■
§ 11.464 Requirements for national
endorsements as master of towing vessels.
(c) * * *
TABLE 1 TO § 11.464(c)—REQUIREMENTS FOR NATIONAL ENDORSEMENT AS MASTER OF TOWING VESSELS
[Limited]
1
2
3
4
5
Route endorsed
Total service 1
TOS 2 on T/V as limited apprentice
mate towing
TOAR or an approved course
TOS on particular route
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
1 Service
is in months.
2 TOS is time of service.
*
*
*
*
*
18. Amend § 11.465 by:
a. Removing in paragraph (a) the word
‘‘(steersman)’’;
■
■
b. Revising in Table 1 to paragraph (a)
the entry for ‘‘Route endorsed’’; and
■ c. Revising paragraph (g).
The revisions read as follows:
■
§ 11.465 Requirements for national
endorsements as mate (pilot) of towing
vessels.
(a) * * *
TABLE 1 TO § 11.465(a)—REQUIREMENTS FOR NATIONAL ENDORSEMENT AS MATE (PILOT 1) OF TOWING VESSELS
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Route
endorsed
Total
service 2
TOS 3 on T/V as
apprentice mate towing 4
TOS on
particular
route
TOAR 5 or an
approved course
30 days of observation and training
while holding master (limited) and
pass an examination
Subordinate
route
authorized
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
1 For
all inland routes, as well as Western Rivers, the endorsement as pilot of towing vessels is equivalent to that as mate of towing vessels.
All qualifications and equivalencies are the same.
2 Service is in months unless otherwise indicated.
3 TOS is time of service.
4 Time of service requirements as an apprentice mate of towing vessels may be reduced by an amount equal to the time specified in the approval letter for a completed Coast Guard-approved training program.
5 TOAR is a Towing Officer Assessment Record.
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
*
*
*
*
*
(g) An approved training course for
mate (pilot) of towing vessels must
include formal instruction and practical
demonstration of proficiency either
onboard a towing vessel or at a
shoreside training facility before a
designated examiner, and must cover
the material (dependent upon route)
required by Table 2 to § 11.910 of this
part for apprentice mate, towing vessels
on ocean and near-coastal routes;
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
apprentice mate, towing vessels on
Great Lakes and inland routes; or
apprentice mate, towing vessels on
Western Rivers routes.
*
*
*
*
*
■ 19. Amend § 11.466 by:
■ a. Revising the section heading;
■ b. Removing in paragraph (a) the word
‘‘(steersman)’’;
■ c. Revising the heading to Table 1 to
paragraph (a) and the entries for ‘‘(1)
APPRENTICE MATE (STEERSMAN)’’
PO 00000
Frm 00029
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
and ‘‘(2) APPRENTICE MATE
(STEERSMAN) (LIMITED)’’; and
■ d. Revising the first sentence of
paragraph (b).
The revisions read as follows:
§ 11.466 Requirements for national
endorsements as apprentice mate of towing
vessels.
(a) * * *
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
29032
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
TABLE 1 TO § 11.466(a)—REQUIREMENTS FOR NATIONAL ENDORSEMENT AS APPRENTICE MATE OF TOWING VESSELS
1
2
3
4
5
6
Endorsement
Route endorsed
Total
service 1
TOS 2
on T/V
TOS on
particular
route
Pass
examination 3
(1) APPRENTICE MATE (TOWING)
OCEANS (O) ....................................
NEAR-COASTAL (NC) .....................
GREAT LAKES .................................
INLAND (GL–I) .................................
WESTERN RIVERS (WR) ................
NOT APPLICABLE ...........................
18
18
18
18
........................
18
(2) APPRENTICE MATE TOWING
(LIMITED).
12
12
12
12
12
12
3
3
3
3
3
3
YES.
YES.
YES.
YES.
YES.
YES.
1 Service
2 TOS
3 The
is in months.
is time of service.
examination for apprentice mate is specified in subpart I of this part.
*
*
*
*
*
(b) Those holding a license or
endorsement as apprentice mate of
towing vessels may obtain a restricted
endorsement as apprentice mate towing
(limited). * * *
§ 11.903
[Amended]
20. Amend § 11.903 paragraphs (a)(19)
and (20) by removing the word
‘‘(steersman)’’.
■ 21. In Table 1 to § 11.910 revise
entries 8 and 9 to read as follows:
■
§ 11.910 Subjects for deck officer
endorsements.
*
*
*
*
*
TABLE 1 TO § 11.910—CODES FOR DECK OFFICER ENDORSEMENTS
DECK OFFICER ENDORSEMENTS
*
*
*
8. Apprentice mate, towing vessels, Great Lakes, and inland routes.
9. Apprentice mate, towing vessels, Western Rivers.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
§ 12.401
*
*
*
*
*
[Amended]
24. Amend § 12.401 by:
a. Removing in paragraph (a), the
words ‘‘or merchant mariner document
(MMD)’’; and
■ b. Removing in paragraph (d)(2), the
words ‘‘After March 24, 2014, any’’ and
adding, in their place, the word ‘‘Any’’.
■
■
22. The authority citation for part 12
is revised to read as follows:
Authority: 31 U.S.C. 9701; 46 U.S.C. 2101,
2103, 2110, Chapter 73, 7503, 7505, 7701,
and 70105; DHS Delegation No. 00170.1,
Revision No. 01.3.
c. ‘‘Tankerman-PIC (Barge)’’ to read
‘‘Tank Barge-PIC’’; and
■ d. ‘‘tankerman-PIC (barge)’’ to read
‘‘tank barge-PIC’’.
■
§ 13.107
23. Amend part 12 by, removing the
following references wherever they
appear, and adding in their place:
■ a. ‘‘Crewman’’ to read
‘‘Crewmember’’;
■ b. ‘‘crewman’’ to read ‘‘crewmember’’;
■ c. ‘‘Fireman’’ to read ‘‘Boiler
technician’’;
■ d. ‘‘fireman’’ to read ‘‘boiler
technician’’;
■ e. ‘‘lifeboatman’’ to read ‘‘lifeboat
operator’’;
■ f. ‘‘Pumpman’’ to read ‘‘Pump
technician’’;
■ g. ‘‘pumpman’’ to read ‘‘pump
technician’’;
■ h. ‘‘seaman’’ to read ‘‘seafarer’’;
■ i. ‘‘seaman’s’’ to read ‘‘seafarer’s’’;
■ j. ‘‘seamen’’ to read ‘‘seafarers’’; and
■
Jkt 259001
PART 13—CERTIFICATION OF
TANKERMEN
25. The authority citation for part 13
is revised to read as follows:
■
Authority: 46 U.S.C. 3703, 7317, 8105,
8703, 9102; DHS Delegation No. 00170.1,
Revision No. 01.3.
PART 13—[Amended]
26. Revise the heading to part 13 to
read as follows:
■
PART 13—CERTIFICATION OF TANK
VESSEL PERSONNEL
27. Amend part 13 by, removing the
following references wherever they
appear, and adding in their place:
■ a. ‘‘Tankerman’’ to read ‘‘Tank
Vessel’’;
■ b. ‘‘tankerman’’ to read ‘‘tank vessel’’;
■
PO 00000
Frm 00030
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
[Amended]
28. Amend § 13.107 by removing the
word ‘‘endorsement’’ from the section
heading and adding, in its place, the
word ‘‘endorsements’’.
■
§ 13.111
PART 12 [Amended]
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
*
k. ‘‘tankerman’’ to read ‘‘tank vessel
endorsement’’;
■
17:36 May 04, 2023
*
■
PART 12—REQUIREMENTS FOR
RATING ENDORSEMENTS
VerDate Sep<11>2014
*
[Amended]
29. Amend § 13.111 by removing the
word ‘‘endorsement’’ from the section
heading and adding, in its place, the
word ‘‘endorsements’’.
■ 30. Revise § 13.117 to read as follows:
■
§ 13.117 Re-issuance of expired tank
vessel endorsements.
Whenever an applicant applies for reissuance of any tank vessel endorsement
more than 12 months after expiration of
the previous endorsement, the applicant
must meet the requirements for an
original endorsement.
■ 31. Revise § 13.119 to read as follows:
§ 13.119
Expiration of endorsement.
A tank vessel endorsement is valid for
the duration of the merchant mariner
credential on which the endorsement
appears.
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
29033
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
§ 13.123
[Amended]
§ 13.603
32. Amend § 13.123 by removing the
word ‘‘endorsement’’ from the section
heading and adding, in its place, the
word ‘‘endorsements’’.
[Amended]
43. Amend § 13.607 by removing
paragraph (e).
d. ‘‘Lifeboatmen’’ to read ‘‘Lifeboat
operators’’;
■ e. ‘‘lifeboatmen’’ to read ‘‘lifeboat
operators’’;
■ f. ‘‘pumpman’’ to read ‘‘pump
technician’’;
■ g. ‘‘seaman’’ to read ‘‘seafarer’’;
■ h. ‘‘Seamen’’ to read ‘‘Seafarers’’; and
■ i. ‘‘seamen’’ to read ‘‘seafarers’’.
§ 13.609
§ 15.403
■
41. Amend § 13.603 by removing
paragraph (e).
■
■
§ 13.605
[Amended]
42. Amend § 13.605 by removing
paragraph (e).
■
§ 13.201
[Amended]
33. Amend § 13.201 paragraph (c)(3)
by removing the words ‘‘a license’’.
■
§ 13.607
[Amended]
■
§ 13.203
[Amended]
34. Amend § 13.203 paragraph (c)
introductory text by removing the words
‘‘MMD or’’.
■
[Amended]
48. In § 15.403 paragraph (a), remove
the words ‘‘or MMD’’.
44. Amend § 13.609 by removing
paragraph (b).
■
35. Amend § 13.303 paragraph (c)
introductory word by removing the
words ‘‘MMD or’’.
§ 13.611
§ 15.404
■
45. Amend § 13.611 by removing
paragraph (b).
■
§ 13.305
PART 15—MANNING REQUIREMENTS
§ 15.840
■
46. The authority citation for part 15
is revised to read as follows:
■
Authority: 46 U.S.C. 2101, 2103, 3306,
3703, 8101, 8102, 8103, 8104, 8105, 8301,
8304, 8502, 8503, 8701, 8702, 8901, 8902,
8903, 8904, 8905(b), 8906 and 9102; sec. 617,
Pub. L. 111–281, 124 Stat. 2905; and DHS
Delegation No. 00170.1, Revision No. 01.3.
§ 15.860
§ 13.303
[Amended]
■
[Amended]
36. Amend § 13.305 by removing the
word ‘‘shore-based tankermen’’ and
adding, in its place, the word ‘‘shorebased PICs’’.
■
§ 13.401
[Amended]
37. Amend § 13.401 paragraph (d) by
removing the word ‘‘license’’.
■
§ 13.403
[Amended]
38. Amend § 13.403 paragraph (a)
introductory text by removing the words
‘‘MMD or’’.
■
§ 13.501
[Amended]
39. Amend § 13.501 paragraph (c)(3)
by removing the word ‘‘license’’.
■
§ 13.503
[Amended]
40. Amend § 13.503 paragraph (b) by
removing the words ‘‘MMD or’’.
■
[Amended]
■
[Amended]
[Amended]
49. In § 15.404 paragraph (h), remove
the words ‘‘MMD or’’.
[Amended]
50. In § 15.840 paragraph (c),
removing the word ‘‘ratings’’ and
adding, in its place, the word ‘‘rating’’.
■ 51. Revise § 15.860 to read as follows:
Tank Vessel endorsements.
(a) The OCMI enters on the COI
issued to each manned tank vessel
subject to the regulations in this chapter
the number of crewmembers required to
hold valid MMCs with the proper tanker
vessel endorsement. Table 1 to
§ 15.860(a) of this section provides the
minimum required for tank vessel
endorsements aboard manned tank
vessels. Table 2 to § 15.860(a) of this
section provides the tank vessel
endorsements required for personnel
aboard tankships.
PART 15—[Amended]
47. Amend part 15 by, removing the
following references wherever they
appear, and adding in their place:
■ a. ‘‘Lifeboatman’’ to read ‘‘Lifeboat
operator’’;
■ b. ‘‘lifeboatman’’ to read ‘‘lifeboat
operator’’;
■ c. ‘‘lifeboatman’s’’ to read ‘‘lifeboat
operator’s’’;
■
TABLE 1 TO § 15.860(a)—MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR TANK VESSEL PERSONNEL ABOARD MANNED TANK VESSELS
Tank vessels
Tank
vessel-PIC
Tank vessel
assistant
Tankship Certified for Voyages Beyond Boundary Line:
Over 5,000 GRT .......................................................................................
5,000 GRT or less ....................................................................................
Tankship Not Certified for Voyages Beyond Boundary Line ...................
Tank Barge ...............................................................................................
2
2
22
........................
3
........................
........................
........................
Tank vesselPIC or tank
barge-PIC
Tank vessel
engineer
2
12
........................
........................
........................
........................
........................
22
1 If
only one engineer is required, then only one tank vessel-engineer is required.
the total crew complement is one or two persons, then only one tank vessel-PIC is required.
3 If the total crew complement is one or two persons, then only one tank vessel-PIC or tank vessel-PIC (barge) is required.
2 If
TABLE 2 TO § 15.860(a)—TANK VESSEL ENDORSEMENTS REQUIRED FOR PERSONNEL ABOARD TANKSHIPS
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
[Endorsement for the classification of the bulk liquid cargo or residues carried]
Tankship certified for voyages beyond boundary line
Tank
vessel-PIC
Master ..............................................................................................................................
Chief Mate .......................................................................................................................
Chief Engineer .................................................................................................................
First Assistant Engineer ...................................................................................................
Cargo Engineer ................................................................................................................
Credentialed Officer Acting as PIC of Transfer of Liquid Cargo in Bulk .........................
Credentialed Officer or Crewmember Not Directly Supervised by PIC ..........................
X
X
X
X
X
X
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
PO 00000
Frm 00031
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
Tank vessel
engineer
or
or
or
Tank vessel
assistant
X
X
X
X
05MYP1
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
29034
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
(b) For each tankship of more than
5,000 GRT certified for voyages beyond
the boundary line as described in part
7 of this chapter—
(1) At least two tank vessel-PICs or
restricted tank vessel-PICs must be
carried;
(2) At least three tank vessel-assistants
must be carried; and
(3) At least two tank vessel-engineers
must be carried.
(c) For each tankship of 5,000 GRT or
less certified for voyages beyond the
boundary line, as described in part 7 of
this chapter
(1) At least two tank vessel-PICs or
restricted tank vessel-PICs must be
carried; and
(2) At least two tank vessel-engineers
must be carried, unless only one
engineer is required, in which case at
least one tank vessel-engineer must be
carried.
(d) For each tankship not certified for
voyages beyond the boundary line, as
described in part 7 of this chapter, if the
total crew complement is—
(1) One or two, at least one tank
vessel-PIC or restricted tank vessel-PIC
must be carried; or
(2) More than two, at least two tank
vessel-PICs or restricted Tank vesselPICs must be carried.
(e) For each tank barge manned under
§ 31.15–5 of this chapter, if the total
crew complement is—
(1) One or two, at least one tank
vessel-PIC, restricted tank vessel-PIC,
tank barge-PIC, or restricted tank bargePIC must be carried; or
(2) More than two, at least two tank
vessel-PICs, restricted Tank vessel-PICs,
tank barge-PICs, or restricted tank bargePICs must be carried.
(f) The following personnel aboard
each tankship certified for voyages
beyond the boundary line, as described
in part 7 of this chapter, must hold valid
MMCs, endorsed as follows:
(1) The master and chief mate must
each hold a tank vessel-PIC or restricted
tank vessel-PIC endorsement.
(2) The chief, first assistant, and cargo
engineers must each hold a Tank vesselengineer or tank vessel-PIC
endorsement.
(3) Each credentialed officer acting as
the PIC of a transfer of liquid cargo in
bulk must hold a tank vessel-PIC or
restricted tank vessel-PIC endorsement.
(4) Each officer or crewmember who
is assigned by the PIC duties and
responsibilities related to the cargo or
cargo-handling equipment during a
transfer of liquid cargo in bulk, but is
not directly supervised by the PIC, must
hold a tank vessel-assistant
endorsement.
(g) The endorsements required by this
section must be for the classification of
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
the liquid cargo in bulk or of the cargo
residue being carried.
(h) All individuals serving on
tankships certified for voyages beyond
the boundary line, as described in part
7 of this chapter, must hold an
appropriate STCW endorsement, as
follows:
(1) For tank vessel-PIC, an STCW
endorsement as Advanced Oil Tanker
Cargo Operations, Advanced Chemical
Tanker Cargo Operations, or Advanced
Liquefied Gas Tanker Cargo Operations,
as appropriate.
(2) For tank vessel-Assistant, an
STCW endorsement as Basic Oil and
Chemical Tanker Cargo Operations, or
Basic Liquefied Gas Tanker Cargo
Operations, as appropriate.
(3) For a tank barge-PIC, an STCW
endorsement as Advanced Oil Tanker
Cargo Operations, Advanced Chemical
Tanker Cargo Operations, or Advanced
Liquefied Gas Tanker Cargo Operations,
as appropriate, including endorsements
with a limitation for non-self-propelled
vessels.
(4) For a tank vessel-engineer, an
STCW endorsement as Advanced Oil
Tanker Cargo Operations, or Advanced
Chemical Tanker Cargo Operations, as
appropriate, including endorsements
with a limitation to maintenance and
repair of cargo equipment.
PART 16—CHEMICAL TESTING
52. The authority citation for part 16
is revised to read as follows:
■
Authority: 46 U.S.C. 2103, 3306, 7101,
7301, and 7701; DHS Delegation No. 00170.1,
Revision No. 01.3.
53. Revise § 16.220 paragraph (a)(4) to
read as follows:
■
§ 16.220
Periodic testing requirements.
(a) * * *
(4) The first endorsement as an able
seafarer, lifeboat operator, qualified
member of the engine department, or a
tank vessel endorsement; or
*
*
*
*
*
PART 30—GENERAL PROVISIONS
54. The authority citation for part 30
is revised to read as follows:
■
Authority: 46 U.S.C. 2103, 3306, 3703;
DHS Delegation No. 00170.1, Revision No.
01.3.
55. Revise § 30.10–71 to read as
follows:
■
§ 30.10–71
TB/ALL.
Tank Vessel Endorsements—
The following ratings are established
in part 13 of this chapter. The terms for
the ratings identify persons holding
valid endorsements for service in the
ratings issued under that part:
PO 00000
Frm 00032
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
(a) Tank vessel-PIC.
(b) Tank barge-PIC.
(c) Restricted tank vessel-PIC.
(d) Restricted tank barge-PIC.
(e) Tank vessel-Assistant.
(f) Tank vessel-Engineer.
PART 35—OPERATIONS
56. The authority citation for part 35
is revised to read as follows:
■
Authority: 33 U.S.C. 1321(j); 46 U.S.C.
3306, 3703, 6101, 70011, 70034; 49 U.S.C.
5103, 5106; Executive Order 12234, 45 FR
58801, 3 CFR, 1980 Comp., p. 277; Executive
Order 12777, 56 FR 54757, 3 CFR, 1991
Comp., p. 351; DHS Delegation No. 00170.1,
Revision No. 01.3.
57. Revise § 35.30–5 to read as
follows:
■
§ 35.30–5
TB/ALL.
Fires, matches, and smoking—
(a) General. In making the
determinations required under
paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of this
section the senior deck officer on duty,
who must be a credentialed officer or
have an appropriate tank vessel
endorsement, must exercise their skill
and experience with due regard to
attendant conditions and circumstances,
including consideration for location of
shore side facilities, maintenance of
mobility, provision for fire protection,
state or change of winds, tides, sea,
weather conditions, forces of nature,
and other circumstances generally
beyond human control.
(b) Boiler fires. Boiler fires are
normally permitted during cargo
transfer operations: Provided, that
before loading Grades A, B, and C
cargoes, the senior deck officer on duty,
who must be a credentialed officer or
have an appropriate tank vessel
endorsement, must make an inspection
to determine whether in their judgment
boiler fires may be maintained with
reasonable safety during the loading
operation.
(c) Smoking. Smoking is prohibited
on the weather decks of tank vessels
when they are not gas-free or are
alongside docks. At other times and
places the senior deck officer on duty,
who must be a credentialed officer or
have an appropriate tank vessel
endorsement, must designate when and
where the crew may smoke: Provided,
that before loading Grade A, B, or C
cargo the master or senior deck officer
on duty must make an inspection to
determine if and where, in their
judgment, smoking may be permitted
with reasonable safety during the
loading operation.
(d) Matches. The use of other than
safety matches is forbidden aboard tank
vessels at all times.
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 87 / Friday, May 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules
§ 35.35–1
[Amended]
58. Amend § 35.35–1 paragraph (a)(1)
by:
■ a. Removing the word ‘‘TankermanPICs’’ wherever it appears, and adding,
in its place, the words ‘‘Tank vesselPIC’’; and
■ b. Removing the word ‘‘TankermanAssistants’’ and adding, in its place, the
words ‘‘Tank vessel-Assistants’’.
■
PART 39—VAPOR CONTROL
SYSTEMS
59. The authority citation for part 39
is revised to read as follows:
■
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7511b(f)(2); 46 U.S.C.
3306, 3703, 3715(b), 70011, 70034; E.O.
12234, 45 FR 58801, 3 CFR, 1980 Comp., p.
277; DHS Delegation No. 00170.1, Revision
No. 01.3.
60. Revise § 39.5003 paragraph (c) to
read as follows:
■
§ 39.5003 Additional requirements for
multi-breasted loading using an inboard
barge vapor collection system—B/CLBR.
*
*
*
*
*
(c) Persons holding an appropriate
tank vessel endorsement trained in and
familiar with multi-breasted loading
operations, must be onboard each barge
during transfer operations. The tank
barge (PIC) serves as the barge personin-charge (PIC). During transfer
operations, the barge PICs must
maintain constant communication with
each other as well as with the facility
PIC.
*
*
*
*
*
Dated: March 24, 2023.
Amy M. Beach,
Captain, U.S. Coast Guard, Acting, Assistant
Commandant for Prevention Policy.
[FR Doc. 2023–06472 Filed 5–4–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9110–04–P
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS
COMMISSION
47 CFR Parts 0, 1, and 64
[WC Docket No. 17–97; FCC 23–18; FR ID
139316]
Call Authentication Trust Anchor
Federal Communications
Commission.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
AGENCY:
In this document, the Federal
Communications Commission
(Commission) seeks comment on
additional measures to strengthen its
caller ID authentication framework and
further stem the tide of illegally spoofed
calls. Specifically, this document seeks
comment on the use of third-party caller
SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:36 May 04, 2023
Jkt 259001
ID authentication solutions, including
whether any changes should be made to
the Commission’s rules to permit,
prohibit, or limit their use. It also seeks
comment on whether to eliminate the
STIR/SHAKEN implementation
extension for providers that cannot
obtain Service Provider Code (SPC)
tokens, which are necessary to
participate in the STIR/SHAKEN caller
ID authentication framework.
DATES: Comments are due on or before
June 5, 2023, and reply comments are
due on or before July 5, 2023. Written
comments on the Paperwork Reduction
Act proposed information collection
requirements must be submitted by the
public, Office of Management and
Budget (OMB), and other interested
parties on or before July 5, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Pursuant to §§ 1.415 and
1.419 of the Commission’s rules, 47 CFR
1.415, 1.419, interested parties may file
comments and reply comments on or
before the dates indicated on the first
page of this document. Comments may
be filed using the Commission’s
Electronic Comment Filing System
(ECFS). See Electronic Filing of
Documents in Rulemaking Proceedings,
63 FR 24121 (1998). You may submit
comments, identified by WC Docket No.
17–97, by any of the following methods:
• Electronic Filers: Comments may be
filed electronically using the internet by
accessing the ECFS: https://apps.fcc.gov/
ecfs/.
• Paper Filers: Parties who choose to
file by paper must file an original and
one copy of each filing.
Filings can be sent by commercial
overnight courier, or by first-class or
overnight U.S. Postal Service mail. All
filings must be addressed to the
Commission’s Secretary, Office of the
Secretary, Federal Communications
Commission.
• Commercial overnight mail (other
than U.S. Postal Service Express Mail
and Priority Mail) must be sent to 9050
Junction Drive, Annapolis Junction, MD
20701.
• U.S. Postal Service first-class,
Express, and Priority mail must be
addressed to 45 L Street NE,
Washington, DC 20554.
• Effective March 19, 2020, and until
further notice, the Commission no
longer accepts any hand or messenger
delivered filings. This is a temporary
measure taken to help protect the health
and safety of individuals, and to
mitigate the transmission of COVID–19.
See FCC Announces Closure of FCC
Headquarters Open Window and
Change in Hand-Delivery Policy, Public
Notice, DA 20–304 (March 19, 2020),
https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-
PO 00000
Frm 00033
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
29035
closes-headquarters-open-window-andchanges-hand-delivery-policy.
People with Disabilities: To request
materials in accessible formats for
people with disabilities (braille, large
print, electronic files, audio format),
send an email to fcc504@fcc.gov or call
the Consumer & Governmental Affairs
Bureau at 202–418–0530 (voice), 202–
418–0432 (TTY).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jonathan Lechter, Attorney Advisor,
Competition Policy Division, Wireline
Competition Bureau, at
Jonathan.Lechter@fcc.gov or at (202)
418–0984. For additional information
concerning the Paperwork Reduction
Act proposed information collection
requirements contained in this
document, send an email to PRA@
fcc.gov or contact Nicole Ongele at (202)
418–2991.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a
summary of the Commission’s Sixth
Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
(FNPRM) in WC Docket No. 17–97, FCC
23–18, adopted on March 16, 2023, and
released on March 17, 2023. The full
text of this document is available for
public inspection at the following
internet address: https://docs.fcc.gov/
public/attachments/FCC-23-18A1.pdf.
The proceeding this document
initiates shall be treated as a ‘‘permitbut-disclose’’ proceeding in accordance
with the Commission’s ex parte rules.
Persons making ex parte presentations
must file a copy of any written
presentation or a memorandum
summarizing any oral presentation
within two business days after the
presentation (unless a different deadline
applicable to the Sunshine period
applies). Persons making oral ex parte
presentations are reminded that
memoranda summarizing the
presentation must (1) list all persons
attending or otherwise participating in
the meeting at which the ex parte
presentation was made, and (2)
summarize all data presented and
arguments made during the
presentation. If the presentation
consisted in whole or in part of the
presentation of data or arguments
already reflected in the presenter’s
written comments, memoranda or other
filings in the proceeding, the presenter
may provide citations to such data or
arguments in his or her prior comments,
memoranda, or other filings (specifying
the relevant page and/or paragraph
numbers where such data or arguments
can be found) in lieu of summarizing
them in the memorandum. Documents
shown or given to Commission staff
during ex parte meetings are deemed to
be written ex parte presentations and
E:\FR\FM\05MYP1.SGM
05MYP1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 87 (Friday, May 5, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 29013-29035]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-06472]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Coast Guard
46 CFR Parts 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 30, 35 and 39
[Docket No. USCG-2021-0097]
RIN 1625-AC75
Electronic Submission of Mariner Course Completion Data
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Coast Guard proposes to require Coast Guard-approved
training providers to electronically submit student course completion
data to the Coast Guard within 5 business days of completing a Coast
Guard-approved course. The National Maritime Center would use this
information to validate mariner course completion as part of an
application for a Merchant Mariner Credential. In addition, the Coast
Guard proposes to replace gendered titles for certain officer and
rating endorsements in keeping with Coast Guard policy of using gender-
neutral language. We expect these proposed changes to lessen the
probability of credentials being issued to mariners who have not met
the professional requirements for their endorsements and to
appropriately conform terms that should be gender-neutral.
DATES: Comments and related material must be received by the Coast
Guard on or before July 5, 2023.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by docket number USCG-
2021-0097 using the Federal eRulemaking Portal at https://www.regulations.gov. See the ``Public Participation and Request for
Comments'' portion of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for further
instructions on submitting comments.
Collection of information. Submit comments on the collection of
information discussed in section VI.D. of this preamble both to the
Coast
[[Page 29014]]
Guard's online docket and to the Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs (OIRA) in the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
using their website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Comments sent to
OIRA on the collection of information must reach OMB on or before the
comment due date listed on their website.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about this document
call or email Mr. Brian T. Eichelberger, Office of Merchant Mariner
Credentialing, Coast Guard; telephone 202-372-1450, email
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents for Preamble
I. Public Participation and Request for Comments
II. Abbreviations
III. Basis and Purpose
IV. Background
V. Discussion of Proposed Rule
VI. Regulatory Analyses
A. Regulatory Planning and Review
B. Small Entities
C. Assistance for Small Entities
D. Collection of Information
E. Federalism
F. Unfunded Mandates
G. Taking of Private Property
H. Civil Justice Reform
I. Protection of Children
J. Indian Tribal Governments
K. Energy Effects
L. Technical Standards
M. Environment
I. Public Participation and Request for Comments
The Coast Guard views public participation as essential to
effective rulemaking, and will consider all comments and material
received during the comment period. Your comment can help shape the
outcome of this rulemaking. If you submit a comment, please include the
docket number for this rulemaking, indicate the specific section of
this document to which each comment applies, and provide a reason for
each suggestion or recommendation.
Submitting comments. We encourage you to submit comments through
the Federal eRulemaking Portal at https://www.regulations.gov. To do
so, go to https://www.regulations.gov, type USCG-2021-0097 in the
search box, and click ``Search.'' Next, look for this document in the
Search Results column, and click on it. Then click on the Comment
option. If you cannot submit your material by using https://www.regulations.gov, call or email the person in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this proposed rule for alternate
instructions.
Viewing material in docket. To view documents mentioned in this
proposed rule as being available in the docket, find the docket as
described in the previous paragraph, and then select ``Supporting &
Related Material'' in the Document Type column. Public comments will
also be placed in our online docket and can be viewed by following
instructions on the https://www.regulations.gov Frequently Asked
Questions (FAQ) web page. That FAQ page also explains how to subscribe
for email alerts that will notify you when comments are posted or if a
final rule is published. We review all comments received, but we will
only post comments that address the topic of the proposed rule. We may
choose not to post off-topic, inappropriate, or duplicate comments that
we receive.
Personal information. We accept anonymous comments. Comments we
post to https://www.regulations.gov will include any personal
information you have provided. For more about privacy and submissions
in response to this document, see the Department of Homeland Security's
eRulemaking System of Records notice (85 FR 14226, March 11, 2020).
Public meeting. We do not plan to hold a public meeting, but we
will consider doing so if we determine from public comments that a
meeting would be helpful. We would issue a separate Federal Register
notice to announce the date, time, and location of such a meeting.
II. Abbreviations
DHS Department of Homeland Security
FR Federal Register
ICR Information collection request
MRN Mariner reference number
MMC Merchant Mariner Credential
MMLD Merchant Mariner Licensing and Documentation
MTAD Marine Training and Assessment Data
NMC National Maritime Center
NPRM Notice of proposed rulemaking
OMB Office of Management and Budget
QSS Quality Standard System
RA Regulatory analysis
STCW International Convention on Standards of Training,
Certification, and Watchkeeping, 1978, as amended
Sec. Section
U.S.C. United States Code
III. Basis and Purpose
The legal basis of this rulemaking is Title 46 of the United States
Code (U.S.C.), Sections 7101(b) and 7301(b), which authorize the
Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to
prescribe regulations relating to issuing Merchant Mariner Credentials
(MMCs) for officer and rating endorsements. The Secretary of the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has delegated the rulemaking
authority under 46 U.S.C. 7101(b) and 7301(b) to the Coast Guard
through 46 U.S.C. 2104 and DHS Delegation No. 00170.1, Revision No.
01.3, paragraph (II)(92)(e). Additionally, 14 U.S.C. 102(3) grants the
Coast Guard broad authority to issue and enforce regulations to promote
safety of life and property on waters subject to the jurisdiction of
the United States, which includes establishing the experience,
professional qualifications, and processes required for issuing
credentials.
This proposed rule would require Coast Guard-approved training
providers to submit students' course completion data electronically to
the Coast Guard within 5 business days of the course ending. This
action would lessen the probability of issuing MMCs to mariners who
have not met the professional requirements for their endorsements and
improve the efficiency of the credentialing process. In addition, the
proposed rule would replace gendered titles for certain officer and
rating endorsements to align with the Coast Guard's policy of using
gender-neutral language.
IV. Background
The Coast Guard issues MMCs to mariners who have met the regulatory
requirements for individual endorsement(s), as described in title 46 of
the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), parts 10, 11, 12, and 13.
Professional requirements for an MMC endorsement generally include sea
service, completion of Coast Guard-approved training, and having a met
a standard of competence through practical demonstration and completion
of a written examination.
Title 46 CFR 10.209(a) states that for any application for an MMC,
whether for an original, renewal, duplicate, raise of grade, or new
endorsement on a previously issued MMC, the applicant must establish
that they satisfy all the requirements for the MMC and endorsement(s)
sought before the Coast Guard will issue the MMC. When an individual
submits a Form CG-719B Application for an MMC to the Coast Guard,
supporting documentation must be included to establish that they have
met the requirements for individual MMC endorsement(s). Supporting
documentation for an MMC application may include evidence of sea
service, course or program completion certificates, and documentation
of having met a required standard of competence as appropriate for the
endorsement requested.
The National Maritime Center (NMC), in accordance with the
requirements of
[[Page 29015]]
46 CFR part 10, subpart D, approves training required for MMC
endorsements. As described in 46 CFR 10.402, the Coast Guard may
approve training designed to fulfill or substitute for MMC
requirements, including a portion of required sea service, an
examination required by the Coast Guard, professional competency
requirements, or other regulatory requirements.
The general standards for Coast Guard-approved courses and programs
are found in 46 CFR 10.403. Coast Guard-approved training providers are
required to maintain physical or electronic records of all students who
took a course for at least 5 years after the completion of the course.
Although Coast Guard-approved training providers are required to
maintain these student records, there is no requirement for them to
submit a student's course completion data to the Coast Guard. The NMC
receives approximately 55,000 MMC applications annually. Coast Guard
evaluators at the NMC review applications for MMCs to determine whether
the mariner has met the regulatory requirements for the endorsement(s)
that they are seeking. The NMC uses the Merchant Mariner Licensing and
Documentation (MMLD) database to maintain records of U.S. merchant
mariners and issue MMCs to qualified mariners.
Validation of data has been a longstanding challenge for the
mariner credentialing program. In 2011, Transport Canada conducted an
independent evaluation of how the United States implemented the
International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification, and
Watchkeeping, 1978 as amended (STCW). The evaluation noted that the
Coast Guard could not provide evidence of having established sufficient
procedures and controls to ensure the authenticity and validity of
documents submitted as part of an MMC application package. In 2016,
Transport Canada conducted another independent evaluation of how the
United States implemented STCW and restated the lack of verification
controls to ensure the validity and authenticity of documents submitted
as part of an MMC application package.
In 2019, as part of an ongoing investigation surrounding mariner
examinations, the Coast Guard discovered that over an extended period,
numerous mariners had submitted fraudulent course completion
certificates to the NMC as part of their MMC application. As of June
2021, the Coast Guard identified 428 mariners involved in course
certificate fraud since 2016.\1\ In the absence of available procedures
and resources to validate the authenticity of course completion
certificates, the NMC accepted fraudulent certificates submitted by
mariners as part of an MMC application package as evidence of
completing required training for an MMC endorsement. As a result, the
Coast Guard-issued these mariners endorsements that they were not
professionally qualified to hold.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Email communication with Mariner Credentialing Fraud Task
Force from July 20, 2021.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
While training providers are required to retain course completion
data, they are not required to submit the data to the Coast Guard. The
Coast Guard typically reviews those records only as part of an audit of
Quality Standard Systems (QSS) of Coast Guard-approved training
providers under 46 CFR 10.410(g), as well as Coast Guard administrative
visits and inspections under 46 CFR 10.403(a)(9). The Coast Guard is
proposing to require Coast Guard-approved training providers to submit
course completion data electronically to the Coast Guard within 5
business days of the course's completion. This data would be used to
verify that mariners have met the regulatory training requirements for
the MMC endorsements requested, and reduce opportunities for fraudulent
information being accepted as part of an MMC application package.
The titles of MMC endorsements are prescribed in 46 CFR 10.109.
This proposed rule would make non-substantive changes to 46 CFR parts
10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 30, 35, and 39 to ensure the titles of certain
officer and rating endorsements are gender-neutral to align with the
Coast Guard's policy of removing gendered language from its rules and
regulations. This policy is demonstrated by final rules published in
2002 and 2012 that made technical amendments to the CFR in order to
remove gendered language.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ The rule published on September 30, 2002 (67 FR 61276) made
changes to 46 CFR part 401 to change any use of the word ``he'' to
``the individual.'' The rule published on October 1, 2012 (77 FR
59768) changed the definition of ``Secretary of Homeland Security''
in 46 CFR part 401, to include ``he or she'' and ``his or her''
rendering it gender-neutral.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
V. Discussion of Proposed Rule
This proposed rule would amend 46 CFR 10.403 to require Coast
Guard-approved training providers to submit data on Coast Guard-
approved courses conducted and mariners completing the courses to the
NMC.
The information would be submitted electronically, in a manner
specified by the Coast Guard, within 5 business days of completing a
Coast Guard-approved course. Mariners submitting course completion data
to the Coast Guard as part of their MMC application and Coast Guard-
approved training providers submitting course completion data
electronically to the Coast Guard would attest, under criminal penalty,
that the records are accurate to the best of their knowledge and that
no false entries or statements were made. See 18 U.S.C. 1001. The NMC
would use this information to validate that mariners have completed the
training required for the MMC endorsement requested. This action would
lessen the probability of the Coast Guard accepting a fraudulent course
completion certificate as part of an application for an MMC and improve
the efficiency of the credentialing process.
The proposed 5-business day window to submit course completion data
would ensure that a mariner's application would not be delayed because
the NMC is waiting for training providers to submit the course
completion data. Delaying the evaluation of an application and issuance
of an MMC may result in loss of employment for a mariner, which is in
conflict with NMC's mission to issue credentials to fully qualified
mariners in the most effective and efficient manner possible.
Although the Coast Guard would electronically receive course
completion data, Coast Guard-approved training providers should
continue to issue course completion certificates to their students.
Mariners would still be responsible for including their course
completion certificates as supporting documentation with their MMC
application package. This would allow Coast Guard evaluators to
validate the information submitted by the mariner with their MMC
application against the information submitted electronically by the
training provider.
Under this proposed rule, training providers would be required to
submit the name of the training provider, the training provider's Coast
Guard-issued provider code, the title of the Coast Guard-approved
course or program, the Coast Guard-issued course code, the dates the
training provider held the course, and the name of the approved
instructor. This information would allow the Coast Guard to validate
that a course was approved by the Coast Guard, conducted by an approved
instructor, and the dates the course was conducted. The proposed
electronic submission would also require the student's full name as it
appears on their MMC or other valid Government-issued identification,
and their Coast Guard-issued mariner reference number
[[Page 29016]]
(MRN), or their date of birth and place of birth if they do not
currently have an MRN.\3\ This information is critical should the Coast
Guard need to verify whether a student attended a certain course or
program.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ The Coast Guard handles personally identifiable information
(PII) according to the DHS Handbook for Safeguarding Sensitive PII.
A privacy impact assessment for the Merchant Mariner Licensing and
Documentation System can be found online at https://www.dhs.gov/publication/dhsuscgpia-015-merchant-mariner-licensing-and-documentation-system. The applicable System of Records Notice (SORN)
is DHS/USCG-030 Merchant Seamen's Records, 74 FR 30308 (June 25,
2009).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Coast Guard seeks comments regarding how course completion data
from Coast Guard-approved courses can be submitted electronically to
the Coast Guard. Submitting copies of course completion certificates by
email, sending data files or spreadsheets listing required information,
or adding data through a direct system entry or forms have been used or
suggested as methods. The Coast Guard seeks specific information
(example: data file type) and recommendations of how Coast Guard-
approved training providers would submit this data. Information
received through public comments will be used to determine the most
effective method for training providers to submit course completion
data to the Coast Guard. If a final rule is published, the Coast Guard
will provide guidance to specify the submission process.
The Coast Guard has a voluntary program for submitting course
completion data electronically through Homeport.\4\ Currently,
approximately 30 Coast Guard approved training providers voluntarily
submit information to the Coast Guard using Homeport. This process is
more fully discussed in the regulatory analysis of this proposal.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ Homeport is the Coast Guard's enterprise internet portal for
the maritime community and can be accessed at https://homeport.uscg.mil/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Coast Guard recognizes that Homeport may be limited in the
volume of submissions it can support as we move from voluntary to
mandatory electronic submission of course completion data. The Coast
Guard is currently in the process of replacing MMLD with a more secure,
agile, and user-friendly system that provides better service to the
maritime industry. This new system has yet to be developed, and the
best way for training providers to comply with the proposed
requirements to electronically submit course completion data continues
to be through Homeport. When the new system is developed and fully
operational, the Coast Guard will publish a document announcing that in
the Federal Register and detailing the new system and best practice for
compliance. The new system is not being created specifically for the
electronic submission of mariner course completion data, so the cost of
the new IT system will not be included in this proposed rule's cost
analysis.
The Coast Guard understands that instant compliance upon
publication of the final rule finalizing the new system may not be
feasible for many training providers submitting mariner course
completion data. For that reason, in this rulemaking the Coast Guard
seeks public input regarding what a reasonable length of time would be
needed to allow course providers to modify their procedures following
publication of a final rule, as well as what kind of adjustments
training providers would be required to make in order to pivot from
current practices to compliant practices. The Coast Guard is taking
comment on whether or not a ``phased-in'' applicability or multiple
phased in applicability period(s) is necessary for training providers
to modify their procedures to meet the proposed requirements set forth
in this NPRM. If a final rule is published before the implementation of
a system to replace MMLD, the Coast Guard will work with course
providers to ensure they can submit course completion data using the
existing Homeport process. The Coast Guard also seeks comments from
training providers explaining what alternative approaches they might
use in the event of IT issues. Public comments may include new
information about any aspect of the proposed rule that would require a
revision of the cost analysis. If that occurs, the Coast Guard will
update it and publish a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
(SNPRM) with the revised cost analysis, so that the public can
ascertain the new cost of the proposed rule. An SNPRM will also begin a
new period of public comments, so the Coast Guard can receive
additional comments, including feedback on the revised cost analysis of
the proposed rule. As any potentially impactful information from public
comments are not known at this time, it is impossible to incorporate
that information into the current cost analysis.
This NPRM also proposes to amend 46 CFR parts 10, 11, 12, 13, 15,
16, 30, 35, and 39 to ensure the names of certain officer and rating
endorsements are gender-neutral. If a final rule is published, the
Coast Guard will update any other regulations using the historical
endorsement titles through future rulemakings. In this initiative, the
Coast Guard specifically proposes to change the following endorsement
titles as described in table 1:
Table 1--Proposed Nomenclature Changes to 46 CFR Parts 10, 11 12, 13,
15, 16, 30, and 35
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current CFR Nomenclature change
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apprentice mate (steersman)............... Apprentice mate towing.
Crewman................................... Crew.
Fireman................................... Boiler technician.
Hospital corpsman......................... Medical technician.
Lifeboatman............................... Lifeboat operator.
Pumpman................................... Pump technician.
Seaman.................................... Seafarer.
Tankerman................................. Tank vessel.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
If a final rule is issued, the Coast Guard would no longer issue
endorsements using the current endorsement titles. Mariners would not
have to submit an application to have the endorsements titles changed
on their MMC. The endorsement titles would be updated at the next
credential transaction when an application is submitted to the Coast
Guard.
The Coast Guard is proposing to change the name of the Able Seaman
endorsement to Able Seafarer. To differentiate in 46 CFR
10.231(c)(6)(ii) between the already established STCW endorsements of
Able Seafarer-Deck and Able Seafarer-Engine and the proposed Able
Seafarer endorsements, the endorsements would be referred as national
Able Seafarer.
In addition, in some provisions of 46 CFR part 12, the legacy names
of endorsements would not be changed to the proposed names.
Specifically, Sec. Sec. 12.501(b)(2) 12.607(b), 12.613(c), and
12.615(c) reference endorsements that would have been held before 2017
and would have been held with the legacy name.
Finally, the Coast Guard is proposing to remove the expired
grandfathering provisions in 46 CFR 13.603(e), 13.605(e), 13.607(e),
13.609(b), and 13.611(b). These provisions provided a method for
mariners who held valid national tankerman endorsements issued before
March 24, 2014 to qualify for original STCW tanker cargo operations
endorsements. Any national tankerman endorsements issued before March
24, 2014 would have expired as of March 23, 2019; therefore, the
grandfathering provisions have expired and mariners who wish to obtain
original STCW tanker cargo endorsements must meet the requirements of
the applicable section.
VI. Regulatory Analyses
We developed this proposed rule after considering numerous statutes
and
[[Page 29017]]
Executive orders related to rulemaking. A summary of our analyses based
on these statutes or Executive orders follows.
A. Regulatory Planning and Review
Executive Orders 12866 (Regulatory Planning and Review) and 13563
(Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review) direct agencies to assess
the costs and benefits of available regulatory alternatives and, if
regulation is necessary, to select regulatory approaches that maximize
net benefits (including potential economic, environmental, public
health and safety effects, distributive impacts, and equity). Executive
Order 13563 emphasizes the importance of quantifying costs and
benefits, reducing costs, harmonizing rules, and promoting flexibility.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has not designated this
proposed rule a significant regulatory action under section 3(f) of
Executive Order 12866. OMB has not reviewed this rule. Table 2 shows
the summary of the estimated impacts of this proposed rule. A
regulatory analysis (RA) follows.
Table 2--Summary of the Impacts of the Proposed Rule
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Category Summary
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Affected Population.......... Approximately 236 Coast Guard-approved
training providers out of a total
population of 326 providers.
Cost to Industry over 10 Between $242,490 and $1,327,767.
Years (2021 dollars, 7%
discount rate).
Cost to Government over 10 $371,894.
Years (2021 dollars, 7%
discount rate).
Unquantified Benefits........ The proposed rule would reduce the
probability of mariners obtaining an MMC
without meeting the regulatory training
requirements, which in turn would reduce
fraud and improve safety onboard
vessels. The rule serves the Coast Guard
mission of Maritime Prevention, which
requires the Coast Guard to prevent
marine casualties and property loss.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Affected Population
The affected population for this proposed rule includes training
providers approved by the NMC who offer training to meet the regulatory
requirements for MMC endorsements. From 2010 to 2019, NMC reports that
the number of Coast Guard-approved training providers ranged from a low
of 299 training providers in 2010 to a high of 340 training providers
in 2016, with an average of 326 training providers. The number of
courses approved by the Coast Guard ranged from a low of 2,835 courses
in 2010 to a high of 3,252 courses in 2017, for an average of 3,115
courses that were approved by the Coast Guard in a given year. The
number of Coast Guard-approved courses offered by each training
provider varies greatly depending on demand for the course, instructor
availability, etc. Many providers may offer a single course, while some
providers offer as many as 107 courses. The average number of courses
per training provider is 6 courses, and there is a mode of 1 course
offered per training provider.
Figure 1 shows the distribution of how many Coast Guard-approved
courses each training provider has in a given year. The first bar shows
that 164 training providers have between 1 and 7 approved courses. The
NMC does not track how many times a training provider offers each of
their approved courses; it is possible that a training provider with
only one Coast Guard approved course offers that course multiple times
in a year. The analysis for this proposed rule focuses on the number of
student records submitted rather than the number of courses offered, in
order to best account for the unknown frequency in course offerings.
[[Page 29018]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TP05MY23.055
All course approvals are valid for 5 years per 46 CFR 10.407(e) and
are not contingent on the frequency a Coast Guard-approved training
provider may offer a course. The NMC receives mariner course completion
data in two ways: as part of a mariner's MMC application, or through a
training provider's electronic submission to the Coast Guard through
Homeport. Applicants submit course completion certificates as evidence
that they have met the regulatory training requirement for the MMC
endorsement(s) they are requesting. As part of the evaluation of an MMC
application, Coast Guard evaluators verify that a course completion
certificate from a Coast Guard-approved training provider is submitted
for each course required to obtain the requested endorsement, and NMC
adds the course completion data to the mariner's record within MMLD
manually.
In 2010, a secondary method to receive course completion data was
established. Coast Guard approved training providers could now
voluntarily submit course completion data electronically to the Coast
Guard through Homeport, the Coast Guard's enterprise internet portal
for the maritime community. Homeport's secure, role-based environment
brings together Coast Guard personnel, members of the maritime
community, and other designated individuals allowing them to share
information quickly. The course completion data provided through
Homeport is added to a database known as MTAD (Mariner Training and
Assessment Data) and is then uploaded to individual mariner records in
MMLD.
From 2010 to 2020, an average of 68,783 course completion records
were submitted to the Coast Guard annually, of which an average of
12,498 course completion records were submitted by training providers
electronically through Homeport. All other records were submitted by
mariners as part of their application for an MMC. If a final rule is
published, training providers will be submitting all the data
electronically through Homeport. This proposed rule would require
training providers to electronically submit course completion data
directly to NMC. To validate the course completion data provided with a
mariner's MMC application package, Coast Guard evaluators would match
information submitted electronically by the training provider to the
documentation provided by the mariner with their MMC application.
The Homeport Submissions column shows the number of student records
that training providers submitted electronically through Homeport over
a 10-year period, and can be considered the pilot program for the
rulemaking. The cost estimate of the proposed rule includes the annual
cost of submitting course completion data through Homeport over a 10-
year period.
Table 3--Number of Student Records Submitted Electronically Annually
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total (homeport
Year Homeport submissions & MMC
submissions applications)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010............................... 1,555 47,320
2011............................... 3,011 55,250
2012............................... 7,018 61,853
2013............................... 12,348 70,770
2014............................... 14,151 79,391
2015............................... 17,640 81,202
2016............................... 21,903 86,891
2017............................... 19,090 70,723
2018............................... 20,499 76,014
2019............................... 12,596 70,710
[[Page 29019]]
2020............................... 7,664 56,486
------------------------------------
Average........................ 12,498 68,783
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cost to Industry
The cost of submitting course completion data through Homeport from
2010 to 2020 was $269,946, for an average of $24,541 per year. This has
an annualized cost of $22,787 at the 7% discount rate. This cost may be
considered the pilot program of the proposed rule and is not included
in the cost analysis, as those training providers who already submit
course completion data through Homeport have been included in the
industry cost below. The cost of the pilot program is detailed in Table
4.
Table 4--Cost of Submissions Through Homeport, 2010-2020
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Time to
Year MTAD submit Wage of submitter Yearly cost 3% 7%
(hours) (hourly)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010............................. 1,555 0.04 $49.09............. $3,053 $4,226 $6,426
2011............................. 3,011 0.04 49.09.............. 5,912 7,945 11,630
2012............................. 7,018 0.04 49.09.............. 13,781 17,981 25,336
2013............................. 12,348 0.04 49.09.............. 24,247 30,715 41,661
2014............................. 14,151 0.04 49.09.............. 27,787 34,175 44,620
2015............................. 17,640 0.04 49.09.............. 34,638 41,360 51,982
2016............................. 21,903 0.04 49.09.............. 43,009 49,859 60,322
2017............................. 19,090 0.04 49.09.............. 37,485 42,190 49,135
2018............................. 20,499 0.04 49.09.............. 40,252 43,984 49,310
2019............................. 12,596 0.04 49.09.............. 24,734 26,240 28,318
2020............................. 7,664 0.04 49.09.............. 15,049 15,500 16,102
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Average...................... 12,498 ......... Total........... 269,946 314,176 384,843
--------------------------------------------------------
Annualized...... ............ 23,816 22,787
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Figures may not sum due to rounding.
The main industry cost of the proposed rule for training providers
is the additional time they would spend submitting course completion
data to NMC: there are approximately 326 providers, who would submit an
annual average of 68,783 records. Additionally, training providers
would have to register for an account to use Homeport.
Cost to the government is detailed in the ``Cost to the Federal
Government'' section. The initial cost to training providers would be
the cost of time spent to register for a Homeport account so that they
can submit course completion data. According to an NMC Subject Matter
Expert (SME) familiar with Homeport, they estimate it would take a
training provider 20 minutes to establish a Homeport account. All 326
providers would need to establish an account and given the wages for
the personnel who would register the account, we find that the cost to
industry would be a one-time total of $5,334.
Table 5--The Cost to Training Providers To Establish a Homeport Account
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of training providers Time to complete Wages Total cost
A B.................................. C A*B*C
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
326........................................ .33 hours (20 minutes)............. $49.09/hour $5,334
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To estimate the time cost for submitting records electronically, we
surveyed training providers that currently use Homeport. Under the
limits of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), we
contacted eight providers and received four complete responses back,
three of which quantified the time required to submit data through
Homeport. If you have comments or questions concerning the sample,
data, or assumption, please submit them identified by docket number
USCG-2021-0097 using the Federal eRulemaking Portal at https://www.regulations.gov.
It is assumed that if the Coast Guard implements a new IT system,
training providers would spend the same amount of time submitting
course completion data through the new IT system as they do submitting
through Homeport.
The key questions asked as part of the survey were:
``Excluding time already spent on issuance of conventional
paper course completion certificates, what is the minimum additional
amount of time you estimate it takes to enter data into Homeport for
each course?''
[[Page 29020]]
``What is the maximum additional amount of time you
estimate it takes to enter data into Homeport for each course?''
Using an average of the three survey responses, we estimate the
time to submit each student record to be approximately 0.0114 hours
(0.68 minutes) on the lower end and 0.0688 hours (4.13 minutes) on the
higher end. Assuming that each course has an average of 20 students,
the total hours of submission per course would be a range of .228 hours
and 1.376 hours. The loaded mean hourly wage rate of submitters is
approximately $49.09 for 2021, derived from an unloaded mean hourly
wage rate of $32.51 for Training and Development Specialists \5\ and a
load factor of 1.51.\6\ Applying the loaded hourly wage rate to the
burden range, we estimate a total cost range of approximately $0.56 to
$3.38 per student record. We estimate that training providers would
submit 68,783 student records electronically annually, equal to the 10-
year average number of student records manually entered to MMLD. Table
6 shows the calculation of the total cost to training providers of this
proposed rule when we multiply the hourly burden per student record by
the number of new records submitted electronically. We then multiply
this amount by the wage of submitters.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ The 2021 mean hourly wage rate of $32.51 is for Training and
Development Specialists. https://www.bls.gov/oes/2021/may/oes131151.htm.
\6\ We calculated the load factor by dividing total compensation
by wages and salaries, (56.56/37.42) = a load factor of 1.51. Bureau
of Labor Statistics' National Compensation Survey, September 2021.
``Table 4. Civilian workers, by industry group: employer costs per
hour worked for employee compensation and costs as a percentage of
total compensation--Educational Services,'' epage 112. https://www.bls.gov/web/ecec/ececqrtn.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 29021]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TP05MY23.056
We estimate the total discounted cost of the proposed rule on the
lower end, as shown in Table 7. The total 10-year discounted cost would
be approximately $237,156 at the 7% discount rate, and the annualized
costs to be approximately $33,766 at the 7% discount rate.
[[Page 29022]]
Table 7--Estimated Cost to Training Providers of the Proposed Rule: Low Estimate, 10 Years
[2021 Dollars]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Year Total cost 3% 7%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1............................................................... $33,766 $32,782 $31,557
2............................................................... 33,766 31,827 29,492
3............................................................... 33,766 30,900 27,563
4............................................................... 33,766 30,000 25,760
5............................................................... 33,766 29,127 24,074
6............................................................... 33,766 28,278 22,499
7............................................................... 33,766 27,455 21,028
8............................................................... 33,766 26,655 19,652
9............................................................... 33,766 25,879 18,366
10.............................................................. 33,766 25,125 17,165
-----------------------------------------------
Total....................................................... 337,656 288,028 237,156
-----------------------------------------------
Annualized.................................................. .............. 33,766 33,766
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Figures may not sum due to rounding.
We also estimated the total discounted cost of the proposed rule on
the higher end, as shown in Table 8. The total 10-year discounted cost
would be approximately $1,322,433 at the 7% discount rate. We estimate
the annualized costs to be about $188,285 at the 7% discount rate.
Table 8--Estimated Costs to Training Providers of the Proposed Rule: High Estimate, 10 Years
[2021 Dollars]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Year Total cost 3% 7%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1............................................................... $188,285 $182,801 $175,967
2............................................................... 188,285 177,476 164,455
3............................................................... 188,285 172,307 153,696
4............................................................... 188,285 167,289 143,642
5............................................................... 188,285 162,416 134,244
6............................................................... 188,285 157,686 125,462
7............................................................... 188,285 153,093 117,254
8............................................................... 188,285 148,634 109,583
9............................................................... 188,285 144,305 102,414
10.............................................................. 188,285 140,102 95,714
-----------------------------------------------
Total....................................................... 1,882,848 1,606,107 1,322,433
-----------------------------------------------
Annualized.................................................. .............. 188,285 188,285
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Figures may not sum due to rounding.
The total cost to training providers of the proposed rule over a
10-year period includes both the one-time cost of establishing a
Homeport account ($5,334) and the cost of electronically submitting
course data over 10 years, including a low estimate ($337,656) and a
high estimate ($1,882,848). The 7% discount cost of the rule over 10
years is between $237,156 and $1,322,433.
Therefore, the total cost of the rule to training providers is
between $342,990 and $1,888,182, with a mean of $1,115,586. The total
discounted cost over 10 years, is between $242,490 and $1,327,767, with
a mean of $785,129.
Cost to the Federal Government
The cost to government includes the cost of Coast Guard personnel
to verify training provider accounts on Homeport, and the wages of
personnel who would verify course completion data in MMLD for the
amount of time they would perform that work.
In order for a training provider to be able to electronically
submit course completion data through Homeport, they must first
establish a user account by registering on the site. User accounts must
be verified by Coast Guard personnel at the NMC before they can be
ready for use. According to a NMC SME familiar with Homeport, it would
take a GS-07 approximately 20 minutes to verify a Homeport user
account. NMC personnel would need to verify the Homeport user accounts
for all 326 training providers.
Wages for civilian federal employees are calculated by taking the
wages for a federal employee in their locality, with their grade, at a
step of 5 (which is considered an average). For a GS-07 employee in the
national capital region, this is $26.69 per hour as of January 2021. To
account for the total cost of the position, wages must be multiplied by
a load factor, which found by taking the total compensation for federal
employees and dividing by average wages for federal employees.\7\ The
calculation creates a load factor of 1.69, and when multiplied by the
hourly
[[Page 29023]]
wage, the total wages for a GS-07 employee becomes $45.11 per hour.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ Congressional Budget Office, Comparing the Compensation of
Federal and Private-Sector Employees, 2011 to 2015 (April 2017),
www.cbo.gov/publication/52637.
``Federal and Private-Sector Total Compensation, by Workers'
Educational Attainment'': Federal Government, All Levels of
Education. Page 16.
``Federal and Private-Sector Wages, by Workers' Educational
Attainment'': Federal Government, All Levels of Education. Page 11.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The total cost of verification would be a one-time cost of $4,902,
as detailed in Table 9.
Table 9--Cost to Government of Verifying Homeport User Accounts
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Time to verify a new homeport user
Number of training providers account GS-07 wages Total cost
A B.................................... C A*B*C
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
326.......................................... 20 minutes (.33 hours)............... $45.11/hour $4,902
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The course completion data that the training provider submits
through Homeport is added to the MTAD database and is automatically
matched to the mariner's profile in the MMLD using the individual's
MRN. If a mariner does not have an MRN, such as when they are
completing courses in anticipation of applying for their first MMC, the
course data appears in MMLD as an unmatched entry because it does not
match to an existing MRN. This situation prompts manual review by
personnel at NMC.
The mariner provides their Social Security number as required on
Form CG-719B, and they are issued an MRN after they apply for their
first MMC. The MRN is used by the Coast Guard to identify them in all
future credentialing transactions, and all records are matched to the
MRN rather than the Social Security number. Students may voluntarily
submit their Social Security number to a training provider as a means
of identifying them with their records.
However, records may not match due to a misspelling or other error
in data entry. If neither a Social Security number nor an MRN are
provided, the certificate would remain unmatched to a mariner's record
in MMLD until it can be matched manually. The need for manual review to
match records in MMLD represents a cost to the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard estimates that manually matching records in MMLD
would require 3 hours per week at the GS-7 level and 0.5 hours per week
at the GS-13 level for the current 18 percent of course completion
records entered into the MMLD. This number would need to be projected
at an additional 82 percent when all Coast Guard-approved training
providers submit course completion data to the NMC. The projected total
cost to the Coast Guard would be an additional 17 hours per week at the
GS-7 level, and 2.5 hours per week at the GS-13 level. There would be a
total annual burden of 1,014 hours--884 hours for a GS-7 and 130 hours
for a GS-13.
Total wages for GS-07 employees are $45.11 per hour, and total
wages for GS-13 are $95.16 per hour.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ GS-07 Step 5: 26.69 x 1.69 = 45.11 per hour, GS-13 Step 5:
56.31 x 1.69 = 95.16 per hour.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
To find the cost of the proposed rule to the federal government
over a 10 year period, we must first multiply the wages of personnel by
the hours they would work verifying course completion data in a given
year. For GS-07 personnel, they would work for 884 hours at the rate of
$45.11 per hour, totaling to $39,877. For GS-13 personnel, they would
work for 130 hours at the rate of $95.16 per hour, totaling to $12,371.
Combining these figures, the proposed rule would cost the federal
government $52,248 over 10 years. If we divided this amount by the
total hours of verification, we find the weighted average wage of
$51.53. The details of this cost, and the discounted cost at 3% and 7%,
are provided in Table 10.
Table 10--Estimated Costs of the Proposed Rule to the Federal Government: 2022 Dollars
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total time Weighted
Year (hours) average wage Total annual 3% Discount 7% Discount
A B A*B
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1............................... 1,014 $51.53 $52,251 $50,730 $48,833
2............................... 1,014 51.53 52,251 49,252 45,638
3............................... 1,014 51.53 52,251 47,817 42,653
4............................... 1,014 51.53 52,251 46,425 39,862
5............................... 1,014 51.53 52,251 45,073 37,255
6............................... 1,014 51.53 52,251 43,760 34,817
7............................... 1,014 51.53 52,251 42,485 32,540
8............................... 1,014 51.53 52,251 41,248 30,411
9............................... 1,014 51.53 52,251 40,046 28,421
10.............................. 1,014 51.53 52,251 38,880 26,562
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total....................... .............. .............. 522,514 445,715 366,992
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Annualized...................... .............. .............. .............. 52,251 52,251
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Figures may not sum due to rounding.
Currently, when a mariner submits a course completion certificate
as part of an application, evaluators at NMC enter that data into the
mariner's profile in MMLD. Under the proposed rule, rather than
spending time entering course completion data, evaluators would verify
that the information submitted by the mariner matches the data
submitted
[[Page 29024]]
by the training provider. We do not anticipate there would be a
difference in time between entering course completion data and
verifying a course completion certificate. Therefore, we do not
estimate a cost for verification.
The Coast Guard would not realize cost savings from reduced fraud
investigations because it must still investigate accusations of fraud.
The additional records generated by this proposed rule would aid in
completing investigations accurately and in a timely manner, but would
not reduce the number of investigations the Coast Guard must conduct
annually.
The total cost to the government is the one-time cost of
verification at $4,902 and the 10-year operating cost of $522,514, for
a total cost of $527,416. The total cost at a 7% discount over 10 years
(including the one-time cost of account verification) would be
$371,570.
Net Total Cost of the Proposed Rule
Table 11 shows the net cost of the proposed rule using the lower
estimated cost, and Table 12 shows the net cost of the proposed rule
using the higher estimated cost.
Table 11--Net Costs of the Proposed Rule: Low Estimate, 2022 Dollars
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cost to
training Total net cost
Year providers Cost to govt. (low) 3% Discount 7% Discount
(low)
A B A + B
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1............................... $33,766 $52,251 $86,017 $83,512 $80,390
2............................... 33,766 52,251 86,017 81,079 75,131
3............................... 33,766 52,251 86,017 78,718 70,215
4............................... 33,766 52,251 86,017 76,425 65,622
5............................... 33,766 52,251 86,017 74,199 61,329
6............................... 33,766 52,251 86,017 72,038 57,317
7............................... 33,766 52,251 86,017 69,940 53,567
8............................... 33,766 52,251 86,017 67,903 50,063
9............................... 33,766 52,251 86,017 65,925 46,788
10.............................. 33,766 52,251 86,017 64,005 43,727
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total....................... .............. .............. 860,170 733,742 604,147
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Annualized...................... .............. .............. .............. 86,017 86,017
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Figures may not sum due to rounding.
Table 12--Net Costs of the Proposed Rule: High Estimate, 2022
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cost to
training Total net cost
Year providers Cost to govt. (low) 3% Discount 7% Discount
(low)
A B A + B
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1............................... $188,285 $52,251 $240,536 $233,530 $224,800
2............................... 188,285 52,251 240,536 226,728 210,093
3............................... 188,285 52,251 240,536 220,124 196,349
4............................... 188,285 52,251 240,536 213,713 183,504
5............................... 188,285 52,251 240,536 207,488 171,499
6............................... 188,285 52,251 240,536 201,445 160,279
7............................... 188,285 52,251 240,536 195,578 149,794
8............................... 188,285 52,251 240,536 189,881 139,994
9............................... 188,285 52,251 240,536 184,351 130,836
10.............................. 188,285 52,251 240,536 178,981 122,276
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total....................... .............. .............. 2,405,358 2,051,819 1,689,423
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Annualized...................... .............. .............. .............. 240,536 240,536
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Figures may not sum due to rounding.
The annualized cost of the rule, discounted at 7% over a 10-year
period of time, would be between a low estimate of $604,147 and a high
estimate of $1,689,423. Adding in the one-time cost for creating a
Homeport account for training course providers ($5,334) and the one-
time cost for verifying a Homeport account by the government ($4,902)
for both the high and low estimates, we find that the total net cost of
the rule is between a low estimate of $614,383 and a high estimate of
$1,699,659.
Benefits
The Coast Guard has identified that approximately .12% of student
course completion data submissions had been fraudulent from 2016 to
June 2021. The primary benefit of this proposed rule is prevention of
fraud and a reduction of the potential for a mariner to be issued an
MMC endorsement they are not qualified to hold. Ensuring mariners have
met the requirements for their MMC endorsements would decrease
shipboard operational risk . This would improve safety onboard vessels.
The proposed rule also serves the Coast
[[Page 29025]]
Guard mission of Maritime Prevention, which requires the Coast Guard to
prevent marine casualties and property loss.
Currently, a mariner course completion data can be verified by
having Coast Guard personnel call the training provider to confirm the
mariner's reported course completion information matches the records of
the provider, and then evaluate any discrepancies. This has been done
sporadically when evaluating mariners MMC applications, and instances
in which verification was not completed have allowed for a degree of
fraud for mariners submitting false or inaccurate documentation
supporting their MMC application. Under the proposed rule, both the
mariner and the training provider would submit their course completion
data to the Coast Guard. The mariner would submit course completion
data with their application for an MMC and the training provider would
submit course completion data through Homeport. NMC evaluators would
verify that data submitted by the mariner matches data submitted by the
training providers. If any discrepancies are found, an investigation
may then be initiated, to determine the nature of the discrepancy, if
any fraudulent data was submitted and whether or not the mariner should
be issued the credential.
Alternatives Considered
1. No action. We rejected this alternative because potentially
issuing credentials to unqualified mariners not only puts the Coast
Guard at risk, but also poses a risk to the marine transportation
system, other mariners, and the marine environment through increased
likelihood of marine casualties and related damages associated with
unqualified personnel.
2. Coast Guard-provided serial numbers for training certificates.
Under this alternative, the Coast Guard would provide training
providers with a list of serial numbers to use on the course completion
certificates they issue to students. We rejected this alternative
because to implement this alternative, the Coast Guard would need to
develop an electronic system to track certificate serial numbers. Prior
attempts at adding new capabilities to the MMLD have been unsuccessful.
Implementing this alternative would require additional human resources
to develop and manage a secondary system to track certificate numbers
and increase application evaluation times due to the need to access
multiple databases to verify data. None of these requirements are
feasible in the immediate near-term.
This alternative also does not align with current Coast Guard
initiatives to replace MMLD and transition to an electronic system for
the application and issuance of MMCs. Due to the safety concerns
associated with the results of investigations of mariner fraud, the
Coast Guard is pursuing this proposed rule to mitigate opportunities
for the NMC to accept fraudulent certificates as part of an MMC
application.
3. Training providers submit course completion data to the NMC
(preferred alternative). This is the selected alternative because it
achieves the Coast Guard's desired benefit of providing the ability for
the NMC evaluators to verify the course completion data submitted by an
MMC applicant while also taking advantage of existing programs to have
training providers submit records electronically. This NPRM limits the
cost of the proposed rule because it would not require adding new
functionality to the MMLD. We analyzed the costs and benefits of this
alternative in the regulatory analysis of this proposed rule.
B. Small Entities
Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601-612, we have
considered whether this proposed rule would have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities. The term ``small
entities'' comprises small businesses, not-for-profit organizations
that are independently owned and operated and are not dominant in their
fields, and governmental jurisdictions with populations of less than
50,000.
The impact of this proposed rule on each training provider would
vary by how many Coast Guard-approved courses a training provider
offers in any given year, and how many student records a training
provider submits to the Coast Guard. Larger training providers that
offer many courses, and thus manage more student records, would have a
larger burden from the proposed rule, but they also have larger
revenues. Conversely, smaller training providers that manage fewer
student records would have a smaller burden under this proposed rule,
but may have less revenue to mitigate the burden. To assess the
potential burden on small entities, we took a random sample of the
total population of Coast Guard-approved training providers and
multiplied the cost per course by the number of courses each training
provider offered in a year.
Of the 236 training providers that this proposed rule would affect,
we took a random sample of 173 companies to achieve a 95 percent
confidence interval. We found 147 of the companies in the random sample
that had known revenues or employee information; 100 had both measures
while 47 had only known employee information. The sample represented 59
different North American Industry Classification System codes,
including schools, professional training centers, and specific trades
reflecting the range of courses required to obtain mariner credentials
and associated endorsements.
Out of a sample of 173 companies (training providers), we found 166
small entities overall that could potentially be affected by this
proposed rule.\9\ Among the sample of 173 companies, we found 74 are
small entities based on a revenue size standard, and 11 are small
entities based on an employee size standard. There was insufficient
information to determine the size of 81 companies, so the Coast Guard
assumed that they are small entities. Overall, we found 166 small
entities that could potentially be affected by this proposed rule.
Table 13 presents the number of small entities based on employee size
standard, revenue size standard, or other information.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ The definitions for small entities was based on the July
2022 SBA Small Business Size Standards, https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2022-07/Table%20of%20Size%20Standards_Effective%20July%2014%202022_Final-508.pdf, accessed Dec. 3rd, 2022.
Table 13--Number of Small Entities
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Category Number
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Small entities by revenue standard......................... 74
Small entities by employee standard........................ 11
Entities assumed to be small with insufficient information. 81
------------
[[Page 29026]]
Total small entities................................... 166
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of entities in sample............................... 173
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The annual impact of this proposed rule on each entity would be
proportional to the number of courses offered. Here, we use the number
of courses rather than the number of students because the number of
Coast Guard-approved courses was known, but the number of students per
training provider was not. To estimate the impact, we multiply the
number of Coast Guard-approved courses offered by the estimated time
burden per course in hours (see Table 6), and then multiply by the
loaded hourly wage rate of the submitters. For example, if a training
provider offered 2 Coast Guard-approved courses, their burden would be
approximately $22.39 on the lower end (2 courses x 0.228 hours x
$49.09) and approximately $135.00 on the higher end (2 courses x 1.375
hours x $49.09). For the lower cost to represent more than 1% of
revenues, an entity would need to have annual revenues less than or
equal to $2,244, or $13,530 on the higher end.
The mode of courses offered by small entities is 1: most small
entities only offer 1 course. The mean of courses offered by small
entities is 9.22.
Table 14--Number of Courses and Cost of Rule by Small Entities
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of Percentage of Cost of rule, Cost of rule,
Number of courses small entities small entities low estimate high estimate
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1............................................ 49 29 $11.19 $67.50
2............................................ 17 10 22.39 135.00
3............................................ 13 8 33.58 202.50
4............................................ 16 10 44.77 270.00
5............................................ 11 7 55.96 337.49
6............................................ 3 2 67.16 404.99
7............................................ 6 4 78.35 472.49
8............................................ 4 2 89.54 539.99
9............................................ 9 5 100.73 607.49
10........................................... 6 4 111.93 674.99
11........................................... 2 1 123.12 742.49
12........................................... 5 3 134.31 809.99
13........................................... 1 1 145.50 877.48
14........................................... 2 1 156.70 944.98
16........................................... 1 1 179.08 1,079.98
18........................................... 2 1 201.47 1,214.98
19........................................... 1 1 212.66 1,282.48
20........................................... 3 2 223.85 1,349.98
>20 *........................................ 16 10 358.16 2,159.96
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Percentages may not sum to 100% due to rounding.
* Estimates for the ``over 20 courses'' category uses a mean of 32 courses as a representative sample.
Of the small entities for whom we found revenue data, over the 10-
year period of analysis, one small entity would experience an impact of
greater than 1 percent of its total annual revenues on the lower end,
and 6 small entities would experience an impact of greater than 1
percent of its total annual revenues on the higher end. Table 15 shows
the number of small entities with a greater than 1 percent impact on
their annual revenues as the percentage of the total population of
small entities that we found through our analysis. While this impact is
0.60 percent at the low end and 3.01 percent at the high end of the
population of small entities, this is not a substantial number of small
entities out of the entire population of 303 training providers that
offer at least one course.
Table 15--Estimated Initial and Annual Impact of the Proposed Rule on
Small Entities
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lower Higher
Category estimate estimate
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of small entities where impact is 1 6
greater than 1% of revenues..................
Percentage of small entities where impact is 0.60% 3.01%
greater than 1% of revenues..................
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 16 shows the number of small entities that would be affected
by the proposed rule as a percentage of the small entities' total
annual revenues.
[[Page 29027]]
Table 16--Estimated Initial and Annual Percentage Revenue Impact of the
Proposed Rule on Small Entities
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lower Higher
Category estimate estimate
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Impact <1% of revenues........................ 91 87
Impact 1 to 2% of revenues.................... 0 2
Impact 2 to 3% of revenues.................... 1 1
Impact 3 to 4% of revenues.................... 0 1
Impact greater than 4% of revenues............ 0 1
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hence, we found that 99 percent of the small entities would fall
into the 0 to 1 percent category using the lower estimate, and 96
percent of them would fall into the 0 to 1 percent category using the
higher estimate. Therefore, the Coast Guard certifies under 5 U.S.C.
605(b) that this proposed rule would not have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities.
If you think that your business, organization, or governmental
jurisdiction qualifies as a small entity and that this proposed rule
would have a significant economic impact on it, please submit a comment
to the docket at the address listed in the ADDRESSES section of this
preamble. In your comment, explain why you think it qualifies and how
and to what degree this proposed rule would economically affect it.
C. Assistance for Small Entities
Under section 213(a) of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement
Fairness Act of 1996, Public Law 104-121, we want to assist small
entities in understanding this proposed rule so that they can better
evaluate its effects on them and participate in the rulemaking. If the
proposed rule would affect your small business, organization, or
governmental jurisdiction and you have questions concerning its
provisions or options for compliance, please call or email the person
in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this proposed rule.
The Coast Guard will not retaliate against small entities that question
or complain about this proposed rule or any policy or action of the
Coast Guard.
Small businesses may send comments on the actions of Federal
employees who enforce, or otherwise determine compliance with, Federal
regulations to the Small Business and Agriculture Regulatory
Enforcement Ombudsman and the Regional Small Business Regulatory
Fairness Boards. The Ombudsman evaluates these actions annually and
rates each agency's responsiveness to small business. If you wish to
comment on actions by employees of the Coast Guard, call 1-888-REG-FAIR
(1-888-734-3247).
D. Collection of Information
This proposed rule would call for a collection of information under
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520. As defined in
5 CFR 1320.3(c), ``collection of information'' comprises reporting,
recordkeeping, monitoring, posting, labeling, and other similar
actions. The title and description of the information collections, a
description of those who must collect the information, and an estimate
of the total annual hour burden follow. The estimate covers the time
for reviewing instructions, searching existing sources of data,
gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing
the collection.
The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 requires the Coast Guard to
consider the impact of paperwork and other information collection
burdens imposed on the public. According to the 1995 amendments to the
Paperwork Reduction Act, an agency may not collect or sponsor the
collection of information, nor may it impose an information collection
requirement, unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.
This action contains proposed amendments to the existing
information collection requirements previously approved under OMB
Control Number 1625-0028. This ICR governs all of the information
collected for training provider approvals, including information
required to evaluate and approve the initial course, review of these
materials by the NMC, and ongoing recordkeeping requirements for each
student taking a course. The proposed rule increases the hour burden of
recordkeeping for each Coast Guard-approved course but does not
increase the number of responses (number of Coast Guard-approved
courses).
The hour burden of the ICR represents the total annual burden per
Coast Guard-approved course, assuming that each Coast Guard-approved
course is offered 12 times with 20 students in each class. The current
hour burden is 40 hours for each Coast Guard-approved course, or 0.1667
hours for each student record. Since the regulatory analysis for the
proposed rule used a range for the estimated burden, we use the higher
end of the range to provide a conservative estimate of the increase in
recordkeeping burden. This proposed rule would increase the hour burden
per student record by 0.0688 from 0.1667 to 0.2355 hours. This creates
a total increase of about 16.32 hours in the hour burden per response,
from 40 hours per course (0.1667 x 20 students x 12 courses) to about
56.33 hours for each course (0.2347 x 20 students x 12 courses).
The title and description of the information collection, a
description of those who must collect the information, and an estimate
of the total annual burden follow. The estimates cover the time for
reviewing instructions, searching existing sources of data, gathering
and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the
collection. The current OMB-approved number of responses is 2,757.
Title: Course Approval and Records for Merchant Mariner Training
Schools.
OMB Control Number: 1625-0028.
Summary of the Collection of Information: This ICR governs all of
the information collected for training provider approvals (including
information required to evaluate and approve the course and any
information regarding the STCW QSS manual) review of these materials by
the NMC, and ongoing recordkeeping requirements for each student taking
a course.
Need for Information: Title 46 of the CFR, 10.402 specifies the
information that must be submitted for the Coast Guard to evaluate and
approve each course. Title 46 of the CFR, section 10.403 specifies
recordkeeping requirements that a Coast Guard-approved training
provider offering courses must meet for each student taking each
course. The Coast Guard is obligated under the STCW Convention to
validate the training completed by mariners and to ensure that the
approved training is monitored under a QSS.
Proposed Use of Information: NMC personnel review submitted
information to ensure training courses and programs
[[Page 29028]]
meet minimum standards for Coast Guard approval. Members of the public,
including U.S. merchant mariners, attend Coast Guard-approved courses
to meet regulatory requirements or to enhance their ability to perform
their jobs. The agency uses the information to enforce regulations, and
to compare existing courses with new international standards for
specific training. The recordkeeping requirements help the Coast Guard
monitor the performance of schools with Coast Guard-approved courses.
Description of the Respondents: Training providers approved to
provide maritime courses or programs.
Number of Respondents: The OMB-approved number of respondents for
this collection of information remains 329, who offer 3,183 courses
annually. However, this proposed rule would affect 236 training
providers who offer 2,255 courses annually with an estimated 55,789
student records submitted.
Frequency of Response: When a training provider requires course
approval from the Coast Guard and after concluding an approved course.
Training providers submit student records yearly based on the courses
offered and the number of students completing those courses.
Burden of Response: The total burden per response is 56.33 hours
per course, which would increase from the previously approved number of
40 hours per course.
Estimate of Annual Hour Burden: The proposed rule would increase
the estimated annual burden by 36,824 hours (16.33 hours/course times
2,255 affected courses).
As required by 44 U.S.C. 3507(d), we will submit a copy of this
proposed rule to OMB for its review of the collection of information.
We ask for public comment on the proposed collection of information
to help us determine, among other things--
How useful the information is;
Whether the information can help us perform our functions
better;
How we can improve the quality, usefulness, and clarity of
the information;
Whether the information is readily available elsewhere;
How accurate our estimate is of the burden of collection;
How valid our methods are for determining the burden of
collection; and
How we can minimize the burden of collection.
If you submit comments on the collection of information, submit
them to both the OMB and to the docket where indicated under ADDRESSES.
You need not respond to a collection of information unless it
displays a currently valid control number from OMB. Before the Coast
Guard could enforce the collection of information requirements in this
proposed rule, OMB would need to approve the Coast Guard's request to
collect this information.
E. Federalism
A rule has implications for federalism under Executive Order 13132
(Federalism) if it has a substantial direct effect on States, on the
relationship between the National Government and the States, or on the
distribution of power and responsibilities among the various levels of
government. We have analyzed this proposed rule under Executive Order
13132 and have determined that it is consistent with the fundamental
federalism principles and preemption requirements described in
Executive Order 13132. Our analysis follows.
It is well settled that States may not regulate in categories
reserved for regulation by the Coast Guard. It is also well settled
that all of the categories covered in 46 U.S.C. 7101 and 7301
(personnel qualifications of officers and ratings serving on board
merchant vessels) and any other category in which Congress intended the
Coast Guard to be the sole source of a vessel's obligations, are within
the field foreclosed from regulation by the States. See the Supreme
Court's decision in United States v. Locke, 529 U.S. 89, 120 S.Ct. 1135
(2000), which found that the states are foreclosed from regulating
tanker vessels). See also Ray v. Atlantic Richfield Co., 435 U.S. 151,
157, 98 S.Ct., 988 (1978), which found that state regulation is
preempted where ``the scheme of federal regulation may be so pervasive
as to make reasonable the inference that Congress left no room for the
States to supplement it [or where] the Act of Congress may touch a
field in which the federal interest is so dominant that the federal
system will be assumed to preclude enforcement of state laws on the
same subject.'' (Citations omitted). Because this proposed rule
involves the credentialing of merchant mariner officers and ratings
under 46 U.S.C. 7101 and 7301 respectively, it relates to personnel
qualifications for vessels subject to a pervasive scheme of Federal
regulation and is therefore foreclosed from regulation by the States.
Because the States may not regulate within these categories, this
proposed rule is consistent with the fundamental federalism principles
and preemption requirements in Executive Order 13132.
While it is well settled that States may not regulate in categories
in which Congress intended the Coast Guard to be the sole source of a
vessel's obligations, the Coast Guard recognizes the key role that
State and local governments may have in making regulatory
determinations. Additionally, for rules with federalism implications
and preemptive effect, Executive Order 13132 specifically directs
agencies to consult with State and local governments during the
rulemaking process. If you believe this proposed rule would have
implications for federalism under Executive Order 13132, please call or
email the person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section
of this preamble.
F. Unfunded Mandates
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995, 2 U.S.C. 1531-1538,
requires Federal agencies to assess the effects of their discretionary
regulatory actions. In particular, the Act addresses actions that may
result in the expenditure by a State, local, or tribal government, in
the aggregate, or by the private sector of $100 million (adjusted for
inflation) or more in any one year. Although this proposed rule would
not result in such an expenditure, we do discuss the effects of this
proposed rule elsewhere in this preamble.
G. Taking of Private Property
This proposed rule would not cause a taking of private property or
otherwise have taking implications under Executive Order 12630
(Governmental Actions and Interference with Constitutionally Protected
Property Rights).
H. Civil Justice Reform
This proposed rule meets applicable standards in sections 3(a) and
3(b)(2) of Executive Order 12988, (Civil Justice Reform), to minimize
litigation, eliminate ambiguity, and reduce burden.
I. Protection of Children
We have analyzed this proposed rule under Executive Order 13045
(Protection of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety
Risks). This proposed rule is not an economically significant rule and
would not create an environmental risk to health or risk to safety that
might disproportionately affect children.
J. Indian Tribal Governments
This proposed rule does not have tribal implications under
Executive
[[Page 29029]]
Order 13175 (Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal
Governments), because it would not have a substantial direct effect on
one or more Indian tribes, on the relationship between the Federal
Government and Indian tribes, or on the distribution of power and
responsibilities between the Federal Government and Indian tribes.
K. Energy Effects
We have analyzed this proposed rule under Executive Order 13211
(Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy
Supply, Distribution, or Use). We have determined that it is not a
``significant energy action'' under that order because it is not a
``significant regulatory action'' under Executive Order 12866 and is
not likely to have a significant adverse effect on the supply,
distribution, or use of energy.
L. Technical Standards
The National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act, codified as a
note to 15 U.S.C. 272, directs agencies to use voluntary consensus
standards in their regulatory activities unless the agency provides
Congress, through OMB, with an explanation of why using these standards
would be inconsistent with applicable law or otherwise impractical.
Voluntary consensus standards are technical standards (e.g.,
specifications of materials, performance, design, or operation; test
methods; sampling procedures; and related management systems practices)
that are developed or adopted by voluntary consensus standards bodies.
This proposed rule does not use technical standards. Therefore, we
did not consider the use of voluntary consensus standards.
M. Environment
We have analyzed this proposed rule under DHS Management Directive
023-01, Rev. 1, associated implementing instructions, and Environmental
Planning COMDTINST 5090.1 (series), which guide the Coast Guard in
complying with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C.
4321 et seq.), and have made a preliminary determination that this
action is one of a category of actions that do not individually or
cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment. A
preliminary Record of Environmental Consideration supporting this
determination is available in the docket. For instructions on locating
the docket, see the ADDRESSES section of this preamble. This proposed
rule would be categorically excluded under paragraphs L54 and L56 of
Appendix A, Table 1 of DHS Instruction Manual 023-01-001-01, Rev. 1.
Paragraph L54 pertains to regulations that are editorial or procedural.
Paragraph L56 pertains to regulations concerning training, qualifying,
licensing, and disciplining maritime personnel.
This proposed rule involves establishing a new procedure for
issuing MMCs to mariners who have met the regulatory requirements for
the individual endorsements as described in 46 CFR parts 11 and 12.
Under this new procedure, Coast Guard-approved training providers would
be required to electronically submit student course completion data to
the Coast Guard within 5 business days of a course ending. The NMC
would use this information to validate mariner course completion
certificates submitted as part of an application for an MMC. We seek
any comments or information that may lead to the discovery of a
significant environmental impact from this proposed rule.
List of Subjects
46 CFR Part 10
Penalties, Personally identifiable information, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements, Seamen.
46 CFR Part 11
Penalties, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Schools,
Seamen.
46 CFR Part 12
Penalties, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Schools,
Seamen.
46 CFR Part 13
Cargo vessels, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Seamen.
46 CFR Part 15
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Seamen, Vessels.
46 CFR Part 16
Drug testing, Marine safety, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements, Safety, Transportation.
46 CFR Part 30
Cargo Vessels, Foreign relations, Hazardous materials
transportation, Penalties, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements,
Seamen.
46 CFR Part 35
Cargo vessels, Marine safety, Navigation (water), Occupational
safety and health, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Seamen.
46 CFR Part 39
Cargo vessels, Fire prevention, Hazardous materials transportation,
Marine safety, Occupational safety and health, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements.
For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Coast Guard is
proposing to amend 46 CFR parts 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 30, 35, and 39
as follows:
Title 46--Shipping
PART 10--MERCHANT MARINER CREDENTIAL
0
1. The authority citation for part 10 is revised to read as follows:
Authority: 14 U.S.C. 503; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 46 U.S.C. 2101, 2103,
2104, 2110; 46 U.S.C. chapter 71; 46 U.S.C. chapter 73; 46 U.S.C.
chapter 75; 46 U.S.C. 7701, 8903, 8904, and 70105; Executive Order
10173; DHS Delegation No. 00170.1, Revision No. 01.3.
PART 10--[Amended]
0
2. Amend part 10 by, removing the following references wherever they
appear and adding, in their place:
0
a. ``crewman'' to read ``crewmember'';
0
b. ``Fireman'' to read ``Boiler technician'';
0
c. ``fireman'' to read ``boiler technician'';
0
d. ``Hospital corpsman'' to read ``Medical technician'';
0
e. ``hospital corpsman'' to read ``medical technician'';
0
f. ``Lifeboatman'' to read ``Lifeboat operator'';
0
g. ``lifeboatman'' to read ``lifeboat operator'';
0
h. ``Pumpman'' to read ``Pump technician'';
0
i. ``seaman'' to read ``seafarer''; and
0
j. ``seamen'' to read ``seafarers''.
0
3. Amend Sec. 10.107 paragraph (b) by:
0
a. Removing in the definition for ``Apprentice mate (steersman) of
towing vessels'', the word ``(steersman)'';
0
b. Removing in the definition for ``Directly supervised/direct
supervision (only when referring to issues related to tankermen)'', the
word ``tankermen'' and adding, in its place, the words ``tank vessel
endorsements'';
0
c. Removing in the definition for ``Participation'', the word
``tankerman'' and adding, in its place, the words ``tank vessel
endorsements'';
0
d. Removing in the definition for ``Qualified rating'' the words
``tankerman'' and adding, in its place, the words ``tank vessel'';
0
e. Removing the term ``Restricted tankerman endorsement'';
0
f. Adding in alphabetical order the term ``Restricted tank vessel
endorsement'';
[[Page 29030]]
0
g. Removing in the definition for ``Simulated transfer'', the word
``tankerman'' and adding, in its place, the words ``tank vessel
endorsements'';
0
h. Adding in alphabetical order the terms for ``Tank Barge PIC'',
``Tank vessel assistant'', ``Tank vessel engineer'', ``Tank vessel
PIC''; and
0
i. Removing the term ``Tankerman assistant'', ``Tankerman engineer'',
``Tankerman PIC'' and ``Tankerman PIC (Barge)''.
The additions read as follows:
Sec. 10.107 Definitions in subchapter B.
* * * * *
Restricted tank vessel endorsement means a valid tank vessel
endorsement on a merchant mariner credential restricting its holder as
the Coast Guard deems appropriate. For instance, the endorsement may
restrict the holder to one or a combination of the following: A
specific cargo or cargoes; a specific vessel or vessels; a specific
facility or facilities; a specific employer or employers; a specific
activity or activities (such as loading or unloading in a cargo
transfer); or a particular area of water.;
* * * * *
Tank Barge PIC means a person holding a valid ``Tank Barge PIC''
endorsement on his or her MMC. See 46 CFR part 13, subpart C.
* * * * *
Tank vessel assistant means a person holding a valid ``Tank vessel-
Assistant'' endorsement on his or her MMC. See 46 CFR, part 13, subpart
D.;
* * * * *
Tank vessel engineer means a person holding a valid ``Tank vessel-
Engineer'' endorsement on his or her MMC. See 46 CFR part 13, subpart
E.
* * * * *
Tank vessel PIC means a person holding a valid ``Tank vessel-PIC''
endorsement on his or her MMC. See 46 CFR part 13, subpart B.
* * * * *
0
4. Revise Sec. 10.109 paragraphs (a)(9) and (10) and (c)(1) through
(6) to read as follows:
Sec. 10.109 Classification of endorsements.
(a) * * *
(9) Apprentice mate towing
(10) Apprentice mate towing
* * * * *
(c) * * *
(1) Tank vessel--PIC.
(2) Tank Barge--PIC.
(3) Restricted Tank vessel--PIC.
(4) Restricted Tank Barge--PIC.
(5) Tank vessel assistant.
(6) Tank vessel engineer.
* * * * *
Sec. 10.223 [Amended]
0
5. Amend Sec. 10.223 paragraph (c)(3)(iii) by removing the words
``tankerman rating'' and adding, in their place, the words ``tank
vessel''.
Sec. 10.225 [Amended]
0
6. Amend Sec. 10.225 paragraph (b)(3)(iii) by removing the words
``tankerrating'' and adding, in their place, the words ``tank vessel''.
Sec. 10.227 [Amended]
0
7. Amend Sec. 10.227 paragraphs (e)(7) and (i)(4) by removing the word
``tankerman'' and adding, in its place, the words ``tank vessel''.
Sec. 10.231 [Amended]
0
8. Amend Sec. 10.231 by:
0
a. Removing in paragraph (c)(3)(iii) by the words ``tankerman rating''
and adding, in their place, the words ``tank vessel''.
0
b. Adding in paragraph (c)(6)(ii) the word ``national'' before the word
``able'' and removing the word ``tankerman'' and adding in its place
the words ``a tank vessel endorsement''.
Sec. 10.239 [Amended]
0
9. Amend Sec. 10.239 the heading for Table 1 by removing the word
``tankerman'' and adding, in its place, the words ``tank vessel''.
0
10. Amend Table 1 to Sec. 10.302(a) by revising entry ``(12)
Tankerman'' to read as follows:
Sec. 10.302 Medical and physical requirements.
* * * * *
Table 1 to Sec. 10.302(a)--Medical and Physical Requirements for Mariner Endorsements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5
Credential Vision test Hearing test General Demonstration
medical exam of physical
ability
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * * * *
(12) Tank vessel endorsement.............. Sec. Sec. 10.306 Sec. 10.304(a) Sec. 10.304(c)
10.305(b)
* * * * * * *
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * *
Sec. Sec. 10.305 [Amended]
0
11. Amend Sec. 10.305 paragraph (b) by removing the word ``tankerman''
and adding, in its place, the words ``tank vessel endorsement''.
0
12. Amend Sec. 10.403 by:
0
a. Removing in paragraph (a)(6) the words, ``Effective March 24, 2014,
keep'' and adding, in its place, the word ``Keep''; and
0
b. Removing in paragraph (a)(6)(iii), the word ``attendance.'' and
adding, in its place, the words ``attendance, which includes their full
name, Coast Guard issued Mariner Reference Number or date of birth and
place of birth if they do not have a Mariner Reference Number.''.
0
c. Redesignating paragraphs (a)(7), (8), and (9) as paragraphs (a)(8),
(9), and (10), respectively; and
0
d. Adding new paragraph (a)(7).
The addition reads as follows:
Sec. 10.403 General Standards.
(a) * * *
(7) For each student who successfully completes an approved course
or program, in a manner specified by the Coast Guard, the school must
electronically submit to the Coast Guard, within 5 business days of
completion, the specified information. By submitting records
electronically to the Coast Guard, the submitter attests that they are
accurate to the best of their knowledge and no false entries or
statements were made under penalty of 18 U.S.C. 1001.
(i) The name of the school and Coast Guard-issued course provider
code.
(ii) The title of the approved course or program, the Coast Guard-
issued course code, and the dates the course was held.
(iii) The name of the Coast Guard approved instructor who conducted
the course.
[[Page 29031]]
(iv) The name of the student as it appears on their MMC or valid
Government-issued identification, along with their Coast Guard-issued
Mariner Reference Number or date of birth and place of birth if they do
not have a Mariner Reference Number.
* * * * *
PART 11--REQUIREMENTS FOR OFFICER ENDORSEMENTS
0
13. The authority citation for part 11 is revised to read as follows:
Authority: 14 U.S.C. 503; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 46 U.S.C. 2101, 2103,
and 2110; 46 U.S.C. chapter 71; 46 U.S.C. 7502, 7505, 7701, 8903,
8904, and 70105; Executive Order 10173; DHS Delegation No. 00170.1,
Revision No. 01.3. Section 11.107 is also issued under the authority
of 44 U.S.C. 3507.
PART 11--[Amended]
0
14. Amend part 11 by, removing the following references wherever they
appear, and adding in their place:
0
a. ``fireman'' to read ``boiler technician'';
0
b. ``Hospital corpsman'' to read ``Medical technician'';
0
c. ``seaman'' to read ``seafarer'';
0
d. ``Seaman's'' to read ``Seafarer's''; and
0
e. ``seaman's'' to read ``seafarer's''.
Sec. 11.201 [Amended]
0
15. Amend Sec. 11.201 by:
0
a. Removing in paragraphs (e)(2)(vii) the word ``(steersman)'';
0
b. Removing in paragraph (h)(2)(ii) the words ``(steersman) of the
vessels'' and adding, in its place, the word ``towing''; and
0
c. Removing in paragraphs (h)(3)(ii) the word ``(steersman)''.
Sec. 11.463 [Amended]
0
16. Amend Sec. 11.463 by:
0
a. Removing in the section heading the word ``(steersman); and
0
b. Removing in paragraphs (a)(4), (5), (e)(1)(ii), (e)(2)(ii), and
(e)(3)(ii) the word ``(steersman)'' and replacing it with the word
``towing''.
0
17. In Sec. 11.464 amend the Table 1 in paragraph (c) by revising the
entry ``Route endorsed'' to read as follows:
Sec. 11.464 Requirements for national endorsements as master of
towing vessels.
(c) * * *
Table 1 to Sec. 11.464(c)--Requirements for National Endorsement as Master of Towing Vessels
[Limited]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOS \2\ on T/V as
Route endorsed Total service \1\ limited apprentice TOAR or an TOS on particular
mate towing approved course route
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * * * *
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Service is in months.
\2\ TOS is time of service.
* * * * *
0
18. Amend Sec. 11.465 by:
0
a. Removing in paragraph (a) the word ``(steersman)'';
0
b. Revising in Table 1 to paragraph (a) the entry for ``Route
endorsed''; and
0
c. Revising paragraph (g).
The revisions read as follows:
Sec. 11.465 Requirements for national endorsements as mate (pilot) of
towing vessels.
(a) * * *
Table 1 to Sec. 11.465(a)--Requirements for National Endorsement as Mate (Pilot \1\) of Towing Vessels
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
30 days of
observation and
TOS \3\ on T/V as TOS on particular TOAR \5\ or an training while Subordinate route
Route endorsed Total service \2\ apprentice mate route approved course holding master authorized
towing \4\ (limited) and pass
an examination
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * * * *
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ For all inland routes, as well as Western Rivers, the endorsement as pilot of towing vessels is equivalent to that as mate of towing vessels. All
qualifications and equivalencies are the same.
\2\ Service is in months unless otherwise indicated.
\3\ TOS is time of service.
\4\ Time of service requirements as an apprentice mate of towing vessels may be reduced by an amount equal to the time specified in the approval letter
for a completed Coast Guard-approved training program.
\5\ TOAR is a Towing Officer Assessment Record.
* * * * *
(g) An approved training course for mate (pilot) of towing vessels
must include formal instruction and practical demonstration of
proficiency either onboard a towing vessel or at a shoreside training
facility before a designated examiner, and must cover the material
(dependent upon route) required by Table 2 to Sec. 11.910 of this part
for apprentice mate, towing vessels on ocean and near-coastal routes;
apprentice mate, towing vessels on Great Lakes and inland routes; or
apprentice mate, towing vessels on Western Rivers routes.
* * * * *
0
19. Amend Sec. 11.466 by:
0
a. Revising the section heading;
0
b. Removing in paragraph (a) the word ``(steersman)'';
0
c. Revising the heading to Table 1 to paragraph (a) and the entries for
``(1) APPRENTICE MATE (STEERSMAN)'' and ``(2) APPRENTICE MATE
(STEERSMAN) (LIMITED)''; and
0
d. Revising the first sentence of paragraph (b).
The revisions read as follows:
Sec. 11.466 Requirements for national endorsements as apprentice mate
of towing vessels.
(a) * * *
[[Page 29032]]
Table 1 to Sec. 11.466(a)--Requirements for National Endorsement as Apprentice Mate of Towing Vessels
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOS on
Endorsement Route endorsed Total service TOS \2\ on T/V particular Pass examination
\1\ route \3\
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) APPRENTICE MATE (TOWING) OCEANS (O)..... 18 12 3 YES.
NEAR-COASTAL 18 12 3 YES.
(NC).
GREAT LAKES.... 18 12 3 YES.
INLAND (GL-I).. 18 12 3 YES.
WESTERN RIVERS .............. 12 3 YES.
(WR).
(2) APPRENTICE MATE TOWING NOT APPLICABLE. 18 12 3 YES.
(LIMITED).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Service is in months.
\2\ TOS is time of service.
\3\ The examination for apprentice mate is specified in subpart I of this part.
* * * * *
(b) Those holding a license or endorsement as apprentice mate of
towing vessels may obtain a restricted endorsement as apprentice mate
towing (limited). * * *
Sec. 11.903 [Amended]
0
20. Amend Sec. 11.903 paragraphs (a)(19) and (20) by removing the word
``(steersman)''.
0
21. In Table 1 to Sec. 11.910 revise entries 8 and 9 to read as
follows:
Sec. 11.910 Subjects for deck officer endorsements.
* * * * *
Table 1 to Sec. 11.910--Codes for Deck Officer Endorsements
Deck Officer Endorsements
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * * * *
8. Apprentice mate, towing vessels, Great Lakes, and inland routes.
9. Apprentice mate, towing vessels, Western Rivers.
* * * * * * *
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * *
PART 12--REQUIREMENTS FOR RATING ENDORSEMENTS
0
22. The authority citation for part 12 is revised to read as follows:
Authority: 31 U.S.C. 9701; 46 U.S.C. 2101, 2103, 2110, Chapter
73, 7503, 7505, 7701, and 70105; DHS Delegation No. 00170.1,
Revision No. 01.3.
PART 12 [Amended]
0
23. Amend part 12 by, removing the following references wherever they
appear, and adding in their place:
0
a. ``Crewman'' to read ``Crewmember'';
0
b. ``crewman'' to read ``crewmember'';
0
c. ``Fireman'' to read ``Boiler technician'';
0
d. ``fireman'' to read ``boiler technician'';
0
e. ``lifeboatman'' to read ``lifeboat operator'';
0
f. ``Pumpman'' to read ``Pump technician'';
0
g. ``pumpman'' to read ``pump technician'';
0
h. ``seaman'' to read ``seafarer'';
0
i. ``seaman's'' to read ``seafarer's'';
0
j. ``seamen'' to read ``seafarers''; and
0
k. ``tankerman'' to read ``tank vessel endorsement'';
Sec. 12.401 [Amended]
0
24. Amend Sec. 12.401 by:
0
a. Removing in paragraph (a), the words ``or merchant mariner document
(MMD)''; and
0
b. Removing in paragraph (d)(2), the words ``After March 24, 2014,
any'' and adding, in their place, the word ``Any''.
PART 13--CERTIFICATION OF TANKERMEN
0
25. The authority citation for part 13 is revised to read as follows:
Authority: 46 U.S.C. 3703, 7317, 8105, 8703, 9102; DHS
Delegation No. 00170.1, Revision No. 01.3.
PART 13--[Amended]
0
26. Revise the heading to part 13 to read as follows:
PART 13--CERTIFICATION OF TANK VESSEL PERSONNEL
0
27. Amend part 13 by, removing the following references wherever they
appear, and adding in their place:
0
a. ``Tankerman'' to read ``Tank Vessel'';
0
b. ``tankerman'' to read ``tank vessel'';
0
c. ``Tankerman-PIC (Barge)'' to read ``Tank Barge-PIC''; and
0
d. ``tankerman-PIC (barge)'' to read ``tank barge-PIC''.
Sec. 13.107 [Amended]
0
28. Amend Sec. 13.107 by removing the word ``endorsement'' from the
section heading and adding, in its place, the word ``endorsements''.
Sec. 13.111 [Amended]
0
29. Amend Sec. 13.111 by removing the word ``endorsement'' from the
section heading and adding, in its place, the word ``endorsements''.
0
30. Revise Sec. 13.117 to read as follows:
Sec. 13.117 Re-issuance of expired tank vessel endorsements.
Whenever an applicant applies for re-issuance of any tank vessel
endorsement more than 12 months after expiration of the previous
endorsement, the applicant must meet the requirements for an original
endorsement.
0
31. Revise Sec. 13.119 to read as follows:
Sec. 13.119 Expiration of endorsement.
A tank vessel endorsement is valid for the duration of the merchant
mariner credential on which the endorsement appears.
[[Page 29033]]
Sec. 13.123 [Amended]
0
32. Amend Sec. 13.123 by removing the word ``endorsement'' from the
section heading and adding, in its place, the word ``endorsements''.
Sec. 13.201 [Amended]
0
33. Amend Sec. 13.201 paragraph (c)(3) by removing the words ``a
license''.
Sec. 13.203 [Amended]
0
34. Amend Sec. 13.203 paragraph (c) introductory text by removing the
words ``MMD or''.
Sec. 13.303 [Amended]
0
35. Amend Sec. 13.303 paragraph (c) introductory word by removing the
words ``MMD or''.
Sec. 13.305 [Amended]
0
36. Amend Sec. 13.305 by removing the word ``shore-based tankermen''
and adding, in its place, the word ``shore-based PICs''.
Sec. 13.401 [Amended]
0
37. Amend Sec. 13.401 paragraph (d) by removing the word ``license''.
Sec. 13.403 [Amended]
0
38. Amend Sec. 13.403 paragraph (a) introductory text by removing the
words ``MMD or''.
Sec. 13.501 [Amended]
0
39. Amend Sec. 13.501 paragraph (c)(3) by removing the word
``license''.
Sec. 13.503 [Amended]
0
40. Amend Sec. 13.503 paragraph (b) by removing the words ``MMD or''.
Sec. 13.603 [Amended]
0
41. Amend Sec. 13.603 by removing paragraph (e).
Sec. 13.605 [Amended]
0
42. Amend Sec. 13.605 by removing paragraph (e).
Sec. 13.607 [Amended]
0
43. Amend Sec. 13.607 by removing paragraph (e).
Sec. 13.609 [Amended]
0
44. Amend Sec. 13.609 by removing paragraph (b).
Sec. 13.611 [Amended]
0
45. Amend Sec. 13.611 by removing paragraph (b).
PART 15--MANNING REQUIREMENTS
0
46. The authority citation for part 15 is revised to read as follows:
Authority: 46 U.S.C. 2101, 2103, 3306, 3703, 8101, 8102, 8103,
8104, 8105, 8301, 8304, 8502, 8503, 8701, 8702, 8901, 8902, 8903,
8904, 8905(b), 8906 and 9102; sec. 617, Pub. L. 111-281, 124 Stat.
2905; and DHS Delegation No. 00170.1, Revision No. 01.3.
PART 15--[Amended]
0
47. Amend part 15 by, removing the following references wherever they
appear, and adding in their place:
0
a. ``Lifeboatman'' to read ``Lifeboat operator'';
0
b. ``lifeboatman'' to read ``lifeboat operator'';
0
c. ``lifeboatman's'' to read ``lifeboat operator's'';
0
d. ``Lifeboatmen'' to read ``Lifeboat operators'';
0
e. ``lifeboatmen'' to read ``lifeboat operators'';
0
f. ``pumpman'' to read ``pump technician'';
0
g. ``seaman'' to read ``seafarer'';
0
h. ``Seamen'' to read ``Seafarers''; and
0
i. ``seamen'' to read ``seafarers''.
Sec. 15.403 [Amended]
0
48. In Sec. 15.403 paragraph (a), remove the words ``or MMD''.
Sec. 15.404 [Amended]
0
49. In Sec. 15.404 paragraph (h), remove the words ``MMD or''.
Sec. 15.840 [Amended]
0
50. In Sec. 15.840 paragraph (c), removing the word ``ratings'' and
adding, in its place, the word ``rating''.
0
51. Revise Sec. 15.860 to read as follows:
Sec. 15.860 Tank Vessel endorsements.
(a) The OCMI enters on the COI issued to each manned tank vessel
subject to the regulations in this chapter the number of crewmembers
required to hold valid MMCs with the proper tanker vessel endorsement.
Table 1 to Sec. 15.860(a) of this section provides the minimum
required for tank vessel endorsements aboard manned tank vessels. Table
2 to Sec. 15.860(a) of this section provides the tank vessel
endorsements required for personnel aboard tankships.
Table 1 to Sec. 15.860(a)--Minimum Requirements for Tank Vessel Personnel Aboard Manned Tank Vessels
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tank vessel-
Tank vessels Tank vessel- Tank vessel Tank vessel PIC or tank
PIC assistant engineer barge-PIC
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tankship Certified for Voyages Beyond Boundary
Line:
Over 5,000 GRT.............................. 2 3 2 ..............
5,000 GRT or less........................... 2 .............. \1\ 2 ..............
Tankship Not Certified for Voyages Beyond \2\ 2 .............. .............. ..............
Boundary Line..............................
Tank Barge.................................. .............. .............. .............. \2\ 2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ If only one engineer is required, then only one tank vessel-engineer is required.
\2\ If the total crew complement is one or two persons, then only one tank vessel-PIC is required.
\3\ If the total crew complement is one or two persons, then only one tank vessel-PIC or tank vessel-PIC (barge)
is required.
Table 2 to Sec. 15.860(a)--Tank Vessel Endorsements Required for Personnel Aboard Tankships
[Endorsement for the classification of the bulk liquid cargo or residues carried]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tank vessel Tank vessel
Tankship certified for voyages beyond boundary line Tank vessel-PIC engineer assistant
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Master............................................... X
Chief Mate........................................... X
Chief Engineer....................................... X or X
First Assistant Engineer............................. X or X
Cargo Engineer....................................... X or X
Credentialed Officer Acting as PIC of Transfer of X
Liquid Cargo in Bulk................................
Credentialed Officer or Crewmember Not Directly X
Supervised by PIC...................................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 29034]]
(b) For each tankship of more than 5,000 GRT certified for voyages
beyond the boundary line as described in part 7 of this chapter--
(1) At least two tank vessel-PICs or restricted tank vessel-PICs
must be carried;
(2) At least three tank vessel-assistants must be carried; and
(3) At least two tank vessel-engineers must be carried.
(c) For each tankship of 5,000 GRT or less certified for voyages
beyond the boundary line, as described in part 7 of this chapter
(1) At least two tank vessel-PICs or restricted tank vessel-PICs
must be carried; and
(2) At least two tank vessel-engineers must be carried, unless only
one engineer is required, in which case at least one tank vessel-
engineer must be carried.
(d) For each tankship not certified for voyages beyond the boundary
line, as described in part 7 of this chapter, if the total crew
complement is--
(1) One or two, at least one tank vessel-PIC or restricted tank
vessel-PIC must be carried; or
(2) More than two, at least two tank vessel-PICs or restricted Tank
vessel-PICs must be carried.
(e) For each tank barge manned under Sec. 31.15-5 of this chapter,
if the total crew complement is--
(1) One or two, at least one tank vessel-PIC, restricted tank
vessel-PIC, tank barge-PIC, or restricted tank barge-PIC must be
carried; or
(2) More than two, at least two tank vessel-PICs, restricted Tank
vessel-PICs, tank barge-PICs, or restricted tank barge-PICs must be
carried.
(f) The following personnel aboard each tankship certified for
voyages beyond the boundary line, as described in part 7 of this
chapter, must hold valid MMCs, endorsed as follows:
(1) The master and chief mate must each hold a tank vessel-PIC or
restricted tank vessel-PIC endorsement.
(2) The chief, first assistant, and cargo engineers must each hold
a Tank vessel-engineer or tank vessel-PIC endorsement.
(3) Each credentialed officer acting as the PIC of a transfer of
liquid cargo in bulk must hold a tank vessel-PIC or restricted tank
vessel-PIC endorsement.
(4) Each officer or crewmember who is assigned by the PIC duties
and responsibilities related to the cargo or cargo-handling equipment
during a transfer of liquid cargo in bulk, but is not directly
supervised by the PIC, must hold a tank vessel-assistant endorsement.
(g) The endorsements required by this section must be for the
classification of the liquid cargo in bulk or of the cargo residue
being carried.
(h) All individuals serving on tankships certified for voyages
beyond the boundary line, as described in part 7 of this chapter, must
hold an appropriate STCW endorsement, as follows:
(1) For tank vessel-PIC, an STCW endorsement as Advanced Oil Tanker
Cargo Operations, Advanced Chemical Tanker Cargo Operations, or
Advanced Liquefied Gas Tanker Cargo Operations, as appropriate.
(2) For tank vessel-Assistant, an STCW endorsement as Basic Oil and
Chemical Tanker Cargo Operations, or Basic Liquefied Gas Tanker Cargo
Operations, as appropriate.
(3) For a tank barge-PIC, an STCW endorsement as Advanced Oil
Tanker Cargo Operations, Advanced Chemical Tanker Cargo Operations, or
Advanced Liquefied Gas Tanker Cargo Operations, as appropriate,
including endorsements with a limitation for non-self-propelled
vessels.
(4) For a tank vessel-engineer, an STCW endorsement as Advanced Oil
Tanker Cargo Operations, or Advanced Chemical Tanker Cargo Operations,
as appropriate, including endorsements with a limitation to maintenance
and repair of cargo equipment.
PART 16--CHEMICAL TESTING
0
52. The authority citation for part 16 is revised to read as follows:
Authority: 46 U.S.C. 2103, 3306, 7101, 7301, and 7701; DHS
Delegation No. 00170.1, Revision No. 01.3.
0
53. Revise Sec. 16.220 paragraph (a)(4) to read as follows:
Sec. 16.220 Periodic testing requirements.
(a) * * *
(4) The first endorsement as an able seafarer, lifeboat operator,
qualified member of the engine department, or a tank vessel
endorsement; or
* * * * *
PART 30--GENERAL PROVISIONS
0
54. The authority citation for part 30 is revised to read as follows:
Authority: 46 U.S.C. 2103, 3306, 3703; DHS Delegation No.
00170.1, Revision No. 01.3.
0
55. Revise Sec. 30.10-71 to read as follows:
Sec. 30.10-71 Tank Vessel Endorsements--TB/ALL.
The following ratings are established in part 13 of this chapter.
The terms for the ratings identify persons holding valid endorsements
for service in the ratings issued under that part:
(a) Tank vessel-PIC.
(b) Tank barge-PIC.
(c) Restricted tank vessel-PIC.
(d) Restricted tank barge-PIC.
(e) Tank vessel-Assistant.
(f) Tank vessel-Engineer.
PART 35--OPERATIONS
0
56. The authority citation for part 35 is revised to read as follows:
Authority: 33 U.S.C. 1321(j); 46 U.S.C. 3306, 3703, 6101,
70011, 70034; 49 U.S.C. 5103, 5106; Executive Order 12234, 45 FR
58801, 3 CFR, 1980 Comp., p. 277; Executive Order 12777, 56 FR
54757, 3 CFR, 1991 Comp., p. 351; DHS Delegation No. 00170.1,
Revision No. 01.3.
0
57. Revise Sec. 35.30-5 to read as follows:
Sec. 35.30-5 Fires, matches, and smoking--TB/ALL.
(a) General. In making the determinations required under paragraphs
(b), (c), and (d) of this section the senior deck officer on duty, who
must be a credentialed officer or have an appropriate tank vessel
endorsement, must exercise their skill and experience with due regard
to attendant conditions and circumstances, including consideration for
location of shore side facilities, maintenance of mobility, provision
for fire protection, state or change of winds, tides, sea, weather
conditions, forces of nature, and other circumstances generally beyond
human control.
(b) Boiler fires. Boiler fires are normally permitted during cargo
transfer operations: Provided, that before loading Grades A, B, and C
cargoes, the senior deck officer on duty, who must be a credentialed
officer or have an appropriate tank vessel endorsement, must make an
inspection to determine whether in their judgment boiler fires may be
maintained with reasonable safety during the loading operation.
(c) Smoking. Smoking is prohibited on the weather decks of tank
vessels when they are not gas-free or are alongside docks. At other
times and places the senior deck officer on duty, who must be a
credentialed officer or have an appropriate tank vessel endorsement,
must designate when and where the crew may smoke: Provided, that before
loading Grade A, B, or C cargo the master or senior deck officer on
duty must make an inspection to determine if and where, in their
judgment, smoking may be permitted with reasonable safety during the
loading operation.
(d) Matches. The use of other than safety matches is forbidden
aboard tank vessels at all times.
[[Page 29035]]
Sec. 35.35-1 [Amended]
0
58. Amend Sec. 35.35-1 paragraph (a)(1) by:
0
a. Removing the word ``Tankerman-PICs'' wherever it appears, and
adding, in its place, the words ``Tank vessel-PIC''; and
0
b. Removing the word ``Tankerman-Assistants'' and adding, in its place,
the words ``Tank vessel-Assistants''.
PART 39--VAPOR CONTROL SYSTEMS
0
59. The authority citation for part 39 is revised to read as follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7511b(f)(2); 46 U.S.C. 3306, 3703, 3715(b),
70011, 70034; E.O. 12234, 45 FR 58801, 3 CFR, 1980 Comp., p. 277;
DHS Delegation No. 00170.1, Revision No. 01.3.
0
60. Revise Sec. 39.5003 paragraph (c) to read as follows:
Sec. 39.5003 Additional requirements for multi-breasted loading using
an inboard barge vapor collection system--B/CLBR.
* * * * *
(c) Persons holding an appropriate tank vessel endorsement trained
in and familiar with multi-breasted loading operations, must be onboard
each barge during transfer operations. The tank barge (PIC) serves as
the barge person-in-charge (PIC). During transfer operations, the barge
PICs must maintain constant communication with each other as well as
with the facility PIC.
* * * * *
Dated: March 24, 2023.
Amy M. Beach,
Captain, U.S. Coast Guard, Acting, Assistant Commandant for Prevention
Policy.
[FR Doc. 2023-06472 Filed 5-4-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9110-04-P