Coast Guard November 26, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

As part of its January 2011 report on a Coast Guard investigation into the citizenship of owners of a publicly traded company, the National Vessel Documentation Center recommended requesting comments and information on the various measures that publicly traded companies employ to comply with the statutory requirement that at least 75 percent of the ownership of companies that operate vessels engaged in the coastwise trade be vested in U.S. citizens. On November 3, 2011, the Coast Guard published a notice in the Federal Register seeking those comments and that information. The Coast Guard read the written submissions and listened to oral comments generated by that notice and issues today's notice to inform industry and the public on how the Coast Guard plans to exercise its discretion in enforcing the referenced U.S. citizen ownership requirement.

The Coast Guard proposes to amend the interim rule addressing lifesaving equipment to harmonize Coast Guard regulations concerning release mechanisms for lifeboats and rescue boats with recently adopted international standards affecting design, performance, and testing for such lifesaving equipment, and to clarify the requirements concerning grooved drums in launching appliance winches. The Coast Guard seeks comments on this proposal.