Appendix H to Subchapter B Appendix H to Subchapter B—State Enforcement and Liens

Effective Date Note:

At 59 FR 67556, Dec. 29, 1994, appendix H to subchapter B was added, effective June 27, 1995. At 60 FR 26002, May 16, 1995, the effective date was extended to Sept. 27, 1995. At 60 FR 40761, Aug. 10, 1995, the effective date was further extended to Sept. 1, 1996. At 61 FR 42822, Aug. 19, 1996, the effective date was further extended to Jan. 2, 1997.

This appendix reprints for informational purposes those portions of sec. 2 of the Intermodal Safe Container Transportation Act of 1992 (Pub. L. 102-548, 106 Stat. 3646) which enacted 49 U.S.C. 5904, 5905, and 5906, concerning State enforcement and liens, and amended 49 U.S.C. 5901 by adding the definition of beneficial owner.

The text of 49 U.S.C. 5901(2) reads:

(2) “beneficial owner” means a person not having title to property but having ownership rights in the property, including a trustee of property in transit from an overseas place of origin that is domiciled or doing business in the United States, except that a carrier, agent of a carrier, broker, customs broker, freight forwarder, warehouser, or terminal operator is not a beneficial owner only because of providing or arranging for any part of the intermodal transportation of property.

The text of 49 U.S.C. 5904, State enforcement, reads:

(a) GENERAL.—A State may enact a law to permit the State or a political subdivision of the State—

(1) to impose a fine or penalty, for a violation of a State highway weight law or regulation by a tractor-trailer combination carrying a loaded container or trailer for which a certification is required by section 5902(b) of this title, against the person tendering the loaded container or trailer to the first carrier if the violation results from the person's having provided erroneous information in the certification in violation of section 5903(a) of this title; and

(2) to impound the container or trailer until the fine or penalty has been paid by the owner or beneficial owner of the contents of the container or trailer or the person tendering the loaded container or trailer to the first carrier.

(b) LIMITATION.—This chapter does not require a person tendering a loaded container or trailer to the first carrier to ensure that the first carrier or any other carrier involved in the intermodal transportation will comply with any State highway weight law or regulation, other than as required by this chapter.

The text of 49 U.S.C. 5905, Liens, reads:

(a) GENERAL.—If a person involved in the intermodal transportation of a loaded container or trailer for which a certification is required by section 5902(b) of this title is required under State law to post a bond or pay any fine, penalty, cost, or interest resulting from providing erroneous information in the certification to the first carrier in violation of section 5903(a) of this title, the person has a lien against the contents equal to the amount of the bond, fine, penalty, cost, or interest incurred, until the person receives a payment of that amount from the owner or beneficial owner of the contents or from the person responsible for making the certification.

(b) LIMITATIONS.—(1) A lien under this section does not authorize a person to dispose of the contents of a loaded container or trailer until the person who tendered the container or trailer to the first carrier is given a reasonable opportunity to establish responsibility for the bond, fine, penalty, cost, or interest.

(2) In this section, an owner or beneficial owner of the contents of a container or trailer or a person tendering a container or trailer to the first carrier is deemed not to be a person involved in the intermodal transportation of the container or trailer.

The text of 49 U.S.C. 5906, Perishable agricultural commodities, reads:

Sections 5904(a)(2) and 5905 of this title do not apply to a container or trailer the contents of which are perishable agricultural commodities (as defined in the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499a et seq.)).