Page 12: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2003)

Government Update

By Dennis L. Bryant, senior maritime counsel,

Haight Gardner Holland & Knight

In the Maritime Transportation Security

Act (MTSA), signed into law on

November 25, 2002, Congress directed the U.S. Coast Guard to. among other things, establish a vessel security plan requirement for appropriate vessels oper- ating in United States waters. Congress broadly defined the vessels that should have security plans as those that the

Secretary (of the Department in which the

Coast Guard is operating) believes may be involved in a transportation security inci- dent. A 'transportation security incident' is defined as a security incident resulting in a significant loss of life, environmental damage, transportation system disruption, or economic disruption in a particular area. Because of the short deadlines imposed by the legislation, the Coast

Guard will promulgate vessel security plan regulations following a series of pub- lic meetings, eschewing the usual process of proposing a rule and inviting comment thereon.

In its recent notice of public meetings, the Coast Guard included commentary on certain aspects of the process, giving the regulated community some clues as to what the regulations may eventually entail.

Regulated Community

It appears that the Coast Guard will impose the vessel security plan require- ment on almost all commercial vessels operating in U.S. waters, including the following categories: • All foreign ships required to comply with the International Convention on the

Dennis L. Bryant, Senior Maritime

Counsel at the law firm of Haight

Gardner Holland & Knight,

Washington, D.C., is a contributing editor of MR/EN.

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