[H. R. 3670, 82d Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To authorize the President to proclaim regulations for preventing collisions at sea Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President is authorized to proclaim regulations for preventing collisions involving_water-borne craft upon the high seas, and in all waters connected therewith. Every such proclamation, together with the regulations, shall be published in the Federal Register, and after the effective date specified in each such proclamation, such regulations shall have effect as if enacted by statute and shall be followed by all public and private vessels of the United States, and by all aircraft of United States registry to the extent therein made applicable. Such regulations shall not apply to the harbors, rivers, and inland waters of the United States; to the Great Lakes of North America and their connecting and tributary waters as far east as the lower exit of the Lachine Canal in Montreal in the Province of Quebec, Canada; to the Red River of the North and the rivers emptying into the Gulf of Mexico and their tributaries; nor, with respect to aircraft, to any territorial waters of the United States.

SEC. 2. Any requirements of such regulations in respect of the number, position, range of visibility or are of visibility of the lights required to be displayed by vessels shall not apply to any vessel of the Navy or of the Coast Guard, whenever the Secretary of the Navy or the Secretary of the Treasury, in the case of Coast Guard vessels operating under the Treasury Department, or such official as either may designate, shall find or cetitfy that, by reason of special construction, it is not possible for such vessel or class of vessels to comply with such regulations. The lights of any such exempted vessel or class of vessels, however, shall conform as closely to the requirements of the applicable regulations as the Secretry or such official shall find or certify to be feasible. Notice of such findings or certification and of the character and position of the lights prescribed to be displayed on such exempted vessel or class of vessels shall be published in the Federal Register and in Notice to Mariners and, after the effective date specified in such notice, shall have effect as part of such regulations.

SEC. 3. Section 7 (a) of the Air Commerce Act of 1926 (U. S. C., 1946 edition, title 49, sec. 177 (a)), is amended to read as follows:

"Except as specifically provided in the Act entitled 'An Act to authorize the President to proclaim regulations for preventing collisions at sea', the navigation and shipping laws of the United States, including any definition of 'vessel' or 'vehicle' found therein and including the rules for the prevention of collisions, shall not be construed to apply to seaplanes or other aircraft or to the navigation of vessels in relation to seaplanes or other aircraft."

SEC. 4. Section 610 (a) of the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 (U. S. C., 1946 edition, title 49, sec. 560 (a)), is amended by deleting the word "and" at the end of paragraph (4); by changing the period at the end of paragraph (5) to a semicolon and adding the word "and"; and by adding a new paragraph (6) reading as follows:

"(6) For any person to operate a seaplane or other aircraft of United States registry upon the high seas in contravention of the regulations proclaimed by the President pursuant to section 1 of the Act entitled 'An Act to authorize the President to proclaim regulations for preventing collisions at sea'." SEC. 5. After such regulations or any amendment thereof proclaimed under section 1 hereof shall have taken effect, all statutes, regulations, and rules in conflict therewith shall be of no further force and effect. Until such time as regulations shall have been proclaimed and made effective pursuant to this Act, nothing herein shall in any way limit, supersede, or repeal any regulations for the prevention of collisions, which have heretofore been prescribed by statute, regulation, or rule.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. McElhinney, are you for or against this bill? Mr. MCELHINNEY. I am against it, on behalf of the Maritime Law Association of the United States.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Bailey?

Mr. BAILEY. We are opposed to the bill.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Morgan?

Mr. MORGAN. We are opposed to the bill.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Haddock?

(Absent.)

The CHAIRMAN. Admiral O'Neill, do you desire to testify first or would you rather wait until later on?

Admiral O'NEILL. I will be very glad to lead off, Mr. Chairman. I have a prepared statement which I would like to present.

The CHAIRMAN. We will be very glad to hear you, sir, at your own convenience.

STATEMENT OF VICE ADM. MERLIN O'NEILL, THE COMMANDANT, UNITED STATES COAST GUARD

Admiral O'NEILL. H. R. 3670 is a bill to permit the revision of the existing International Rules for Preventing Collisions at Sea-the nautical rules of the road for ships. The present International Rules for Preventing Collisions were agreed to by a conference in Washington, D. C., in 1889 and were enacted by Congress in legislation dated August 19, 1890, but did not come into effect for the United States until 1897. They are, therefore, more than 60 years old.

The desirability of making revisions in these regulations to bring them into accord with the developments of modern shipping has been recognized for years. At the International Conference on Safety of Life at Sea, held in London in 1929, a series of revisions was agreed to among the delegates to the Conference but was never generally accepted by their respective countries. In 1937 the Government of the United Kingdom circulated proposed revisions, but these also were never acted upon.

In 1945 the United States began to make preparations for an international conference on safety of life at sea to be held in 1948 in London. The Commandant of the Coast Guard was given the general duty of making preparations for this conference. On the agenda was the subject of revising the rules for preventing collisions. Capt. Raymond Farwell, United States Naval Reserve, possibly the world's leading authority on the subject, was borrowed from the Navy to deal with this particular matter.

Captain Farwell sent out a questionnaire asking for expressions of opinion on a number of points in the existing rules which might be open to modification. He received more than 900 replies. These came from senior inspectors of the former Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation, from distinguished Admiralty lawyers, from qualified pilots, from 380 shipmasters, and from 440 Navy and Coast Guard officers. These represented the persons who had to work with and under the rules for preventing collisions. Their replies clearly indicated the strong need for revision and also furnished invaluable guidance as to the directions such revisions should take.

Captain Farwell set up a committee to draft the actual changes to be proposed. This committee consisted of six Admiralty lawyers, six marine superintendents from commercial steamship lines, two Coast Guard officers, representatives of the War Shipping Administration, of the Civil Aeronautics Administration, and of the Great Lakes and Inland Waterways Associations. The committee worked closely with the Navy Department which has special problems in connection with combat vessels. These problems were not only recognized in the rules but are especially dealt with in the proposed legislation. The committee proceeded to draft the proposals which the United States delegation would advance at the 1948 Safety Conference. I

think it safe to say that these proposals represented the views of an overwhelming majority of the American experts on the subject.

Admiral Glover of the Navy and Captain Farwell presented the United States paper at the Conference and explained clearly the reasons for the suggested changes. This Conference was attended by representatives of 29 other maritime countries. In any such international conference there is always need for some degree of compromise in the interest of unanimity. Inevitably there arose points of disagreement and the United States was not able to secure the adoption of all of its proposals intact. Speaking broadly, however, the United States delegation secured the adoption of a substantial part of its draft.

The revised rules for preventing collisions were not made part of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, the ratification to which was agreed to by the United States Senate on April 20, 1949. The reason was that the Safety Convention could be brought into force as between specific individual nations when 15 countries had accepted it. Other countries could adhere subsequently if they so desired. This procedure could not be adopted in the case of the collision regulations which of necessity had to be adopted universally and come into effect on a world-wide scale upon some specific date.

It was therefore arranged that the United Kingdom, as the Secretariat, should transmit copies of the proposed rules to all maritime countries and inquire whether the rules were acceptable to these governments. When substantial unanimity had been reached as to the acceptance of the rules the United Kingdom was then to set a date on which they should become effective. That date was to be not less than 1 year in advance of the time when this substantial unanimity was reached. In accordance with this procedure the United Kingdom on March 28, 1949, sent a note to the Government of the United States asking if it accepted the revised rules.

Because in this country the International Rules for Preventing Collisions have been enacted by statute, the United States Government cannot make a reply to the United Kingdom except with the authority of Congress. It is for this reason that this legislation is proposed. If the Government is authorized to reply affirmatively to the inquiry of the United Kingdom that substantial unanimity of acceptance has been arrived at and that it is proposed to bring the new rules into effect upon some specific date, then by this legislation the President would be authorized to proclaim that particular date as the effective date for the new rules. All legislation in conflict therewith would be repealed as of that date.

Representatives of the Legal Division of the Coast Guard are present and are prepared to discuss any legal points in the proposed bill. I have endeavored to give you the background leading up to the introduction of this legislation with the reasons therefor. I should like to point out to the committee that these regulations have already been accepted by some 25 other nations. As I have stated they represent the best agreement which could be reached with the other countries attending the Safety Conference. If the United States fails to accept these rules it means that they will never come into force and that we must look forward to another International Convention before any changes in existing rules can be effected. I respectfully urge, therefore,

that Congress permit the Government to accept these regulations by enacting H. R. 3670.

The CHAIRMAN. Any questions?

Mr. WEICHEL. I thought this bill authorizes the President to proclaim regulations, and it will have the same effect as by statute. You said previously, with reference to the law or the International Conference or agreement with reference to safety at sea, that they were adopted by statute. Is that correct?

Admiral O'NEILL. Yes, sir; they are.

Mr. WEICHEL. Since this has been out since 1949, evidently there has not been too much of a rush on it. The Congress could have considered it in the last 2 years, could they not?

Admiral O'NEILL. Yes, sir; they could, Mr. Weichel. It has taken quite some time in order to get all the agencies together on this, circulating this among the agencies, and you might say coming to agreement on the draft of the bill, and so forth. It has taken a great deal of time.

Mr. WEICHEL. What is the objection to going through the regular legislative processes?

Admiral O'NEILL. As I understand it, the reason that this proposition in regard to the President being given the authority to make changes in the rules and so forth applies largely in the case of aircraft where changes in the proposals would be required. Of course we would not, and certainly could not, as a practical matter, just change the regulations by Executive order without there being agreement among the other countries.

Mr. WEICHEL. Why should Congress not have the legislative power over the President? I thought we were trying to get away from some of that, instead of giving more. What is the reason for that? That is what I am getting at, giving the President the right to make regulations that have the effect of statute. Why should Congress give up its right?

Admiral O'NEILL. As I understand it, Mr. Weichel, there is some question about the possibility of litigation in this, but it is a legal point, and I am afraid I could not answer your question.

Mr. WEICHEL. I was wondering what the reason was. Admiral, you say that under this Convention the U. K. must inquire of the nations concerned whether or not the rules are satisfactory. In the case of the United States of whom do they inquire?

Admiral O'NEILL. Do you mean to whom they should transmit their inquiry?

Mr. NELSON. Of what body in the United States do they inquire as to whether or not the rules are satisfactory? Is it the President, or is it the various administrative agencies of Government, or is it Congress? Admiral O'NEILL. I am not sure, but I think that inquiry comes to the State Department. That is what has been taken up among the various agencies concerned, for example, the Navy, Commerce, and all the other agencies that have an interest in this.

Mr. NELSON. And you say it has taken those agencies 2 years to find out whether or not they are satisfactory?

Admiral O'NEILL. The inquiry came in in March 1949 and it has taken a long time on that, and we also held public hearings. Our Coast Guard Merchant Marine Council held a public hearing with regard to the drafting of this.

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