[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 47 (Friday, March 8, 1996)] [Proposed Rules] [Pages 9419-9420] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 96-5513] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board 49 CFR Part 1312 [Ex Parte No. MC-211] Revisions of Tariff Regulations--Indexes AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board (Board).1 \1\ The ICC Termination Act of 1995, Pub. L. No. 104-88, 109 Stat. 803 (ICCTA), which was enacted on December 29, 1995, and took effect on January 1, 1996, abolished the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and transferred certain functions and proceedings to the Board. Section 204(b)(1) of the Act provides, in general, that proceedings pending before the ICC on the effective date of that legislation shall be decided under the law in effect prior to January 1, 1996, insofar as they involve functions retained by the Act. Although the motor carrier tariff filing provisions were sharply curtailed in the ICCTA and in prior legislation, they were not entirely repealed. Therefore, this pending proceeding is not being terminated pursuant to the provisions of section 204(b)(3) of the ICCTA, which calls for termination of cases that involve functions eliminated by the ICCTA. Rather, as a proceeding that was pending with the ICC prior to January 1, 1996, it is governed by the law in effect prior to January 1, 1996. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ACTION: Withdrawal of Proposed Rule. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The Board is withdrawing a proposed rule regarding the indexing of tariffs because intervening legislation has made the rule unnecessary. DATES: The withdrawal is made on March 8, 1996. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael L. Martin, (202) 927-6033; [TDD for the hearing impaired: (202) 927-5721.] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published at 58 FR 42277 (August 9, 1993), the ICC proposed a rule to require tariffs to contain indexes, unless the information in the tariff is arranged in a pattern readily discernible to tariff users. The proceeding was initiated in part in response to a directive contained in a Senate report,2 and in part in recognition of the burdens associated with using tariffs that could contain well over 100,000 unindexed pages. \2\ Senate Report No. 102-351, dated July 30, 1992, accompanying the U.S. Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 1993. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Most, if not all, of the large, unindexed tariffs were discount tariffs that were filed by individual motor common carriers. However, the Trucking Industry Regulatory Reform [[Page 9420]] Act of 1994 3 repealed the tariff filing requirement for individually (as distinguished from collectively) set rates of motor common carriers of property (other than household goods and carriers involved with water carriers in the noncontiguous domestic trade), and voided such tariffs. Because the tariffs that precipitated the proposal --------------------------------------------------------------------------- for indexing are no longer filed, we are terminating this proceeding. \3\ Pub. L. 103-311, 108 Stat. 1683, enacted August 26, 1994. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authority: 49 U.S.C. 10321. Decided: February 23, 1996. By the Board, Chairman Morgan, Vice Chairman Simmons, and Commissioner Owen. Vernon A. Williams, Secretary. [FR Doc. 96-5513 Filed 3-7-96; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4915-00-P