[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 33, Volume 2]
[Revised as of July 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 33CFR138.90]

[Page 88-89]
 
                TITLE 33--NAVIGATION AND NAVIGABLE WATERS
 
   CHAPTER I--COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED)
 
PART 138--FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR WATER POLLUTION (VESSELS)--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 138.90  Individual and Fleet Certificates.

    (a) The Director, NPFC, issues an individual Certificate for each 
vessel listed on a completed application when the Director, NPFC, 
determines that acceptable evidence of financial responsibility has been 
provided and appropriate fees have been paid, except where a Fleet 
Certificate is issued under this section or where a Master Certificate 
is issued under Sec. 138.110. Each Certificate of any type issued under 
this part is issued only in the name of a vessel operator and is 
effective for not more than three years from the date of issue, as 
indicated on each Certificate. An authorized official of the applicant 
may submit to the Director, NPFC, a letter requesting that additional 
vessels be added to a previously submitted application for an individual 
Certificate. The letter must set forth all information required in item 
5 of the application form. The authorized official shall also submit or 
cause to be submitted acceptable evidence of financial responsibility, 
if required, and certification fees for these additional vessels. The 
certificant shall carry the original individual Certificate on the 
vessel named on the Certificate, except that a legible copy (certified 
as accurate by a notary public or other person authorized to take oaths 
in the United States) may be carried instead of the original if the 
vessel is an unmanned barge and does not have a document carrying device 
which the vessel operator believes would offer suitable protection for 
the original Certificate. If a notarized copy of an individual 
Certificate is carried aboard a barge, the Certificate shall retain the 
original in the United States and shall make it readily available for 
inspection by United States Government officials.
    (b) An operator of two or more barges that are not tank vessels and 
that from time to time may be subject to this part (e.g., a hopper barge 
over 300 gross tons when carrying oily metal shavings or similar cargo), 
so long as the operator of such a fleet is a self-insurer or arranges 
with an acceptable guarantor to cover, automatically, all such barges 
for which the operator may from time to time be responsible, may apply 
to the Director, NPFC, for issuance of a Fleet Certificate. A legible 
copy of the Fleet Certificate, certified as accurate by a notary public 
or other person authorized to take oaths in the United States, must be 
carried on each barge when subject to this part. In addition, the 
certificant shall retain in the United States the original Fleet 
Certificate and shall make it readily available for inspection by United 
States Government officials. The original Fleet Certificate, when 
invalid, must be completed on the reverse side and returned immediately 
to the Director, NPFC, and all copies must be destroyed. When the 
certificant ceases to be responsible for a barge covered by a Fleet 
Certificate, the certificant shall immediately destroy the copy of the 
Fleet Certificate carried aboard that barge.
    (c) A person shall not make any alteration on any Certificate issued 
under this part or copy of that Certificate, except the notarized 
certifications permitted in Sec. 138.110(f) and paragraphs (a) and (b) 
of this section. A Certificate or copy containing any alteration is 
void.
    (d) If, at any time after a Certificate has been issued, a 
certificant becomes aware of a change in any of the facts contained in 
the application or supporting documentation, the certificant shall 
notify the Director, NPFC, in writing within 10 days of becoming aware 
of the change. A vessel or operator name change or change of a guarantor 
shall be reported as soon as possible by telefax or other electronic 
means to the Director, NPFC, and followed by a written notice sent 
within three business days.
    (e) Except as provided in Sec. 138.90(f), at the moment a 
certificant ceases to be the operator of a vessel for any reason, 
including a vessel that is scrapped or transferred to a new operator, 
the individual Certificate naming the vessel, and any copies of the 
Certificate, are void and their further use is prohibited. In that case, 
the certificant shall, within 10 days of the Certificate becoming void, 
complete the reverse side of the original individual Certificate naming 
the involved vessel and return the Certificate to the Director, NPFC. If 
the Certificate cannot be returned

[[Page 89]]

because it has been lost or destroyed, the certificant shall, within 
three business days, submit the following information in writing to the 
Director, NPFC:
    (1) The number of the individual Certificate and the name of the 
vessel.
    (2) The date and reason why the certificant ceased to be the 
operator of the vessel.
    (3) The location of the vessel on the date the certificant ceased to 
be the operator.
    (4) The name and mailing address of the person to whom the vessel 
was sold or transferred.
    (f) In the event of the temporary transfer of custody of an unmanned 
barge certificated under this part, where the certificant transferring 
the barge continues to be liable under the Acts and continues to 
maintain on file with the Director, NPFC, acceptable evidence of 
financial responsibility with respect to the barge, the existing 
individual Certificate remains in effect. A temporary new individual 
Certificate is not required. A transferee is encouraged to require the 
transferring certificant to acknowledge in writing that the transferring 
certificant agrees to remain responsible for pollution liabilities.