FMC Reorganizes Enforcement Structure
The Federal Maritime Commission reorganized its enforcement divisions by consolidating them into a new agency: the Bureau of Enforcement, Investigations and Compliance. Created last week, it will be led by an attorney with regulatory, prosecutorial and investigatory experience. FMC Managing Director Lucille Marvin will be acting director until a permanent director is hired.
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The FMC created the new bureau after examining how it could better improve its enforcement and compliance activities, the commission said. “The review determined a restructuring and merging of enforcement and compliance programs would result in a more efficient, coordinated, and responsive operation from initiation to conclusion of an investigation,” the FMC said. The commission also plans to hire more investigators, who will focus “exclusively on enforcement activity.”
“This reorganization has the support of all five Commissioners and creates a structure better suited to meeting the mandate the President and Congress have given this agency to prioritize enforcement,” FMC Chair Daniel Maffei said. It will improve the FMC’s ability to “closely scrutinize the conduct of the ocean carrier companies and marine terminal operators to ensure compliance with the law.”