E7-22786. Notification of the Imposition of Conditions of Entry for Certain Vessels Arriving to the United States

AGENCY:

Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The Coast Guard announces that effective anti-terrorism measures are not in place in certain ports of Cameroon and that it will impose conditions of entry on vessels arriving from that country.

DATES:

The policy announced in this notice will become effective December 5, 2007.

ADDRESSES:

This notice will be available for inspection and copying at the Docket Management Facility at the U.S. Department of Transportation, Room W12-140 on the Ground Floor of the West Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone number is 202-366-9329.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

If you have questions on this notice, call Mr. Michael Brown, International Port Security Evaluation Division, Coast Guard, telephone [phone]. If you have questions on viewing or submitting material to the docket, call Renee V. Wright, Program Manager, Docket Operations, telephone [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background and Purpose

Section 70110 of the Maritime Transportation Security Act provides that the Secretary of Homeland Security may impose conditions of entry on vessels requesting entry into the United States arriving from ports that are not maintaining effective anti-terrorism measures. The Coast Guard has been delegated the authority by the Secretary to carry out the provisions of this section. The Docket contains previous notices imposing or removing conditions of entry on vessels arriving from certain countries and those conditions of entry and the countries they pertain to remain in effect unless modified by this notice.

The Coast Guard has determined that ports, with certain exceptions, in Cameroon are not maintaining effective anti-terrorism measures. Accordingly, effective December 5, 2007. the Coast Guard will impose the following conditions of entry on vessels that visited ports in Cameroon with the exception of the Ebome Marine Terminal, the Quai GETMA (LAMNALCO Base) facility, and the Société Nationale de Raffinage (SONARA) terminal during their last five port calls. Vessels must:

• Implement measures per the ship's security plan equivalent to Security Level 2;
• Ensure that each access point to the ship is guarded and that the guards have total visibility of the exterior (both landside and waterside) of the vessel while the vessel is in ports in the above country. Guards may be provided by the ship's crew, however additional crewmembers should be placed on the ship if necessary to ensure that limits on maximum hours of work are not exceeded and/or minimum hours of rest are met, or provided by outside security forces approved by the ship's master and Company Security Officer;
• Attempt to execute a Declaration of Security;
• Log all security actions in the ship's log;
• Report actions taken to the cognizant U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port prior to arrival into U.S. waters; and
• Ensure that each access point to the ship is guarded by armed, private security guards and that they have total visibility of the exterior (both landside and waterside) of the vessel while in U.S. ports. The number and position of the guards has to be acceptable to the cognizant Coast Guard Sector Commander.

With this notice, the current list of countries not maintaining effective anti-terrorism measures is as follows: Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, and Mauritania.

Dated: October 25, 2007.

Rear Admiral David Pekoske, USCG,

Assistant Commandant for Operations.