46 U.S.C. § 80503: General authority of the Secretary

The Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating shall carry out the Convention and this chapter in the United States. establish procedures for testing, inspecting, and initially approving containers and designs for containers, including procedures for attaching, invalidating, and removing safety approval plates for containers; establish procedures to be followed by the owners of containers for the periodic examination of containers as provided in the Convention; and provide a method for developing, collecting, and disseminating information about container safety and the international transport of containers. If the owner of a container without a safety approval plate establishes that the container satisfies the standards of the Convention, the Secretary may authorize a safety approval plate to be attached to the container. The Secretary may prescribe a schedule of fees for services performed by the Secretary, or by a person delegated authority under section 80506 of this title , for the testing, inspection, and initial approval of containers and container designs. To the maximum extent possible, the Secretary shall encourage the development and use of intermodal transport, using containers built to facilitate economical, safe, and expeditious handling of containerized cargo without intermediate reloading when it is being transported over land, air, and sea areas.