Covered passenger vessel consumer service improvements

Subtitle II is amended by adding at the end the following: L Office of Maritime Consumer Protection 161 Office of Maritime Consumer Protection 16101. Definitions. 16102. Application. 16103. Office of Maritime Consumer Protection. 16104. Covered passenger vessel consumer service improvements. 16105. Invalidation of pre-dispute arbitration and class action waiver clauses in certain contracts relating to covered passenger vessel transportation. 16101. Definitions In this chapter: (1) Applicable passenger The term applicable passenger means a passenger on a covered passenger vessel who is a citizen of the United States. (2) Assistant General Counsel The term Assistant General Counsel means the Assistant General Counsel for the Office of Maritime Consumer Protection. (3) Covered passenger vessel The term covered passenger vessel means a passenger vessel or small passenger vessel to which this chapter applies, in accordance with section 16102 of this title. (4) Key terms The term key terms includes terms related to undisclosed costs and fees, indemnification, waivers, limitations on liability, notice of claim and actions, time limitations, arbitration, forum, and jurisdiction. (5) Office The term Office means the Office of Maritime Consumer Protection. (6) Owner The term owner means the owner, charterer, managing operator, master, or other individual in charge of a vessel. (7) Passage contract The term passage contract means a binding agreement for passage on a covered passenger vessel. (8) Secretary Notwithstanding section 2101 of this title, the term Secretary means the Secretary of Transportation. 16102. Application (a) In general This chapter applies to passenger vessels and small passenger vessels. (b) Federal and State vessels This chapter does not apply to— (1) a vessel of the United States operated by the Federal Government; or (2) a vessel owned and operated by a State. 16103. Office of Maritime Consumer Protection (a) Establishment There is established within the Office of the General Counsel of the Department of Transportation an Office of Maritime Consumer Protection. (b) Head The Office shall be headed by the Assistant General Counsel for the Office of Maritime Consumer Protection. (c) Duties The Office shall— (1) serve as the primary entity of the Department of Transportation with respect to consumer protection issues relating to covered passenger vessels (unless otherwise provided under law), including— (A) carrying out the requirements of this chapter; (B) providing assistance to the industry regarding compliance assistance under this chapter; (C) processing consumer complaints regarding the requirements of this chapter and other consumer complaints regarding covered passenger vessels; (D) inspecting covered passenger vessels to ensure that owners of such vessels have knowledge of the consumer protection requirements that apply; (E) investigating potential consumer protection violations regarding maritime travel; and (F) pursuing enforcement of such violations; and (2) serve as the implementing office for the duties of the Secretary under section 102 of the Cruise Passenger Protection Act of 2025. 16104. Covered passenger vessel consumer service improvements (a) Passage contracts (1) Development of standards (A) Passenger vessels Not later than 180 days after the date on which the advisory committee makes its recommendations under section 102(b)(6)(C) of the Cruise Passenger Protection Act of 2025, the Secretary, acting through the Assistant General Counsel, shall develop standards for use by an owner of a covered passenger vessel that is a passenger vessel or, subject to subparagraph (B), a small passenger vessel, to provide a prospective applicable passenger with a summary that highlights key terms in the passage contract and is provided before such terms are binding. (B) Small passenger vessels The Secretary shall determine the extent to which standards developed under subparagraph (A) shall apply with respect to passage contracts for small passenger vessels. (2) Consultation In developing the standards under paragraph (1), the Secretary may consult with other Federal agencies, persons with expertise on admiralty and maritime law, consumer advocates, industry representatives, and such other persons as the Secretary considers necessary. (3) Statute of limitations The statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit against the owner of a covered passenger vessel, which shall not be shorter than 3 years, shall be clearly identified in the passage contract described in paragraph (1). (4) Recommendations The standards developed under paragraph (1) shall include recommendations regarding— (A) style, formatting, and placement that ensures that the summary is conspicuous; and (B) terminology that ensures that the summary is— (i) clear, unambiguous, and unmistakable; and (ii) to the greatest extent possible, uniform, concise, and not complex. (5) Periodic review The Secretary shall periodically review and update, as appropriate, the standards developed under paragraph (1). (6) Requirements Beginning on the date that is 180 days after the date on which the standards are developed under paragraph (1), an owner of a covered passenger vessel shall— (A) provide each prospective applicable passenger with a summary in accordance with the standards that apply to the covered passenger vessel under paragraph (1); (B) include a prominently accessible link to the summary on each internet website that the owner maintains for prospective applicable passengers to purchase or book passage on the covered passenger vessel; and (C) include the summary in any promotional literature or advertising, through any medium of communication in the United States offering passage or soliciting applicable passengers for ocean voyages anywhere in the world, that the Secretary considers necessary to adequately notify a prospective applicable passenger of the key terms in the passage contract before such terms are binding. (7) Preemption The standards developed under paragraph (1) shall preempt any related State standards that require a summary that provides less information to a prospective applicable passenger than the information required to be provided under this subsection, as determined by the Secretary. (b) Covered passenger vessel consumer complaints (1) Toll-free hotline and Internet website link for consumer passenger vessel complaints The Secretary, acting through the Assistant General Counsel, shall— (A) establish a consumer complaints toll-free hotline telephone number for applicable passengers; (B) establish a consumer complaints link for use by applicable passengers on the internet website maintained under section 16106(i); and (C) notify the public of— (i) the telephone number established under subparagraph (A); and (ii) the internet website maintained under section 16106(i). (2) Website The Secretary, acting through the Assistant General Counsel, shall— (A) maintain a statistical compilation of all consumer complaints on the internet website under section 16106(i) that provides a numerical accounting of each category of consumer complaint; (B) update the data referred to in subparagraph (A) not less frequently than monthly; (C) aggregate such data by covered passenger vessel; and (D) identify each covered passenger vessel by name. (3) Investigations of consumer complaints The Secretary, acting through the Assistant General Counsel and in coordination with other relevant Federal agencies, may investigate consumer complaints from applicable passengers, including— (A) cancellations, delays, and port skipping; (B) lost, damaged, and delayed baggage; (C) conditions on board the covered passenger vessel; (D) problems in obtaining refunds for unused or lost tickets or fare adjustments; (E) incorrect or incomplete information about fares, discount fare conditions and availability, overcharges, and fare increases; (F) deceptive or misleading advertising; and (G) compliance with Federal regulations. (4) Referral to Federal or state agency The Secretary may refer any complaint received under this subsection to the Attorney General or a relevant Federal or State agency for action, as appropriate. (5) Notice to passengers (A) Internet websites Each owner of a covered passenger vessel shall include, in a conspicuous location on each internet website that such owner maintains for applicable passengers to purchase or book passage on the covered passenger vessel— (i) the telephone number established under paragraph (1)(A); (ii) the consumer complaints link established under paragraph (1)(B); and (iii) any other information necessary for an applicable passenger to submit a consumer complaint for resolution. (B) Boarding documentation The owner of a covered passenger vessel shall include the telephone number and internet address of the link for consumer complaints established under paragraph (1) on— (i) any promotional literature or advertising, through any medium of communication in the United States offering passage or soliciting applicable passengers for ocean voyages on covered passenger vessels, that the Secretary considers necessary to adequately notify such prospective passenger of the telephone number and internet address; and (ii) any electronic confirmation of the purchase of passage on a covered passenger vessel. (c) Penalties (1) Civil penalty The Secretary, acting through the Assistant General Counsel, may impose on any person that violates this section or a regulation under this section a civil penalty of not more than $25,000 for each day during which the violation continues. The Secretary, acting through the Assistant General Counsel, may bring an action to pursue a penalty under this paragraph in an appropriate district court of the United States. (2) Criminal penalty Any person that willfully violates this section or a regulation under this section shall be fined not more than $250,000 or imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both. (d) Rulemaking The Secretary, acting through the Assistant General Counsel, shall issue such regulations as are necessary to implement this section. 16105. Invalidation of pre-dispute arbitration and class action waiver clauses in certain contracts relating to covered passenger vessel transportation (a) Covered contract In this section, the term covered contract means a contract for the purchase of a ticket for transportation on a covered passenger vessel. (b) Arbitration Notwithstanding any other provision of law, arbitration may be used to settle a controversy arising from or relating to a provision of a covered contract only if, after the controversy arises, all parties to the controversy consent, in writing, to use arbitration to settle the controversy. (c) Class Actions Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no predispute joint-action waiver shall be valid or enforceable with respect to any alleged claim regarding a covered contract. (d) Court determinations An issue as to whether this section applies with respect to a dispute shall be determined under Federal law. The applicability of this section to an agreement to arbitrate and the validity and enforceability of a covered contract shall be determined by a court, rather than an arbitrator, irrespective of whether the party resisting arbitration challenges the arbitration agreement specifically or in conjunction with other terms of the covered contract containing such agreement, and irrespective of whether the agreement purports to delegate such determinations to an arbitrator. (e) Applicability This section shall apply with respect to contracts entered into, or renewed, on or after the date of the enactment of the Cruise Passenger Protection Act of 2025..