As America’s independent federal agency responsible for regulating the U.S. international ocean transportation system for the benefit of U.S. exporters, importers, and the U.S. consumer, the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) deals with substantial volumes of documentation in which its official seal could be misused or misrepresented.
To protect the public from related fraud, The Commission adopted the use of an official seal on August 14, 1961, codified as Section 201(c) of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936 (46 U.S.C. 46101(d)). Since there have been recent occurrences of use of wrongful use of the seal by outside parties.
Now in 2024, the FMC has re-codified the seal’s description to provide clear and direct legal evidence of it. Having a description of the FMC Seal in the Code of Federal Regulations provides direct evidence of the official description of the seal and eliminates the possibility of there being questions over the official version. This is helpful not only in daily administration of agency business, but also should the need arise to enforce prohibitions on misuse of the seal.
In addition to codification of the description of the seal, the Commission is establishing standards regarding the use of the FMC seal by both the agency itself and outside persons and organizations, since the previous codification of the agency seal did not include provisions for the authorization of use. Having a codified description of the seal and a policy on its use will help to ensure that the seal is used for lawful purposes only. New seal standards have been permanently established and clearly stated in an easily accessible location.
To view the seal, and read the use rules, standards and penalties for misuse click HERE.
The new seal and rules go into effect October 15, 2024.
Official Federal Maritime Commission Seal Design
The design of the official Federal Maritime Commission seal is described as follows:
A shield argent paly of six gules, a chief azure charged with a fouled anchor or; shield and anchor outlined of the third; on a wreath argent and gules, an eagle displayed proper; all on a gold disc within a blue border, encircled by a gold rope outlined in blue, and bearing in white letters the inscription “Federal Maritime Commission” in upper portion and “1961” in lower portion.
The shield and eagle above it are associated with the United States of America and denote the national scope of maritime affairs. The outer rope and fouled anchor are symbolic of seamen and waterborne transportation. The date “1961” has historical significance, indicating the year in which the Commission was created.
