46 U.S.C. § 41103 — Disclosure of information

(a) Prohibition: A common carrier^*, marine terminal operator^*, or ocean freight forwarder^* - alone or with someone else, directly or indirectly - may not knowingly disclose, offer, solicit, or receive information about the type, quantity, destination, consignee, or routing of property given to a common carrier, without the shipper's or consignee's consent, if that information (1) could be used against the shipper^*, consignee, or a carrier, or (2) could improperly reveal a business transaction to a competitor.

(b) Exceptions: Subsection (a) does not prevent providing the information (1) in response to legal process, (2) to the Federal Maritime Commission or an agency^* of the United States Government, or (3) to an independent neutral body operating within the scope of its authority to fulfill the policing obligations of the parties to an agreement^* effective under this part.

(c) Disclosure for Determining Breach or Compiling Statistics: An ocean common carrier^* that is a party to a conference^* agreement approved under this part, or the carrier's receiver, trustee, lessee, agent, employee, or another person the carrier authorizes to receive information, (1) may give information to the conference or a person or agency the conference designates to determine whether a shipper or consignee breached an agreement with the conference or its member lines, determine whether a conference member breached the conference agreement, or compile cargo-movement statistics; and (2) may not prevent the conference or its designee from soliciting or receiving information for any of those purposes.