ICC Termination Act of 1995

Effective January 1, 1996, the Act ended tariff filing for most motor carriers, moved motor carrier registration to the Department of Transportation, later FMCSA, and gave the Surface Transportation Board jurisdiction over rail rates, mergers and service. It recodified carrier liability for loss and damage, the Carmack Amendment, at 49 U.S.C. 14706, which lets shippers recover actual loss subject to agreed released rates, with claims filed within at least nine months. It kept the requirement that freight brokers register, later tightened by MAP-21's $75,000 bond.

The Act set the legal framework for freight claims and carrier registration that shippers use every day. Because most tariffs no longer have to be filed, rates and liability terms live in contracts and carrier rules tariffs, so shippers must negotiate them. For example, when a pallet of electronics arrives damaged, the shipper files a claim under 49 U.S.C. 14706, and the carrier's liability limit depends on the released value in its tariff or the contract. 3PLs that arrange freight also register with FMCSA under rules that trace to this Act.

• Carmack AmendmentUS law on carrier liability for freight
• Freight ClaimDemand to a carrier for lost or damaged freight
• Freight BrokerMatches your load with a trucking company

• Interstate Commerce Act of 18871887 · First US federal law regulating railroad rates
• Motor Carrier Act of 19801980 · Deregulated US trucking rates and market entry
• Trucking Industry Regulatory Reform Act of 19941994 · Ended tariff filing for most negotiated truck rates

1. H.R.2539, ICC Termination Act of 1995, Congress.gov congress.gov
2. 49 U.S.C. 14706, Liability of carriers under receipts and bills of lading, Cornell LII law.cornell.edu