Mr. Volpe, what I believe the section is proposing to the committee is that of all the parties that are involved in supplying a ship when it arrives in a port, depending on the contractual arrangement between a shipowner and a charterer—it can be a time charterer for a specific period of time, or it could be a voyage charter for a specific voyage, or it could be what we know as a bareboat charter, which is basically the use of the boat for a period of time for whatever purpose--the master can speak on the behalf of the charter at times, and he can speak on behalf of an owner at times. The stevedores, the ship suppliers—which is a general term, and if I can use Venn diagram type of discussion, they are a big set as opposed to a subset.... Different suppliers will have different contractual relationships with the owner and the charterer. The position the section has is that if you're going to contract on behalf of the owner and you're speaking as a representative of the charterer, there should be some form of notice provision that you give the supplier to say you're speaking on behalf of the charterer, and this is the owner. The notice provision appears in the U.S. Maritime Lien Act, and I also believe it also appears in the maritime liens convention.
What the section can do, if it so pleases the committee, is provide you with specific words for the safeguards. I know you have a week between now and the next appearance of witnesses, and we can supply some specific words so you can look at them, if that would be helpful.