(a) Application. Before any facility is exempt from coverage under the Act, the facility must apply for and receive a certificate of exemption from the Director or his/her designee. The application must be made by the owner of the facility; where the owner is a partnership it must be made by a partner and where a corporation by an officer of the corporation or the manager in charge of the facility for which an exemption is sought. The information submitted must include the following:

(1) Name, location, physical description and a site plan or aerial photograph of the facility for which an exemption is sought.

(2) Description of the nature of the business.

(3) An affidavit (signed by a partner if the facility is owned by a partnership or an officer if owned by a corporation) vertifying and/or acknowledging that:

(i) the facility is, as of the date of the application, engaged in the business of building, repairing or dismantling exclusively small commercial vessels and that it does not then nor foreseeably will it engage in the building, repairing or dismantling of other than small vessels.

(ii) The facility does not receive any Federal maritime subsidy.

(iii) The signator has the duty to immediately inform the district director of any change in these or other conditions likely to result in a termination of an exemption.

(iv) the employer has secured appropriate compensation liability under a State workers' compensation law.

(v) Any false, relevant statements relating to the application or the failure to notify the district director of any changes in circumstances likely to result in termination of the exemption will be grounds for revocation of the exemption certificate and will subject the employer to all provisions of the Act, including all duties, responsibilities and penalties, retroactive to the date of application or date of change in circumstances, as appropriate.

(b) Action by the Director. The Director or his/her designee must review the application within thirty (30) days of its receipt.

(1) Where the application is complete and shows that all requirements under §702.173 are met, the Director must promptly notify the employer that certification has been approved and will be effective on the date specified. The employer is required to post notice of the exemption at a conspicuous location.

(2) Where the application is incomplete or does not substantiate that all requirements of section 3(d) of the Act, 33 U.S.C. 903(d), have been met, or evidence shows the facility is not eligible for exemption, the Director must promptly notify the employer by issuing a letter which details the reasons for the deficiency or the rejection. The employer/applicant may reapply for certification, correcting deficiencies and/or responding to the reasons for the Director's denial. The Director or his/her designee must issue a new decision within a reasonable time of reapplication following denial. Such action will be the final administrative review and is not appealable to the Administrative Law Judge or the Benefits Review Board.

(c) The Director or another designated individual at any time has the right to enter on and inspect any facility seeking exemption for purposes of verifying information provided on the application form.

(d) Action by the employer. Immediately upon receipt of the certificate of exemption from coverage under the Act the employer must post:

(1) A general notice in a conspicuous place that the Act does not cover injuries sustained at the facility in question, the basis of the exemption, the effective date of the exemption and grounds for termination of the exemption.

(2) A notice, where applicable, at the entrances to all areas to which the exemption does not apply.

(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 1215-0160)

[50 FR 396, Jan. 3, 1985, as amended at 51 FR 4283, Feb. 3, 1986; 80 FR 12928, Mar. 12, 2015]