148
Opinion of the Court
where a tariff violates the Act, "the Commission has authority to cancel the tariff and require that a reasonable and non-discriminatory rate apply in the future. § 10704(b)(1)").
Any remaining doubts as to the appropriateness of the relief sought are dispelled upon close examination of respondents' particular contention that an injunction here would displace the tariff system by substituting a private agreement for the filed rate. This is not so. The charge that cannot be collected is, as respondents themselves concede, Tr. of Oral Arg. 24, the charge for liquidated damages. The ICC has said in a regulation promulgated under the Act that "[t]he difference between the discount and the full rate constitutes a carrier's liquidated damages for its collection effort." 49 CFR § 1320.2(g)(1)(ii) (1994); see 49 U. S. C. § 10743(b)(1) (Act authorizes the extension of credit—and therefore any liquidated damages resulting from the extension of credit—only pursuant to ICC regulations). The regulation is entitled to deference as an interpretation of the Act. Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U. S. 837 (1984). Thus, the ICC is not seeking to enforce a secret, unfiled rate in place of a filed rate, but is seeking to enforce the rate for shipping over the rate for shipping plus collection efforts. See Hewitt-Robins Inc. v. Eastern Freight-Ways, Inc., 371 U. S., at 88 (enforcing lower of two filed rates in no manner "hampers the efficient administration of the Act").
III
The Act by express terms authorizes the ICC to promulgate credit regulations. It also gives the ICC "the power to seek a federal-court injunction requiring a carrier to comply with [its credit] regulations." Commercial Metals, 456 U. S., at 349 (citation omitted). The injunctive relief sought by the ICC is both necessary and appropriate to effective enforcement of its valid credit regulations, and does not "permi[t] the very price discrimination that the Act by its
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