§4462 Definitions and special rules

Summary

Sets rules for when a tax applies to loading or unloading commercial cargo at U.S. ports. "Port use" means loading or unloading commercial cargo. "Port" means a U.S. channel or harbor that is not an inland waterway and is open to public vessel traffic, but it does not include channels that have had no federal money used since 1977 or were deauthorized before 1985; it includes the Columbia River only as far downstream as the Bonneville lock and dam. "Commercial cargo" is cargo on a commercial ship, including paying passengers, but not bunker fuel, ship supplies and equipment needed to run the ship, or fish that were caught and not previously landed. "Commercial vessel" is a ship used to carry cargo for hire or in the owner’s business, but not ferries that run on a regular daily schedule during their season. "Value" means the normal commercial value on the paperwork, or the passenger fare actually paid or normally charged. No tax under section 4461(a) applies in many specific cases: cargo moving between the continental United States (the United States mainland, not including Alaska) and Alaska, Hawaii, or U.S. possessions for use there; unloading of that cargo; cargo loaded and unloaded within the same State or possession; passengers on U.S.-flag vessels operating only in Alaska or Hawaii state waters and nearby international waters. Crude oil is not treated as "cargo" for the Alaska rule. No tax applies if the vessel’s fuel was (or will be) taxed under section 4042, if the cargo is being exported, or if the United States or its agencies are involved. Only one tax is charged for the same loading and unloading, customs rules are used to collect and enforce the tax as if it were a customs duty, and the Secretary can make rules about payment, bonds, practical exemptions, and penalty relief. Nonprofits or cooperatives are exempt for cargo they own or fund that Customs certifies as humanitarian or development aid.