Title 33 — Navigation and Navigable WatersRelease 119-73
§1201 Statement of purpose
Title 33 › Chapter CHAPTER 24— - VESSEL BRIDGE-TO-BRIDGE COMMUNICATION › § 1201
Summary
Requires people steering boats that are coming together to tell each other their plans by voice radio using a radio placed near the vessel’s navigation station. It also requires one or more specific radio frequencies to be set aside for sharing navigation information on the United States’ navigable waters.
Full Legal Text
Title 33, §1201
Navigation and Navigable Waters — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
It is the purpose of this chapter to provide a positive means whereby the operators of approaching vessels can communicate their intentions to one another through voice radio, located convenient to the operator’s navigation station. To effectively accomplish this, there is need for a specific frequency or frequencies dedicated to the exchange of navigational information, on navigable waters of the United States.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Short Title
Pub. L. 92–63, § 1, Aug. 4, 1971, 85 Stat. 164, provided: “That this Act [enacting this chapter] may be cited as the ‘Vessel Bridge-to-Bridge Radiotelephone Act’.”
Effective Date
Pub. L. 92–63, § 10, Aug. 4, 1971, 85 Stat. 165, provided that: “This Act [enacting this chapter] shall become effective May 1, 1971, or six months after the promulgation of
Regulations
which would implement its provisions, whichever is later.” See 47 CFR 83.701 et seq.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
33 U.S.C. § 1201
Title 33 — Navigation and Navigable Waters
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73