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Title 46 — ShippingRelease 119-73

§42305 Refusal of clearance and entry

Title 46 › Subtitle Subtitle IV— - Regulation of Ocean Shipping › Part Part B— - Actions To Address Foreign Practices › Chapter CHAPTER 423— - FOREIGN SHIPPING PRACTICES › § 42305

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

If the Federal Maritime Commission finds certain problems and asks for action, the Secretary of Homeland Security must deny the clearance paperwork for a foreign carrier’s ship that the Commission has named. The official who runs the Coast Guard must also either refuse that ship entry to U.S. ports and waters for ocean trade or hold the ship at the U.S. port it is about to leave so it cannot go to another U.S. port. These actions are subject to another related rule.

Full Legal Text

Title 46, §42305

Shipping — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Subject to section 42306 of this title, whenever the Federal Maritime Commission determines that the conditions specified in section 42302(a) of this title exist, then at the request of the Commission—
(1)the Secretary of Homeland Security shall refuse the clearance required by section 60105 of this title to a vessel of a foreign carrier that is identified by the Commission under section 42304 of this title; and
(2)the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating shall—
(A)deny entry, for purposes of oceanborne trade, of a vessel of a foreign carrier that is identified by the Commission under section 42304 of this title, to a port or place in the United States or the navigable waters of the United States; or
(B)detain the vessel at the port or place in the United States from which it is about to depart for another port or place in the United States.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 4230546 App.:1710a(f).Pub. L. 100–418, title X, § 10002(f), Aug. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 1572. Before paragraph (1), the words “Subject to section 42306 of this title” are added to alert the reader to the application of that section. The word “determines” is substituted for “finds” for consistency with section 42306 of the revised title. In paragraph (1), the words “Secretary of Homeland Security” are substituted for “collector of customs at any port or place of destination in the United States” because the functions of the Customs Service and of the Secretary of the Treasury relating thereto were transferred to the Secretary of Homeland Security by section 403(1) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107–296, 116 Stat. 2178). The functions of the collector of customs previously were vested in the Secretary of the Treasury by Reorganization Plan No. 26 of 1950, and the office of collector of customs previously was abolished by Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1965.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

46 U.S.C. § 42305

Title 46 — Shipping

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73