§544 — Title 14 Coast Guard | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary must make rules to protect ships and boats by requiring lights and signals on fixed or floating sea structures under U.S. authority. Owners or operators who are not U.S. agencies and who break those rules can be treated as criminals and fined up to $1,500 for each day the violation continues.

Title 14, §544

Coast Guard — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Secretary shall prescribe and enforce necessary and reasonable rules and regulations, for the protection of maritime navigation, relative to the establishment, maintenance, and operation of lights and other signals on fixed and floating structures in or over waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and in the high seas for structures owned or operated by persons subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. Any owner or operator of such a structure, excluding an agency of the United States, who violates any of the rules or regulations prescribed hereunder, commits a misdemeanor and shall be punished, upon conviction thereof, by a fine of not exceeding $1,500 for each day which such violation continues.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Based on title 33, U.S.C., 1946 ed., § 760 (May 14, 1908, ch. 168, § 5, 35 Stat. 162). Changes were made in phraseology. 81st Congress,

House Report No. 557

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 544 was renumbered section 2906 of this title.

Amendments

2018—Pub. L. 115–282 renumbered section 85 of this title as this section. 2014—Pub. L. 113–281 substituted “$1,500” for “$100”. 1974—Pub. L. 93–283 struck out “on fixed structures” after “maritime navigation” in section catchline and in text substituted “fixed and floating structures in or over waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and in the high seas for structures owned or operated by persons subject to the jurisdiction of the United States” for “fixed structures in or over navigable waters of the United States”. 1956—Act June 4, 1956, amended section generally, vesting in Secretary rule-making authority, for the protection of maritime navigation, relative to the establishment, maintenance, and operation of lights and other signals on fixed structures in or over navigable waters of the United States, and excluding agencies of United States from its provisions.

§544 Aids to Maritime Navigation; Penalty