Title 19, Customs DutiesRelease 119-102
§1310 Free Importation of Merchandise Recovered From Sunken and Abandoned Vessels
Title 19 › CHAPTER 4 — TARIFF ACT OF 1930 › SUBTITLE II — SPECIAL PROVISIONS › Part I — Miscellaneous › § 1310
Summary
If a ship carrying goods that would normally owe import taxes has been sunk in U.S. rivers, harbors, bays, or other U.S. waters and left there for at least two years with the owner abandoning it, anyone who raises the ship may bring the recovered goods into the nearest port without paying those import duties. The Secretary of the Treasury can set rules for how this process works.
Full Legal Text
Title 19, §1310
Customs Duties, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Whenever any vessel laden with merchandise, in whole or in part subject to duty, has been sunk in any river, harbor, bay, or waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and within its limits, for the period of two years and is abandoned by the owner thereof, any person who may raise such vessel shall be permitted to bring any merchandise recovered therefrom into the port nearest to the place where such vessel was so raised free from the payment of any duty thereupon, but under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Prior Provisions
Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in act Oct. 3, 1913, ch. 16, § IV, L, 38 Stat. 197, superseding similar provisions of previous tariff acts. That section was superseded by act Sept. 21, 1922, ch. 356, title III, § 310, 42 Stat. 938, and repealed by section 321 of that act. section 310 of act Sept. 21, 1922, was superseded by section 310 of act June 17, 1930, and repealed by section 651(a)(1) of the 1930 act.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
19 U.S.C. § 1310
Title 19, Customs Duties
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102