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Title 46, ShippingRelease 119-110

§3205 Certification

Title 46 › Subtitle II — Vessels and Seamen › Part B — Inspection and Regulation of Vessels › CHAPTER 32 — MANAGEMENT OF VESSELS › § 3205

Last updated Sep 23, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary must give a vessel a Safety Management Certificate and a Document of Compliance when the person in charge and the vessel meet the rules and the person asks for them. The person in charge must keep those papers on the vessel as the Secretary requires. The Secretary will check from time to time, or when problems are found, whether the approved safety plan and each covered vessel are following the plan. If they are not, the Secretary can cancel the plan and revoke the related certificates and documents. The Secretary can also ask the Department of Homeland Security to deny or take away a vessel’s required clearance if the vessel does not have the certificate and document on board; clearance can be returned if a bond or other acceptable surety is filed.

Full Legal Text

Title 46, §3205

Shipping, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Issuance of Certificate and Document.—
After verifying that the responsible person for a vessel to which this chapter applies and the vessel comply with the applicable requirements under this chapter, the Secretary shall issue for the vessel, on request of the responsible person, a Safety Management Certificate and a Document of Compliance.
(b)Maintenance of Certificate and Document.—
A Safety Management Certificate and a Document of Compliance issued for a vessel under this section shall be maintained by the responsible person for the vessel as required by the Secretary.
(c)Verification of Compliance.—
The Secretary shall—
(1)periodically, or upon discovery from other sources of information acquired by the Coast Guard, including a discovery made during an audit or systematic review conducted under section 10104(e) of a failure of a responsible person or vessel to comply with a requirement of a safety management system for which a Safety Management Certificate and a Document of compliance has been issued under this section, including a failure to comply with regulations prescribed under section 3203(a)(7) and (8), review whether a responsible person having a safety management plan approved under section 3204(b) and each vessel to which the plan applies is complying with the plan; and
(2)revoke the Secretary’s approval of the plan and each Safety Management Certificate and Document of Compliance issued to the person for a vessel to which the plan applies, if the Secretary determines that the person or a vessel to which the plan applies has not complied with the plan.
(d)Enforcement.—
At the request of the Secretary, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall withhold or revoke the clearance required by section 60105 of this title of a vessel that is subject to this chapter under section 3202(a) of this title or to the International Safety Management Code, if the vessel does not have on board a Safety Management Certificate and a copy of a Document of Compliance for the vessel. Clearance may be granted on filing a bond or other surety satisfactory to the Secretary.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2022—Subsec. (c)(1). Pub. L. 117–263 inserted “, or upon discovery from other sources of information acquired by the Coast Guard, including a discovery made during an audit or systematic review conducted under section 10104(e) of a failure of a responsible person or vessel to comply with a requirement of a safety management system for which a Safety Management Certificate and a Document of compliance has been issued under this section, including a failure to comply with

Regulations

prescribed under section 3203(a)(7) and (8),” after “periodically”. 2008—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 110–181 amended Pub. L. 109–304, § 15(10). See 2006 Amendment note below. 2006—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 109–304, § 15(10), as amended by Pub. L. 110–181, substituted “Secretary of Homeland Security shall withhold or revoke the clearance required by section 60105 of this title” for “Secretary of the Treasury shall withhold or revoke the clearance required by section 4197 of the Revised Statutes (46 U.S.C. App. 91)”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2008 Amendment Pub. L. 110–181, div. C, title XXXV, § 3529(b)(2), Jan. 28, 2008, 122 Stat. 603, provided that: “The

Amendments

made by paragraph (1) [amending this section and section 31325 of this title] shall be effective as if included in the enactment of Public Law 109–304.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

46 U.S.C. § 3205

Title 46, Shipping

Last Updated

Sep 23, 2026

Release point: 119-110