---
type: "LegalText"
title: "46 U.S.C. § 42103"
description: "No preference to Government-owned vessels"
jurisdiction: "us"
corpus: "united_states_code"
kind: "code_section"
title_number: 46
title_name: "SHIPPING"
chapter_number: "421"
chapter_name: "REGULATIONS AFFECTING SHIPPING IN FOREIGN TRADE"
section: "42103"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 42103"
status: "current"
release_point: "119-100"
release_date: "2026-06-26"
source: "official"
source_url: "https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc46@119-100.zip"
source_identifier: "/us/usc/t46/s42103"
source_file: "data/legal/raw/us/code/title-46/usc46.xml"
source_hash: "8e32a9017b8dfd19753adab4044c00f616d54dba5f418abb2b4ddd7f3f8ad5a2"
raw_snapshot_hash: "eb1331aa3c08ed87231a3606d86b30d1b5942cdf8542f6a3df8ac1d66e86057f"
text_hash: "4ea1029e8126704abaa6dcf54f7ebda2752c5c6b2860af9cff8be2837672ae3d"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-04"
confidence: "official"
tags: ["legal", "us-code"]
---

# 46 U.S.C. § 42103 - No preference to Government-owned vessels

## Text

A regulation may not give a vessel owned by the United States Government a preference over a vessel owned by citizens of the United States and documented under the laws of the United States.

(Pub. L. 109–304, § 7, Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1549.)

## Notes

Historical and Revision Notes RevisedSectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 4210346 App.:876(d).June 5, 1920, ch. 250, § 19(d), 41 Stat. 995; Ex. Ord. No. 6166, § 12, eff. June 10, 1933; June 29, 1936, ch. 858, title II, § 204, title IX, § 904, 49 Stat. 1987, 2016; Pub. L. 105–258, title III, § 301, Oct. 14, 1998, 112 Stat. 1915.