---
type: "LegalText"
title: "46 U.S.C. § 7508"
description: "Authority to extend the duration of medical certificates"
jurisdiction: "us"
corpus: "united_states_code"
kind: "code_section"
title_number: 46
title_name: "SHIPPING"
chapter_number: "75"
chapter_name: "GENERAL PROCEDURES FOR LICENSING, CERTIFICATION, AND DOCUMENTATION"
section: "7508"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 7508"
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/s7508"
source_file: "data/legal/raw/us/code/title-46/usc46.xml"
source_hash: "39e46def16f490d452e2c1ccf17a997d879f70fc5bdf3af4d9d0a8a7fe27c22c"
raw_snapshot_hash: "eb1331aa3c08ed87231a3606d86b30d1b5942cdf8542f6a3df8ac1d66e86057f"
text_hash: "705fda4780e78ef58f44063bfd67cfc3f60f98528308cda96d9aa2faf4f988be"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-04"
confidence: "official"
tags: ["legal", "us-code"]
---

# 46 U.S.C. § 7508 - Authority to extend the duration of medical certificates

## Text

(a) Granting of Extensions.— Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary may extend for not more than one year a medical certificate issued to an individual holding a license, merchant mariner’s document, or certificate of registry issued under chapter 71 or 73 if the Secretary determines that the extension is required to enable the Coast Guard to eliminate a backlog in processing applications for medical certificates or is in response to a national emergency or natural disaster.

(b) Manner of Extension.— An extension under this section may be granted to an individual or a specifically identified group of individuals.

(Added Pub. L. 112–213, title III, § 306(a), Dec. 20, 2012, 126 Stat. 1565; amended Pub. L. 116–283, div. G, title LVXXXV [LXXXV], § 8505(b)(6), Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 4751.)

## Notes

Editorial Notes

Amendments2021—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 116–283 substituted “an individual or a specifically identified group of individuals” for “individual seamen or a specifically identified group of seamen”.