Files
republic-os/legal/us/code/title-46/chapter-121/section-12111.md
T
Fabio 76b8ec33a7 Legal corpus: the complete U.S. Code (59,740 sections, all 53 titles)
Ingested titles 12–51 and 54 from OLRC USLM XML @119-100 (the whole Code
now, uniform edition; Title 53 is reserved/empty). LegalText 11,221 ->
59,740; repo total 105,704 records. Deterministic (byte-identical rerun,
verified on Title 42's 8,356 sections); make check green. make
legal-us-code default now covers every title.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-06 10:51:44 -04:00

6.1 KiB
Raw Blame History

type, title, description, jurisdiction, corpus, kind, title_number, title_name, chapter_number, chapter_name, section, citation, status, release_point, release_date, source, source_url, source_identifier, source_file, source_hash, raw_snapshot_hash, text_hash, retrieved_at, confidence, tags
type title description jurisdiction corpus kind title_number title_name chapter_number chapter_name section citation status release_point release_date source source_url source_identifier source_file source_hash raw_snapshot_hash text_hash retrieved_at confidence tags
LegalText 46 U.S.C. § 12111 Registry endorsement us united_states_code code_section 46 SHIPPING 121 DOCUMENTATION OF VESSELS 12111 46 U.S.C. § 12111 current 119-100 2026-06-26 official https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc46@119-100.zip /us/usc/t46/s12111 data/legal/raw/us/code/title-46/usc46.xml 1d7ae134d68cad6c4b009b36a6b3a2657a0be1cb153929133f3a5fa2901c2ea7 eb1331aa3c08ed87231a3606d86b30d1b5942cdf8542f6a3df8ac1d66e86057f 23e571138aab39033713e861a872a41fe8c85104a3c7f241fb8f3ae758a4473c 2026-07-04 official
legal
us-code

46 U.S.C. § 12111 - Registry endorsement

Text

(a) Requirements.— A registry endorsement may be issued for a vessel that satisfies the requirements of section 12103 of this title.

(b) Authorized Activity.— A vessel for which a registry endorsement is issued may engage in foreign trade or trade with Guam, American Samoa, Wake, Midway, or Kingman Reef.

(c) Certain Vessels Owned by Trusts.— (1) Nonapplication of beneficiary citizenship requirement.— For the issuance of a certificate of documentation with only a registry endorsement, the beneficiaries of a trust are not required to be citizens of the United States if the trust qualifies under paragraph (2) and the vessel is subject to a charter to a citizen of the United States.

(2) Requirements for trust to qualify.— (A) In general.— Subject to subparagraph (B), a trust qualifies under this paragraph with respect to a vessel only if—

(i) each trustee is a citizen of the United States; and

(ii) the application for documentation of the vessel includes the affidavit of each trustee stating that the trustee is not aware of any reason involving a beneficiary of the trust that is not a citizen of the United States, or involving any other person that is not a citizen of the United States, as a result of which the beneficiary or other person would hold more than 25 percent of the aggregate power to influence or limit the exercise of the authority of the trustee with respect to matters involving any ownership or operation of the vessel that may adversely affect the interests of the United States.

(B) Authority of non-citizens.— If any person that is not a citizen of the United States has authority to direct or participate in directing a trustee for a trust in matters involving any ownership or operation of the vessel that may adversely affect the interests of the United States or in removing a trustee for a trust without cause, either directly or indirectly through the control of another person, the trust is not qualified under this paragraph unless the trust instrument provides that persons who are not citizens of the United States may not hold more than 25 percent of the aggregate authority to so direct or remove a trustee.

(C) Ownership by non-citizens.— Subparagraphs (A) and (B) do not prohibit a person that is not a citizen of the United States from holding more than 25 percent of the beneficial interest in a trust.

(3) Citizenship of person chartering vessel.— If a person chartering a vessel from a trust that qualifies under paragraph (2) is a citizen of the United States under section 50501 of this title, the vessel is deemed to be owned by a citizen of the United States for purposes of that section and related laws, except chapter 531 of this title.

(d) Activities Involving Mobile Offshore Drilling Units.— (1) In general.— Only a vessel for which a certificate of documentation with a registry endorsement is issued may engage in—

(A) the setting, relocation, or recovery of the anchors or other mooring equipment of a mobile offshore drilling unit that is located over the outer Continental Shelf (as defined in section 2(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331(a))); or

(B) the transportation of merchandise or personnel to or from a point in the United States from or to a mobile offshore drilling unit located over the outer Continental Shelf that is not attached to the seabed.

(2) Coastwise trade not authorized.— Nothing in paragraph (1) authorizes the employment in the coastwise trade of a vessel that does not meet the requirements of section 12112 of this title.

(Pub. L. 109304, § 5, Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1494; Pub. L. 109241, title III, § 310, July 11, 2006, 120 Stat. 529; Pub. L. 110181, div. C, title XXXV, § 3525(a)(1), (b), Jan. 28, 2008, 122 Stat. 600, 601.)

Notes

Historical and Revision Notes RevisedSectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 12111(a)46:12105(a). 12111(b)46:12105(b). 12111(c)46:12102(d).

Editorial Notes

Prior ProvisionsA prior section 12111, Pub. L. 9889, Aug. 26, 1983, 97 Stat. 588; Pub. L. 100710, title I, § 103(a), Nov. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 4749; Pub. L. 104324, title III, § 301(d)(2)(A), Oct. 19, 1996, 110 Stat. 3916; Pub. L. 107295, title II, § 205(c), Nov. 25, 2002, 116 Stat. 2096, originally derived from section 65o of former Title 46, Shipping, related to surrender and invalidation of certificates of documentation, prior to the general amendment of this chapter by Pub. L. 109304. See sections 12135 and 12136 of this title.

Amendments2008—Pub. L. 110181, § 3525(b), repealed Pub. L. 109241, § 310. See 2006 Amendment note below. Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 110181, § 3525(a)(1), incorporated the substance of the amendment by Pub. L. 109241, § 310, into this section by adding subsec. (d). See 2006 Amendment note below and section 18(a) of Pub. L. 109304, set out as a Legislative Purpose and Construction note preceding section 101 of this title. 2006—Pub. L. 109241, § 310, which directed the amendment of former section 12105 of this title from which this section was derived in part, was repealed by Pub. L. 110181, § 3525(b). See 2008 Amendment note for subsec. (d) and Historical and Revision notes above.