VES-3-19-RR:IT:EC 114263 GEV
Charles B. Grey
Post Office Box 71
41 Beech St.
Rockland, Maine 04841
RE: Coastwise Trade; Foreign-built Vessel; Sailing School; 46
U.S.C. App. 289
Dear Mr. Grey:
This is in response to your letter of February 11, 1997,
regarding the proposed use of your vessel ZIVIO for sail
training. Our ruling in this matter is set forth below.
FACTS:
During the past twenty years you have worked as a sailing
instructor for various sailing schools on the East Coast. You
have decided to offer two courses this summer using your vessel,
the ZIVIO, as one of the vessels in the program. The ZIVIO is a
forty-two foot sailing vessel built in Bremen, Germany, in 1963
and imported into the U.S. by Cluett & Company of Greenwich,
Connecticut. You will be teaching a beginning sailing course in
Rockland Harbor and the immediate waters of Penobscot Bay and an
introduction to cruising/bareboating course on the waters of
Penobscot Bay. Some of the time you will have students spend the
night on board but there will be no night sailing.
ISSUE:
Whether the use of the ZIVIO for a sailing school violates
46 U.S.C. App. 289.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
The U.S. Customs Service enforces various navigation laws
which deal with the use of vessels in what is recognized as
coastwise trade. Included among these laws is the Act of June
19, 1886, as amended (24 Stat. 81; 46 U.S.C. App. 289,
sometimes called the coastwise passenger law), which provides
that:
- 2 -
No foreign vessel shall transport passengers between
ports or
places in the United States either directly or by way
of a foreign
port, under a penalty of $200 for each passenger so
transported
and landed.
Pursuant to 4.50(b), Customs Regulations (19 CFR
4.50(b)), the word "passenger," for purposes of the above-cited
statute, is defined as "...any person carried on a vessel who is
not connected with the operation of such vessel, her navigation,
ownership, or business."
Customs has consistently interpreted the prohibition set
forth in 46 U.S.C. App. 289 to apply to all vessels except
United States-built, owned, and properly documented vessels (see
46 U.S.C. 12106, 12110; and 46 U.S.C. App. 883).
Furthermore, Customs has promulgated regulations pursuant to 46
U.S.C. App. 289. These regulations may be found in title 19,
Code of Federal Regulations, 4.80a.
The coastwise laws generally apply to points in the
territorial sea, defined as the belt, three nautical miles wide,
seaward of the territorial sea baseline, and to points located in
internal waters, landward of the territorial sea baseline, in
cases where the baseline and coastline differ.
In our interpretation of 46 U.S.C. App. 289, Customs has
long-held that a person transported on a vessel as a student in
bona fide instructional courses in oceanography or sailing and
navigation/seamanship, when the presence of that person is
required on board the vessel as a part of his or her course or
training, is not a passenger for purposes of the coastwise laws
(Customs ruling letter 108166, dated February 27, 1986). This is
so regardless of whether a fee is charged for the aforementioned
instruction.
Accordingly, the use of the ZIVIO as for purposes of a
sailing school is not a use in the coastwise trade in violation
of 46 U.S.C. App. 289.
HOLDING:
The use of the ZIVIO for a sailing school does not violate
46 U.S.C. App. 289.
Sincerely,
Jerry Laderberg
Chief
Entry Procedures and Carriers
Branch