II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 71 

To extend the customs waters of the United States from 12 nautical miles 

to 24 nautical miles from the baselines of the United States, consistent 

with Presidential Proclamation 7219. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 25, 2023 

Mr. SCOTT of Florida (for himself, Ms. SINEMA, and Mr. LANKFORD) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To extend the customs waters of the United States from 

12 nautical miles to 24 nautical miles from the baselines 

of the United States, consistent with Presidential Proclamation 7219. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Extending Limits of 

5 United States Customs Waters Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings: 


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1 (1) On December 27, 1988, Presidential Procla2 mation 5928 extended the territorial sea of the 

3 United States from 3 nautical miles to 12 nautical 

4 miles from the baselines of the United States, deter5 mined in accordance with international law. 

6 (2) On August 2, 1999, Presidential Proclama7 tion 7219 extended the contiguous zone of the 

8 United States from 12 nautical miles to 24 nautical 

9 miles from the baselines of the United States, deter10 mined in accordance with international law, but in 

11 no case within the territorial sea of another country. 

12 (3) Customary international law, in its current 

13 form, as provided for in the United Nations Conven14 tion on the Law of the Sea and consistent with Pres15 idential Proclamations 5928 and 7219, reflects 

16 that— 

17 (A) every coastal State has the right to es18 tablish the breadth of its territorial sea to a 

19 limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles, measured 

20 from its baselines; 

21 (B) a coastal State’s contiguous zone may 

22 not extend beyond 24 nautical miles from the 

23 baselines from which the breadth of the terri24 torial sea is measured; 


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1 (C) a coastal State has exclusive jurisdic2 tion over its flagged vessels within its territorial 

3 seas and upon the high seas; and 

4 (D) in the contiguous zone of a coastal 

5 State, the State may— 

6 (i) exercise the control necessary to 

7 prevent the infringement of its customs, 

8 fiscal, immigration, or sanitary laws and 

9 regulations within its territory or the terri10 torial sea; and 

11 (ii) punish the infringement of those 

12 laws and regulations committed within its 

13 territory or the territorial sea. 

14 (4) Customary international law, in its current 

15 form, as provided for in the United Nations Conven16 tion on the Law of the Sea, recognizes that outside 

17 the territorial waters of a coastal State, the vessels 

18 and aircraft of all countries enjoy the high seas free19 doms of navigation and overflight. Pursuant to those 

20 freedoms and the requirements of international 

21 law— 

22 (A) before boarding a vessel outside of the 

23 territorial waters of a coastal State, but within 

24 the contiguous zone of that State, authorities of 

25 the State are generally required to have reasonVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:07 Jan 31, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S71.IS S71

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1 able grounds to believe that the vessel is des2 tined for the State or has violated or is at3 tempting to violate the customs, fiscal, immi4 gration, or sanitary laws and regulations of that 

5 State; and 

6 (B) the hot pursuit of a foreign vessel— 

7 (i) may be undertaken when com8 petent authorities of the State have good 

9 reason to believe that the vessel or one of 

10 its boats has violated the laws and regula11 tions of that State; 

12 (ii) is required to be commenced when 

13 the foreign vessels or one of its boats is 

14 within the internal waters, the territorial 

15 sea, or the contiguous zone of the State, 

16 and may be continued outside the terri17 torial sea or the contiguous zone only if 

18 the pursuit has not been interrupted; and 

19 (iii) in a case in which the foreign ves20 sels is within the contiguous zone of the 

21 State, may be undertaken only if there has 

22 been a violation of the rights for the pro23 tection of which the contiguous zone was 

24 established. 


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1 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con2 gress that— 

3 (1) it is necessary to extend the authority of 

4 U.S. Customs and Border Protection to conduct law 

5 enforcement activities in the customs waters of the 

6 United States from 12 nautical miles to 24 nautical 

7 miles because as modern technology continues to 

8 change and expand rapidly, the performance and 

9 speed of maritime vessels, including those used to 

10 violate the laws of the United States or evade 

11 United States law enforcement agents, improve, and 

12 the limit of 12 nautical miles no longer provides law 

13 enforcement agents with sufficient time to interdict 

14 such vessels; and 

15 (2) the extension of the customs waters of the 

16 United States to the limits permitted by inter17 national law will advance the law enforcement and 

18 public health interests of the United States. 

19 SEC. 3. EXTENSION OF CUSTOMS WATERS OF THE UNITED 

20 STATES. 

21 (a) TARIFF ACT OF 1930.—Section 401(j) of the 

22 Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1401(j)) is amended— 

23 (1) by striking ‘‘means, in the case’’ and insert24 ing the following: ‘‘means— 

25 ‘‘(1) in the case’’; 


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1 (2) by striking ‘‘of the coast of the United 

2 States’’ and inserting ‘‘from the baselines of the 

3 United States (determined in accordance with inter4 national law)’’; 

5 (3) by striking ‘‘and, in the case’’ and inserting 

6 the following: ‘‘; and 

7 ‘‘(2) in the case’’; and 

8 (4) by striking ‘‘the waters within four leagues 

9 of the coast of the United States.’’ and inserting the 

10 following: ‘‘the waters within— 

11 ‘‘(A) the territorial sea of the United 

12 States, to the limits permitted by international 

13 law in accordance with Presidential Proclama14 tion 5928 of December 27, 1988; and 

15 ‘‘(B) the contiguous zone of the United 

16 States, to the limits permitted by international 

17 law in accordance with Presidential Proclama18 tion 7219 of September 2, 1999.’’. 

19 (b) ANTI-SMUGGLING ACT.—Section 401(c) of the 

20 Anti-Smuggling Act (19 U.S.C. 1709(c)) is amended— 

21 (1) by striking ‘‘means, in the case’’ and insert22 ing the following: ‘‘means— 

23 ‘‘(1) in the case’’; 

24 (2) by striking ‘‘of the coast of the United 

25 States’’ and inserting ‘‘from the baselines of the 


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1 United States (determined in accordance with inter2 national law)’’; 

3 (3) by striking ‘‘and, in the case’’ and inserting 

4 the following: ‘‘; and 

5 ‘‘(2) in the case’’; and 

6 (4) by striking ‘‘the waters within four leagues 

7 of the coast of the United States.’’ and inserting the 

8 following: ‘‘the waters within— 

9 ‘‘(A) the territorial sea of the United 

10 States, to the limits permitted by international 

11 law in accordance with Presidential Proclama12 tion 5928 of December 27, 1988; and 

13 ‘‘(B) the contiguous zone of the United 

14 States, to the limits permitted by international 

15 law in accordance with Presidential Proclama16 tion 7219 of September 2, 1999.’’. 

17 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

18 this section shall take effect on the day after the date of 

19 the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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