H. R. 3360 
One Hundred Eleventh Congress 
of the 
United States of America 
AT THE SECOND SESSION 
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday, 
the fifth day of January, two thousand and ten 
An Act 
To amend title 46, United States Code, to establish requirements to ensure the 
security and safety of passengers and crew on cruise vessels, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cruise Vessel 
Security and Safety Act of 2010’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for this Act 
is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings. 
Sec. 3. Cruise vessel security and safety requirements. 
Sec. 4. Offset of administrative costs. 
Sec. 5. Budgetary effects. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) There are approximately 200 overnight ocean-going 
cruise vessels worldwide. The average ocean-going cruise vessel 
carries 2,000 passengers with a crew of 950 people. 
(2) In 2007 alone, approximately 12,000,000 passengers 
were projected to take a cruise worldwide. 
(3) Passengers on cruise vessels have an inadequate appre-
ciation of their potential vulnerability to crime while on ocean 
voyages, and those who may be victimized lack the information 
they need to understand their legal rights or to know whom 
to contact for help in the immediate aftermath of the crime. 
(4) Sexual violence, the disappearance of passengers from 
vessels on the high seas, and other serious crimes have occurred 
during luxury cruises. 
(5) Over the last 5 years, sexual assault and physical 
assaults on cruise vessels were the leading crimes investigated 
by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with regard to cruise 
vessel incidents. 
(6) These crimes at sea can involve attacks both by pas-
sengers and crewmembers on other passengers and crew-
members. 
(7) Except for United States flagged vessels, or foreign 
flagged vessels operating in an area subject to the direct juris-
diction of the United States, there are no Federal statutes 
or regulations that explicitly require cruise lines to report 
alleged crimes to United States Government officials. 
(8) It is not known precisely how often crimes occur on 
cruise vessels or exactly how many people have disappeared
H. R. 3360—2 
during ocean voyages because cruise line companies do not 
make comprehensive, crime-related data readily available to 
the public. 
(9) Obtaining reliable crime-related cruise data from 
governmental sources can be difficult, because multiple coun-
tries may be involved when a crime occurs on the high seas, 
including the flag country for the vessel, the country of citizen-
ship of particular passengers, and any countries having special 
or maritime jurisdiction. 
(10) It can be difficult for professional crime investigators 
to immediately secure an alleged crime scene on a cruise vessel, 
recover evidence of an onboard offense, and identify or interview 
potential witnesses to the alleged crime. 
(11) Most cruise vessels that operate into and out of United 
States ports are registered under the laws of another country, 
and investigations and prosecutions of crimes against pas-
sengers and crewmembers may involve the laws and authorities 
of multiple nations. 
(12) The Department of Homeland Security has found it 
necessary to establish 500-yard security zones around cruise 
vessels to limit the risk of terrorist attack. Recently piracy 
has dramatically increased throughout the world. 
(13) To enhance the safety of cruise passengers, the owners 
of cruise vessels could upgrade, modernize, and retrofit the 
safety and security infrastructure on such vessels by installing 
peep holes in passenger room doors, installing security video 
cameras in targeted areas, limiting access to passenger rooms 
to select staff during specific times, and installing acoustic 
hailing and warning devices capable of communicating over 
distances. 
SEC. 3. CRUISE VESSEL SECURITY AND SAFETY REQUIREMENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 35 of title 46, United States Code, 
is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘§ 3507. Passenger vessel security and safety requirements 
‘‘(a) VESSEL DESIGN, EQUIPMENT, CONSTRUCTION, AND RETRO-
FITTING REQUIREMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each vessel to which this subsection 
applies shall comply with the following design and construction 
standards: 
‘‘(A) The vessel shall be equipped with ship rails that 
are located not less than 42 inches above the cabin deck. 
‘‘(B) Each passenger stateroom and crew cabin shall 
be equipped with entry doors that include peep holes or 
other means of visual identification. 
‘‘(C) For any vessel the keel of which is laid after 
the date of enactment of the Cruise Vessel Security and 
Safety Act of 2010, each passenger stateroom and crew 
cabin shall be equipped with— 
‘‘(i) security latches; and 
‘‘(ii) time-sensitive key technology. 
‘‘(D) The vessel shall integrate technology that can 
be used for capturing images of passengers or detecting 
passengers who have fallen overboard, to the extent that 
such technology is available.