International Navigational Rules Act
PL 95-75 (H.R.186), enacted 07/27/1977

91 STAT. 308 
PUBLIC LAW 95-75—JULY 27, 1977 
Public Law 95-75 
95th Congress 
An Act 
July 27, 1977 
[H.R. 186] 
International 
Navigational 
Rules Act 
of 1977. 
33 u s e 1601 
note. 
Definitions. 
33 u s e 1601. 
Proclamation 
authorization. 
33 u s e 1602. 
Effective date. 
eon 
tents. 
Publication in 
Federal Register. 
Amendments. 
Effective date. 
Publication in 
Federal Register. 
Presidential 
notification to 
Congress. 
Transmittal to 
President. 
To implement the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing 
Collisions at Sea, 1972. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assemhled^ That this Act may be 
cited as the "International Navigational Rules Act of 1977". 
SEC. 2. For the purposes of this Act— 
(1) "vessel" means every description of watercraft, including 
nondisplacement craft and seaplanes, used or capable of being 
, used as a means of transportation on water; and 
(2) "high seas" means all parts of the sea that are not included 
in the territorial sea or in the internal waters of any nation. 
SEC. 3. (a) The President is authorized to proclaim the International 
Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 
(hereinafter 
referred to as the "International Regulations"). The eifective date of 
the International Regulations for the United States shall be specified 
in the proclamation and shall be the date as near as possible to, but no 
earlier than, the date on which the Convention on the International 
Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 
(hereinafter 
referred to as the "Convention"), signed at London, England, under 
date of October 20, 1972, enters into force for the United States. The 
International Regulations proclaimed shall consist of the rules and 
other annexes attached to the Convention. 
(b) The proclamation shall include the International Regulations 
and shall be published in the Federal Register. On the date specified 
in the proclamation, the International Regulations shall enter into 
force for the United States and shall have effect as if enacted by 
statute. 
(c) Subject to the provisions of subsection (d) hereof, the Presi-
dent is also authorized to proclaim any amendment to the Interna-
tional Regulations hereafter adopted in accordance with the provisions 
of article VI of the Convention, and to which the United States does 
not object. The effective date of the amendment shall be specified in 
the proclamation and shall be in accordance with the provisions of the 
said article VI. The proclamation shall include the adopted amend-
ment and shall be published in the Federal Register. On the date speci-
fied in the proclamation, the amendment shall enter into force for the 
United States as a constituent part of the International Regulations, 
as amended, and shall have effect as if enacted by statute. 
(d)(1) Upon receiving a proposed amendment to the International 
Regulations, communicated to the United States pursuant to clause 3 
of article V I of the Convention, the President shall promptly notify 
the Congress of the proposed amendment. If, within sixty days after 
receipt of such notification by the Congress, or ten days prior to the 
date under clause 4 of article V I for registering an objection, which-
ever comes first, the Congress adopts a resolution of disapproval, such 
resolution shall be transmitted to the President and shall constitute 
an objection by the ITnited States to the proposed amendment. If, upon 
receiving notification of the resolution of disapproval, the President 
has not already notified the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consulta-
PUBLIC LAW 95-75—JULY 27, 1977 
91 STAT. 309 
tive Organization of an objection to the United States to the proposed 
amendment, he shall promptly do so. 
(2) For the purposes of this subsection, "resolution of disapproval" 
means a concurrent resolution initiated by either House of the Con-
gress, the matter after the resolving clause of which is to read as 
follows: "That the 
(the 
concurring) does not 
favor the proposed amendment to the International Regulations for 
Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972, relating to 
, and 
forwarded to the Congress by the President on 
.", the 
first blank space therein to be filled with the name of the resolving 
House, the second blank space therein to be filled with the name of the 
concurring House, the third blank space therein to be filled with the 
subject matter of the proposed amendment, and the fourth blank space 
therein to be filled with the day, month, and year. 
(3) Any proposed amendment transmitted to the Congress by the 
President and any resolution of disapproval pertaining thereto shall 
be referred, in the House of Representatives, to the Committee on 
Merchant Marino and Fisheries, and shall be referred, in the Senate, 
to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. 
SEC, 4, Except as provided in section 5 and subject to the provisions 
of section 6, the International Regulations, as proclaimed under sec-
tion 3, shall be applicable to, and shall be complied with by— 
(1) all vessels, public and private, subject to the jurisdiction of 
the United States, while upon the high seas or in waters connected 
therewith navigable by seagoing vessels, and 
(2) all other vessels when on waters subject to the jurisdiction 
of the United States. 
SEC. 5. (a) The International Regulations shall not be applicable to 
vessels while— 
(1) in the harbors, rivers, and other inland waters of the United 
States, as defined in section 1 of the Act of June 7, 1897 (30 Stat. 
96), as amended (33 U.S.C. 154), 
(2) in the Great Lakes of North America and their connecting 
and tributary waters, as defined in section 1 of the Act of Febru-
ary 8,1895 (28 Stat. 645), as amended (33 U.S.C. 241), nor while 
(3) in the Red River of the North and rivers emptying into the 
Gulf of Mexico and their tributaries, as defined in section 4233 of 
the Revised Statutes of the United States, as amended (33 U.S.C. 
301). 
(b) Whenever a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United 
States is in the territorial waters of a foreign state the International 
Regulations shall be applicable to, and shall be complied with by, that 
vessel to the extent that the laws and regulations of the foreign state 
are not in conflict therewith. 
SEC. 6. (a) Any requirement of the International Regulations with 
respect to the number, position, range, or arc of visibility of lights, 
with respect to shapes, or with respect to the disposition and charac-
teristics of sound-signaling appliances, shall not be applicable to a 
vessel of special construction or purpose, whenever the Secretary of 
the Navy, for any vessel of the Navy, or the Secretary of the depart-
ment in which the Coast Guard is operating, for any other vessel of the 
"Resolution 
of disapproval. 
Referral to 
congressional 
committees. 
33 use 1603. 
33 use 1604. 
Certain Navy and 
Coast Guard 
vessels, 
exemption. 
33 u s e 1605. 
91 STAT. 310 
PUBLIC LAW 95-75—JULY 27, 1977 
Publication in 
Federal Register. 
Rules. 
33 u s e 1606. 
Publication in 
Federal Register. 
Rules and 
regulations. 
33 u s e 1607. 
Penalties. 
33 u s e 1608. 
Notice and 
hearing. 
United States, shall certify that the vessel cannot comply fully with 
that requirement without interfering wath the special function of the 
vessel. 
(b) Whenever a certification is issued under the authority of subsec-
tion (a) hereof, the vessel involved shall comply with the requirement 
as to which the certification is made to the extent that the Secretary 
issuing the certification shall certify as the closest possible compliance 
by that vessel. 
(c) Notice of the certifications issued pursuant to subsections (a) 
and (b) hereof shall be published in the Federal Register. 
SEC. 7. (a) The Secretary of the Navy is authorized to promulgate 
special rules with respect to additional station or signal lights or 
whistle signals for ships of war or vessels proceeding under convoy, 
and the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is oper-
ating is authorized to promulgate special rules with respect to addi-
tional station or signal lights for fishing vessels engaged in fishing as 
a fleet. 
(b) The additional station or signal lights or w^histle signals con-
tained in the special rules authorized under subsection (a) hereof shall 
be, as far as possible, such that they cannot be mistaken for any light 
or signal authorized by the International Regidations. Notice of such 
special rules shall be published in the Federal Register and, after the 
effective date specified in such notice, they shall have effect as if they 
were a part of the International Regulations. 
SEC. 8. The Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard 
is operating is authorized to promulgate such reasonable I'ules and 
regulations as are necessary to implement the provisions of this Act 
and the International Regulations proclaimed hereunder. 
SEC. 9. (a) Whoever operates a vessel, subject to the provisions of 
this Act, in violation of this Act or of any regulation promulgated 
pursuant to section 8, shall be liable to a civil penalty of not more than 
$500 for each such violation. 
(b) Every vessel subject to the provisions of this Act, other than a 
public vessel being used for noncommercial purposes, which is operated 
in violation of this Act or of any regulation promulgated pursuant to 
section 8, shall be liable to a civil penalty of $500 for each such viola-
tion, for which penalty the vessel may be seized and proceeded against 
in the district court of the United States of any district within which 
such vessel may be found. 
(c) The Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is 
operating may assess any civil penalty authorized by this section. No 
such penalty may be assessed until the person charged, or the owner of 
the vessel charged, as appropriate, shall have been given notice of the 
violation involved and an opportunity for a hearing. For good cause 
shown, the Secretary may remit, mitigate, or compromise any penalty 
assessed. Upon the failure of the person charged, or the owner of the 
vessel charged, to pay an assessed penalty, as it may have been miti-
gated or compromised, the Secretary may request the Attorney Gen-
eral to commence an action in the appropriate district court of the 
United States for collection of the penalty as assessed, without regard 
to the amount involved, together with such other relief as may be 
appropriate. 
PUBLIC LAW 95-75—JULY 27, 1977 
91 STAT. 311 
SEC. 10. Public Law 88-131 (77 Stat. 194) is repealed, effective on 33 USC 1601 
the date on which the International Regulations enter into force for "ote. 
the United States. The reference in any other law to Public Law ^^P^*^' 
88-131, or to the regulations set forth in section 4 of that Act, shall 33^uSiC losl 
be considered a reference, respectively, to this Act, or to the Interna- ^
^ 
tional Regulations proclaimed hereunder. 
Approved July 27, 1977. 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 
HOUSE REPORT No. 95-447 (Comm. on Merchant Marine and Fisheries). 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 123 (1977): 
July 12, considered and passed House. 
July 13, considered and passed Senate. 
WEEKLY COMPILATION OF PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS, Vol 13, No. 31: 
July 28, Presidential statement.