---
kind: "section"
citation: "33 U.S.C. § 1603"
title: "33"
title_heading: "Navigation and Navigable Waters"
number: "1603"
heading: "Vessels subject to International Regulations"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/33/1603"
units:
  - "Chapter 30 — International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea"
---

# §1603. Vessels subject to International Regulations


Except as provided in [section 1604 of this title](/usc/33/1604.md) and subject to the provisions of [section 1605 of this title](/usc/33/1605.md), the International Regulations, as proclaimed under [section 1602 of this title](/usc/33/1602.md), shall be applicable to, and shall be complied with by—

- (1) all [vessels](/usc/33/1601.md?p=1), public and private, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, while upon the [high seas](/usc/33/1601.md?p=2) or in waters connected therewith navigable by seagoing [vessels](/usc/33/1601.md?p=1), and
- (2) all other [vessels](/usc/33/1601.md?p=1) when on waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 95–75, § 4, July 27, 1977, 91 Stat. 309.)