---
kind: "section"
citation: "33 U.S.C. § 2503"
title: "33"
title_heading: "Navigation and Navigable Waters"
number: "2503"
heading: "Prohibition"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/33/2503"
units:
  - "Chapter 38 — Dumping of Medical Waste by Public Vessels"
---

# §2503. Prohibition


After 6 months after November 18, 1988, no [public vessel](/usc/33/2502.md?p=2) shall dispose of [potentially infectious medical waste](/usc/33/2502.md?p=1) into ocean waters unless—

- (1)
  - (A) the health or safety of individuals on board the vessel is threatened; or
  - (B) during time of war or a declared national emergency;
- (2) the waste is disposed of beyond 50 nautical miles from the nearest land; and
- (3)
  - (A) in the case of a [public vessel](/usc/33/2502.md?p=2) which is not a submersible, the waste is sterilized, properly packaged, and sufficiently weighted to prevent the waste from coming ashore after disposal; and
  - (B) in the case of a [public vessel](/usc/33/2502.md?p=2) which is a submersible, the waste is properly packaged and sufficiently weighted to prevent the waste from coming ashore after disposal.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 100–688, title III, § 3104, Nov. 18, 1988, 102 Stat. 4152.)