---
kind: "section"
citation: "33 U.S.C. § 2707"
title: "33"
title_heading: "Navigation and Navigable Waters"
number: "2707"
heading: "Recovery by foreign claimants"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/33/2707"
units:
  - "Chapter 40 — Oil Pollution"
  - "Subchapter I — Oil Pollution Liability and Compensation"
---

# §2707. Recovery by foreign claimants

- (a) **Required showing by foreign claimants—**
  - (1) **In general—** In addition to satisfying the other requirements of this Act, to recover [removal costs](/usc/33/2701.md?p=31) or [damages](/usc/33/2701.md?p=5) resulting from an [incident](/usc/33/2701.md?p=14) a foreign [claimant](/usc/33/2701.md?p=4) shall demonstrate that—
    - (A) the [claimant](/usc/33/2701.md?p=4) has not been otherwise compensated for the [removal costs](/usc/33/2701.md?p=31) or [damages](/usc/33/2701.md?p=5); and
    - (B) recovery is authorized by a treaty or executive agreement between the United States and the [claimant](/usc/33/2701.md?p=4)’s country, or the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Attorney General and other appropriate officials, has certified that the [claimant](/usc/33/2701.md?p=4)’s country provides a comparable remedy for United States [claimants](/usc/33/2701.md?p=4).
  - (2) **Exceptions—** [Paragraph (1)(B)](#a-1-B) shall not apply with respect to recovery by a resident of Canada in the case of an [incident](/usc/33/2701.md?p=14) described in [subsection (b)(4)](#b-4).
- (b) **Discharges in foreign countries—** A foreign [claimant](/usc/33/2701.md?p=4) may make a [claim](/usc/33/2701.md?p=3) for [removal costs](/usc/33/2701.md?p=31) and [damages](/usc/33/2701.md?p=5) resulting from a [discharge](/usc/33/2701.md?p=7), or substantial threat of a [discharge](/usc/33/2701.md?p=7), of [oil](/usc/33/2701.md?p=23) in or on the territorial sea, internal waters, or adjacent shoreline of a foreign country, only if the [discharge](/usc/33/2701.md?p=7) is from—
  - (1) an [Outer Continental Shelf facility](/usc/33/2701.md?p=25) or a deepwater port;
  - (2) a [vessel](/usc/33/2701.md?p=37) in the [navigable waters](/usc/33/2701.md?p=21);
  - (3) a [vessel](/usc/33/2701.md?p=37) carrying [oil](/usc/33/2701.md?p=23) as cargo between 2 places in the United States; or
  - (4) a tanker that received the [oil](/usc/33/2701.md?p=23) at the terminal of the pipeline constructed under the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act ([43 U.S.C. 1651](/usc/43/1651.md) et seq.), for transportation to a place in the United States, and the [discharge](/usc/33/2701.md?p=7) or threat occurs prior to delivery of the [oil](/usc/33/2701.md?p=23) to that place.
- (c) **“Foreign claimant” defined—** In this section, the term “foreign [claimant](/usc/33/2701.md?p=4)” means—
  - (1) a [person](/usc/33/2701.md?p=27) residing in a foreign country;
  - (2) the government of a foreign country; and
  - (3) an agency or political subdivision of a foreign country.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 101–380, title I, § 1007, Aug. 18, 1990, 104 Stat. 496.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### References in Text

This Act, referred to in subsec. (a)(1), is Pub. L. 101–380, Aug. 18, 1990, 104 Stat. 484, known as the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 2701 of this title and Tables.

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act, referred to in subsec. (b)(4), is title II of Pub. L. 93–153, Nov. 16, 1973, 87 Stat. 584, which is classified generally to chapter 34 (§ 1651 et seq.) of Title 43, Public Lands. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 1651 of Title 43 and Tables.