---
kind: "section"
citation: "33 U.S.C. § 3006"
title: "33"
title_heading: "Navigation and Navigable Waters"
number: "3006"
heading: "Obligated service requirement"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/33/3006"
units:
  - "Chapter 43 — National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps"
  - "Subchapter I — General Provisions"
---

# §3006. Obligated service requirement

- (a) **In general—**
  - (1) **Regulations—** The [Secretary](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-6) shall prescribe the obligated service requirements for appointments, training, promotions, separations, continuations, and retirements of [officers](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-3) not otherwise covered by law.
  - (2) **Written agreements—** The [Secretary](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-6) and [officers](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-3) shall enter into written agreements that describe the [officers](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-3)’ obligated service requirements prescribed under [paragraph (1)](#a-1) in return for such appointments, training, promotions, separations, continuations, and retirements as the [Secretary](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-6) considers appropriate.
- (b) **Repayment for failure to satisfy requirements—**
  - (1) **In general—** The [Secretary](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-6) may require an [officer](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-3) who fails to meet the service requirements prescribed under [subsection (a)(1)](#a-1) to reimburse the [Secretary](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-6) in an amount that bears the same ratio to the total costs of the training provided to that [officer](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-3) by the [Secretary](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-6) as the unserved portion of [active duty](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-1) bears to the total period of [active duty](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-1) the [officer](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-3) agreed to serve.
  - (2) **Obligation as debt to United States—** An obligation to reimburse the [Secretary](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-6) under [paragraph (1)](#b-1) is, for all purposes, a debt owed to the United States.
  - (3) **Discharge in bankruptcy—** A discharge in bankruptcy under [title 11](/usc/11.md) that is entered less than five years after the termination of a written agreement entered into under [subsection (a)(2)](#a-2) does not discharge the individual signing the agreement from a debt arising under such agreement.
- (c) **Waiver or suspension of compliance—** The [Secretary](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-6) may waive the service obligation of an [officer](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-3) who—
  - (1) becomes unqualified to serve on [active duty](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-1) in the commissioned [officer](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-3) corps of the [Administration](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-7) because of a circumstance not within the control of that [officer](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-3); or
  - (2) is—
    - (A) not physically qualified for appointment; and
    - (B) determined to be unqualified for service in the commissioned [officer](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-3) corps of the [Administration](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-7) because of a physical or medical condition that was not the result of the [officer](/usc/33/3002.md?p=b-3)’s own willful misconduct.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 107–372, title II, § 216, as added Pub. L. 116–259, title I, § 103(a), Dec. 23, 2020, 134 Stat. 1155; Pub. L. 119–60, div. H, title LXXXIV, § 8405, Dec. 18, 2025, 139 Stat. 1913.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2025—Subsec. (c)(2)(B). Pub. L. 119–60 substituted “willful misconduct” for “misconduct or grossly negligent conduct”.