---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 42103"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "42103"
heading: "No preference to Government-owned vessels"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/42103"
units:
  - "Subtitle IV — Regulation of Ocean Shipping"
  - "Part B — Actions To Address Foreign Practices"
  - "Chapter 421 — Regulations Affecting Shipping in Foreign Trade"
---

# §42103. No preference to Government-owned vessels


A regulation may not give a vessel owned by the United States Government a preference over a vessel owned by citizens of the United States and documented under the laws of the United States.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 109–304, § 7, Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1549.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 42103 | 46 App.:876(d). | June 5, 1920, ch. 250, § 19(d), 41 Stat. 995; Ex. Ord. No. 6166, § 12, eff. June 10, 1933; June 29, 1936, ch. 858, title II, § 204, title IX, § 904, 49 Stat. 1987, 2016; Pub. L. 105–258, title III, § 301, Oct. 14, 1998, 112 Stat. 1915. |