---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 42305"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "42305"
heading: "Refusal of clearance and entry"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/42305"
units:
  - "Subtitle IV — Regulation of Ocean Shipping"
  - "Part B — Actions To Address Foreign Practices"
  - "Chapter 423 — Foreign Shipping Practices"
---

# §42305. Refusal of clearance and entry


Subject to [section 42306 of this title](/usc/46/42306.md), whenever the Federal Maritime [Commission](/usc/46/42501.md?p=1) determines that the conditions specified in [section 42302(a) of this title](/usc/46/42302.md?p=a) exist, then at the request of the [Commission](/usc/46/42501.md?p=1)—

- (1) the [Secretary](/usc/46/2101.md?p=46) of Homeland Security shall refuse the clearance required by [section 60105 of this title](/usc/46/60105.md) to a vessel of a [foreign carrier](/usc/46/42301.md?p=b-1) that is identified by the [Commission](/usc/46/42501.md?p=1) under [section 42304 of this title](/usc/46/42304.md); and
- (2) the [Secretary](/usc/46/2101.md?p=46) of the department in which the [Coast Guard](/usc/46/2101.md?p=2) is operating shall—
  - (A) deny entry, for purposes of oceanborne trade, of a vessel of a [foreign carrier](/usc/46/42301.md?p=b-1) that is identified by the [Commission](/usc/46/42501.md?p=1) under [section 42304 of this title](/usc/46/42304.md), to a port or place in the United States or the [navigable waters of the United States](/usc/46/2101.md?p=25); or
  - (B) detain the vessel at the port or place in the United States from which it is about to depart for another port or place in the United States.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 109–304, § 7, Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1553.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 42305 | 46 App.:1710a(f). | Pub. L. 100–418, title X, § 10002(f), Aug. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 1572. |

Before paragraph (1), the words “Subject to section 42306 of this title” are added to alert the reader to the application of that section. The word “determines” is substituted for “finds” for consistency with section 42306 of the revised title.

In paragraph (1), the words “Secretary of Homeland Security” are substituted for “collector of customs at any port or place of destination in the United States” because the functions of the Customs Service and of the Secretary of the Treasury relating thereto were transferred to the Secretary of Homeland Security by section 403(1) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107–296, 116 Stat. 2178). The functions of the collector of customs previously were vested in the Secretary of the Treasury by Reorganization Plan No. 26 of 1950, and the office of collector of customs previously was abolished by Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1965.