---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 50306"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "50306"
heading: "Requiring testimony and records in investigations"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/50306"
units:
  - "Subtitle V — Merchant Marine"
  - "Part A — General"
  - "Chapter 503 — Administrative"
---

# §50306. Requiring testimony and records in investigations

- (a) **In General.—** In conducting an investigation that the [Secretary](/usc/46/53101.md?p=8) of Transportation considers necessary and proper to carry out this subtitle, the [Secretary](/usc/46/53101.md?p=8) may administer oaths, take evidence, and subpoena [persons](/usc/46/53101.md?p=6) to testify and produce documents relevant to the matter under investigation. [Persons](/usc/46/53101.md?p=6) may be required to attend or produce documents from any place in the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) at any designated place of hearing.
- (b) **Fees and Mileage.—** [Persons](/usc/46/53101.md?p=6) subpoenaed by the [Secretary](/usc/46/53101.md?p=8) under [subsection (a)](#a) shall be paid the same fees and mileage paid to witnesses in the courts of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10).
- (c) **Enforcement of Subpoenas.—** If a [person](/usc/46/53101.md?p=6) disobeys a subpoena issued under [subsection (a)](#a), the [Secretary](/usc/46/53101.md?p=8) may seek an order enforcing the subpoena from the district court of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) for the district in which the [person](/usc/46/53101.md?p=6) resides or does business. Process may be served in the judicial district in which the [person](/usc/46/53101.md?p=6) resides or is found. The court may issue an order to obey the subpoena and punish a refusal to obey as a contempt of court.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 109–304, § 8(b), Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1566.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 50306 | 46 App.:1124. | June 29, 1936, ch. 858, title II, § 214, 49 Stat. 1991; June 23, 1938, ch. 600, § 3, 52 Stat. 954; Pub. L. 91–452, title II, § 241, Oct. 15, 1970, 84 Stat. 930; Pub. L. 97–31, § 12(72), Aug. 6, 1981, 95 Stat. 159; Pub. L. 98–237, § 20(a), Mar. 20, 1984, 98 Stat. 89; Pub. L. 98–595, § 2, Oct. 30, 1984, 98 Stat. 3132. |

In subsection (a), the word “affirmations” is omitted as unnecessary because of the definition of “oath” in 1 U.S.C. 1. The words “or any territory, district, or possession thereof” are omitted as unnecessary because of the definition of “United States” in chapter 1 of the revised title.

Subsection (c) is substituted for the source provision to eliminate unnecessary words.