---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 70033"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "70033"
heading: "Limitation on application to foreign vessels"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/70033"
units:
  - "Subtitle VII — Security and Drug Enforcement"
  - "Chapter 700 — Ports and Waterways Safety"
  - "Subchapter IV — Definitions, Regulations, Enforcement, Investigatory Powers, Applicability"
---

# §70033. Limitation on application to foreign vessels


Except pursuant to international treaty, convention, or agreement, to which the United States is a party, subchapters I through III and this subchapter shall not apply to any foreign vessel that is not destined for, or departing from, a port or place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and that is in—

- (1) innocent passage through the territorial sea of the United States; or
- (2) transit through the [navigable waters of the United States](/usc/46/70031.md?p=3) that form a part of an international strait.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 115–282, title IV, § 401(a), Dec. 4, 2018, 132 Stat. 4261; amended Pub. L. 116–283, div. G, title LVXXXV [LXXXV], § 8507(a)(6), Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 4753.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2021—Pub. L. 116–283 substituted “I through III” for “A through C” in introductory provisions.