Coastwise Trade; Foreign-built Vessel; Sailing School; 46U.S.C. App.  289

HQ 114074 August 21, 1997 VES-3-19-RR:IT:EC 114074 GEV CATEGORY: Carriers Rich Kambak 273 E. Second Street Benicia, California 94510 RE: Coastwise Trade; Foreign-built Vessel; Sailing School; 46 U.S.C. App.  289 Dear Mr. Kambak: This is in response to your letter of April 11, 1997, to President Clinton, regarding your proposed use of the RUSSAMEE. As you know, your letter was referred to the U.S. Customs Service by Captain M. M. Rosecrans, U.S. Coast Guard, Director, National Maritime Center. Our ruling in this matter is set forth below. FACTS: The RUSSAMEE is a schooner built in Bangkok that is based at the San Diego Yacht Club. You are looking for investors to purchase this vessel so that it can be used as a sailing school and behavior modification program for at-risk youth and court-referred adolescents. ISSUE: Whether the use of the RUSSAMEE for a sailing school violates 46 U.S.C. App.  289. LAW AND ANALYSIS: The U.S. Customs Service enforces various navigation laws which deal with the use of vessels in what is recognized as coastwise trade. Included among these laws is the Act of June 19, 1886, as amended (24 Stat. 81; 46 U.S.C. App.  289, sometimes called the coastwise passenger law), which provides that: No foreign vessel shall transport passengers between ports or places in the United States either directly or by way of a foreign port, under a penalty of $200 for each passenger so transported and landed. - 2 - Pursuant to  4.50(b), Customs Regulations (19 CFR  4.50(b)), the word "passenger," for purposes of the above-cited statute, is defined as "...any person carried on a vessel who is not connected with the operation of such vessel, her navigation, ownership, or business." Customs has consistently interpreted the prohibition set forth in 46 U.S.C. App.  289 to apply to all vessels except United States-built, owned, and properly documented vessels (see 46 U.S.C.  12106, 12110; and 46 U.S.C. App.  883). Furthermore, Customs has promulgated regulations pursuant to 46 U.S.C. App.  289. These regulations may be found in title 19, Code of Federal Regulations,  4.80a. The coastwise laws generally apply to points in the territorial sea, defined as the belt, three nautical miles wide, seaward of the territorial sea baseline, and to points located in internal waters, landward of the territorial sea baseline, in cases where the baseline and coastline differ. In our interpretation of 46 U.S.C. App.  289, Customs has long-held that a person transported on a vessel as a student in bona fide instructional courses in oceanography or sailing and navigation/seamanship, when the presence of that person is required on board the vessel as a part of his or her course or training, is not a passenger for purposes of the coastwise laws (Customs ruling letter 108166, dated February 27, 1986). This is so regardless of whether a fee is charged for the aforementioned instruction. Accordingly, the use of the RUSSAMEE as for purposes of a sailing school is not a use in the coastwise trade in violation of 46 U.S.C. App.  289. HOLDING: The use of the RUSSAMEE for a sailing school does not violate 46 U.S.C. App.  289. Sincerely, Jerry Laderberg Acting Chief Entry and Carrier Rulings Branch