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Title 46 — Shipping

Part D · Chapter 63 — Investigating Marine Casualties

§ 6301. Investigation of marine casualties

Statutory text

The Secretary shall prescribe regulations for the immediate investigation of marine casualties under this part to decide, as closely as possible—

(1)

the cause of the casualty, including the cause of any death;

(2)

whether an act of misconduct, incompetence, negligence, unskillfulness, or willful violation of law committed by any individual licensed, certificated, or documented under part E of this subtitle has contributed to the cause of the casualty, or to a death involved in the casualty, so that appropriate remedial action under chapter 77 of this title may be taken;

(3)

whether an act of misconduct, incompetence, negligence, unskillfulness, or willful violation of law committed by any person, including an officer, employee, or member of the Coast Guard, contributed to the cause of the casualty, or to a death involved in the casualty;

(4)

whether there is evidence that an act subjecting the offender to a civil penalty under the laws of the United States has been committed, so that appropriate action may be undertaken to collect the penalty;

(5)

whether there is evidence that a criminal act under the laws of the United States has been committed, so that the matter may be referred to appropriate authorities for prosecution; and

(6)

whether there is need for new laws or regulations, or amendment or repeal of existing laws or regulations, to prevent the recurrence of the casualty.

Legislative history

Reconstructed from this section’s Code source credit and amendment notes, resolved against the local Statutes at Large. Editorial notes are evidence, not the law that made the change.

  1. Pub. L. 98–89 · 97 Stat. 500

    Enacted · 46 U.S.C. § 6301

    (Pub. L. 98–89, Aug. 26, 1983, 97 Stat. 537.)

    Source evidence

    Code source credit
    (Pub. L. 98–89, Aug. 26, 1983, 97 Stat. 537.)

0 of 1 references resolved to an enrolled provision · 1 partial

Notes

historicalAndRevision
Historical and Revision Notes
Revised sectionSource section (U.S. Code)
630146:239

Section 6301 requires the Secretary to prescribe regulations for the immediate investigation of marine casualties in order to determine, as closely as possible, the cause of the casualty; whether the actions of individuals licensed, certificated, or documented have contributed to the cause of the casualty, whether the action of an individual in the Coast Guard contributed to the cause of the casualty, whether there is evidence that an act subjecting the offender to civil or criminal penalty has been committed, and whether there is a need for new laws or to amend or repeal existing laws or regulations in order to prevent a recurrence of the casualty.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Construction

Pub. L. 98–89, § 2(h), , 97 Stat. 599, provided that: “Chapter 63 of title 46 (as enacted by section 1 of this Act) does not supersede section 304(a)(1)(E) of the Independent Safety Board Act of 1974 (49 App. U.S.C. 1903(a)(1)(E)) [see 49 U.S.C. 1131(a)(1)(E), (b)].”

Transfer of Functions

For transfer of authorities, functions, personnel, and assets of the Coast Guard, including the authorities and functions of the Secretary of Transportation relating thereto, to the Department of Homeland Security, and for treatment of related references, see sections 468(b), 551(d), 552(d), and 557 of Title 6, Domestic Security, and the Department of Homeland Security Reorganization Plan of , as modified, set out as a note under section 542 of Title 6.

Credits

(Pub. L. 98–89, , 97 Stat. 537.)

Parsed from the official OLRC USLM XML in data/usc_all/usc46.xml · release point 119-108 · OLRC build 2026-03-26

USLM identifier /us/usc/t46/s6301