19 U.S.C. § 1701 : US Code - Section 1701: Customs-enforcement area

Search 19 U.S.C. § 1701 : US Code - Section 1701: Customs-enforcement area

(a) Establishment; extent and duration; enforcement of laws
applicable to waters adjacent to customs waters
Whenever the President finds and declares that at any place or
within any area on the high seas adjacent to but outside customs
waters any vessel or vessels hover or are being kept off the coast
of the United States and that, by virtue of the presence of any
such vessel or vessels at such place or within such area, the
unlawful introduction or removal into or from the United States of
any merchandise or person is being or may be occasioned, promoted,
or threatened, the place or area so found and declared shall
constitute a customs-enforcement area for the purposes of this Act.
Only such waters on the high seas shall be within a customs-
enforcement area as the President finds and declares are in such
proximity to such vessel or vessels that such unlawful introduction
or removal of merchandise or persons may be carried on by or to or
from such vessel or vessels. No customs-enforcement area shall
include any waters more than one hundred nautical miles from the
place or immediate area where the President declares such vessel or
vessels are hovering or are being kept and, notwithstanding the
foregoing provision, shall not include any waters more than fifty
nautical miles outwards from the outer limit of customs waters.
Whenever the President finds that, within any customs-enforcement
area, the circumstances no longer exist which gave rise to the
declaration of such area as a customs-enforcement area, he shall so
declare, and thereafter, and until a further finding and
declaration is made under this subsection with respect to waters
within such area, no waters within such area shall constitute a
part of such customs-enforcement area. The provisions of law
applying to the high seas adjacent to customs waters of the United
States shall be enforced in a customs-enforcement area upon any
vessel, merchandise, or person found therein.
(b) Boarding vessels; arrest and seizure; compliance with treaty
provisions; authority of Secretary of Commerce unaffected
At any place within a customs-enforcement area the several
officers of the customs may go on board of any vessel and examine
the vessel and any merchandise or person on board, and bring the
same into port, and, subject to regulations of the Secretary of the
Treasury, it shall be their duty to pursue and seize or arrest and
otherwise enforce upon such vessel, merchandise, or person, the
provisions of law which are made effective thereto in pursuance of
subsection (a) of this section in the same manner as such officers
are or may be authorized or required to do in like case at any
place in the United States by virtue of any law respecting the
revenue: Provided, That nothing contained in this section or in any
other provision of law respecting the revenue shall be construed to
authorize or to require any officer of the United States to enforce
any law thereof upon the high seas upon a foreign vessel in
contravention of any treaty with a foreign government enabling or
permitting the authorities of the United States to board, examine,
search, seize, or otherwise to enforce upon such vessel upon the
high seas the laws of the United States except as such authorities
are or may otherwise be enabled or permitted under special
arrangement with such foreign government: Provided further, That
none of the provisions of this Act shall be construed to relieve
the Secretary of Commerce of any authority, responsibility, or
jurisdiction now vested in or imposed on that officer.