46 U.S.C. § 70022 — Prohibition on entry and operation

(a) Prohibition. Except as this section allows, a vessel covered by subsection (b) may not enter or operate in U.S. navigable waters, or transfer cargo at a U.S. port or place. This ban does not apply to a vessel described in subsection (b)(1) if the Secretary of State finds either that its owning or operating country is closely cooperating with the U.S. on the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions about North Korea, or that not applying the ban serves U.S. national security. It also does not apply to a vessel described in subsection (b)(2) if the Secretary of State finds the vessel is no longer registered the way that subsection describes. Within 15 days of any such finding, the Secretary of State must send written notice, explaining the reasons, to four congressional committees, and must publish the finding in the Federal Register. (b) Vessels Described. This section covers a foreign vessel that must file a notice of arrival under section 70001(a)(5), and that either appears on the most recent list published under subsection (c)(2), or — more than 180 days after that list is published — is knowingly registered, under the 1958 Convention on the High Seas, by a government that is also maintaining registration of a listed vessel. (c) Information and Publication. With the Secretary of State's agreement, the Secretary running the Coast Guard must keep current registration information on all foreign vessels over 300 gross tons that are owned or operated by or for the North Korean government or a North Korean person, by or for a country whose port operator the President has named in the most recent required report, or by or for a country the President has identified as not following the applicable UN Security Council resolutions. The Secretary must periodically publish a list of these vessels in the Federal Register. (d) Notification of Governments. Within 30 days of publishing a list, the Secretary of State must notify each government whose agents keep a listed vessel's registration that all vessels it registers are subject to subsection (a). If a government keeps registering a listed vessel after that first notice, the Secretary must send a further notice no later than 120 days after the list was published. (e) Notification of Vessels. When a listed vessel's notice of arrival comes in under section 70001(a)(5), the Secretary running the Coast Guard must tell that vessel's master it may not enter or operate in U.S. waters or transfer cargo at a U.S. port, unless the Secretary of State has made an exempting finding under subsection (a)(2), or the Secretary running the Coast Guard allows temporary entry or cargo transfer under subsection (f). (f) Provisional Entry or Cargo Transfer. Despite anything else in this section, the Secretary running the Coast Guard may allow a vessel to enter temporarily, or to transfer cargo, if doing so is necessary for the safety of the vessel or the people aboard. (g) Right of Innocent Passage and Right of Transit Passage. Nothing in this section limits a vessel's right of innocent passage or right of transit passage under international law.