HQ 111914: Coastwise transportation; Definition of passenger; Vessel company owners and spouses; 46 U.S.C. App. 289

Native CBP ruling rendition. Applicability is fact-specific; modification/revocation relationships and original publisher date are retained. Publisher sentinel year0001 means unknown date, not a historical legal adoption.

                            HQ 111914
                         October 7, 1991


VES-3-02-CO:R:IT:C  111914 LLB

CATEGORY:  Carriers

Mr. Robert J. Stefani
Robins, Kaplan, Miller, and Ciresi
1220 Nineteenth Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036-2405

RE:  Coastwise transportation; Definition of passenger; Vessel
  company owners and spouses; 46 U.S.C. App. 289

Dear Mr. Stefani:

     Reference is made to your letter of September 23, 1991, in
which you request a ruling on the transportation of vessel owners
and their spouses between coastwise points on a non-coastwise-
qualified vessel.  You have requested that your request and the
responsive ruling letter be accorded confidential treatment.

FACTS:

     A Liberian-flag cargo vessel is scheduled to depart the
port of Charleston, South Carolina, in early October of 1991.
From there, the vessel will call at the ports of Beaumont and
Houston, Texas, Mobile, Alabama, and Panama City and Port
Everglades, Florida.  Cargo will be laden and unladen at these
various ports, although presumably no cargo laden at one United
States port will be unladen at another such port.  The vessel is
owned by a privately held Norwegian company which has time
chartered the vessel to an operating company in which the holding
company owns a 50 percent share.

     It is requested that four persons, not members of the
vessel's crew, be permitted to board at Charleston and disembark
at Port Everglades.  The four citizens of Norway include an
individual who is the principal and controlling shareholder in
the private holding company, his sister who is a minority
shareholder in the holding company, and their respective spouses.
The reported purpose of the proposed transportation is to permit
the owners to observe the lading and unlading process in order to
evaluate possible changes in crew and cargo-handling.


ISSUE:

     Whether the transportation between coastwise points by non-
coastwise-qualified vessel, of vessel owners and their spouses
is a violation of the coastwise passenger transportation statute,
46 U.S.C. App. 289.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     The coastwise passenger transportation statute prohibits the
transportation of passengers between points in the United States
embraced within the coastwise laws in any vessel other than a
vessel built in, documented under the laws of, and owned by
citizens of the United States.  The statute, 46 U.S.C. App. 289,
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 penalty of $200 for each passenger so
          transported and landed.

     For purposes of the coastwise laws, a vessel "passenger" is
defined as "... any person carried on a vessel who is not
connected with the operation of such vessel, her navigation,
ownership, or business."  (Section 4.50(b), Customs Regulations
(19 CFR 4.50(b))).

     The Customs Service has ruled that the wives and children of
crew members and owners of vessels are not passengers within the
meaning of the statutory proscription, regardless of whether a
fare is paid for their transportation.  Examples of this position
may be seen in Customs ruling letters 103279 (February 7, 1978),
108944 (May 8, 1987), and 111255 (February 6, 1991).

     As previously indicated, the request for ruling in this case
included a request (without elaboration) that the request and the
ruling be held confidential.  The Customs Regulations are quite
specific in requiring that the reasons for such a request be
clearly identified (19 CFR 177.2(b)(7)).  To the extent possible,
we have avoided utilizing identifying information in this ruling
letter, however, we cannot withhold release of the case materials
in our file upon receipt of a lawful request for same in the
absence of some further justification.

HOLDING:

     Vessel owners and their spouses may be transported between
coastwise points by a non-coastwise-qualified vessel, without
violating the coastwise passenger transportation statute, 46
U.S.C. App., 289.

                                 Sincerely,




                                 Stuart P. Seidel
                                 Director, International Trade
                                 Compliance Division