                        TITLE 19--CUSTOMS DUTIES
 
                      CHAPTER 4--TARIFF ACT OF 1930
 
                 SUBTITLE III--ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS
 
                     Part V--Enforcement Provisions
 
Sec. 1581. Boarding vessels


(a) Customs officers

    Any officer of the customs may at any time go on board of any vessel 
or vehicle at any place in the United States or within the customs 
waters or, as he may be authorized, within a customs-enforcement area 
established under the Anti-Smuggling Act [19 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.], or at 
any other authorized place, without as well as within his district, and 
examine the manifest and other documents and papers and examine, 
inspect, and search the vessel or vehicle and every part thereof and any 
person, trunk, package, or cargo on board, and to this end may hail and 
stop such vessel or vehicle, and use all necessary force to compel 
compliance.

(b) Officers of Department of the Treasury

    Officers of the Department of the Treasury and other persons 
authorized by such department may go on board of any vessel at any place 
in the United States or within the customs waters and hail, stop, and 
board such vessel in the enforcement of the navigation laws and arrest 
or, in case of escape or attempted escape, pursue and arrest any person 
engaged in the breach or violation of the navigation laws.

(c) Penalty for presenting forged, altered, or false documents

    Any master of a vessel being examined as herein provided, who 
presents any forged, altered, or false document or paper to the 
examining officer, knowing the same to be forged, altered, or false and 
without revealing the fact shall, in addition to any forfeiture to which 
in consequence the vessel may be subject, be liable to a fine of not 
more than $5,000 nor less than $500.

(d) Penalty for failure to stop at command

    Any vessel or vehicle which, at any authorized place, is directed to 
come to a stop by any officer of the customs, or is directed to come to 
a stop by signal made by any vessel employed in the service of the 
customs and displaying proper insignia, shall come to a stop, and upon 
failure to comply a vessel or vehicle so directed to come to a stop 
shall become subject to pursuit and the master, owner, operator, or 
person in charge thereof shall be liable to a penalty of not more than 
$5,000 nor less than $1,000.

(e) Seizure of vessel or merchandise

    If upon the examination of any vessel or vehicle it shall appear 
that a breach of the laws of the United States is being or has been 
committed so as to render such vessel or vehicle, or the merchandise, or 
any part thereof, on board of, or brought into the United States by, 
such vessel or vehicle, liable to forfeiture or to secure any fine or 
penalty, the same shall be seized and any person who has engaged in such 
breach shall be arrested.

(f) Duty of customs officers to seize vessel

    It shall be the duty of the several officers of the customs to seize 
and secure any vessel, vehicle, or merchandise which shall become liable 
to seizure, and to arrest any person who shall become liable to arrest, 
by virtue of any law respecting the revenue, as well without as within 
their respective districts, and to use all necessary force to seize or 
arrest the same.

(g) Vessels deemed employed within United States

    Any vessel, within or without the customs waters, from which any 
merchandise is being, or has been, unlawfully introduced into the United 
States by means of any boat belonging to, or owned, controlled, or 
managed in common with, said vessel, shall be deemed to be employed 
within the United States and, as such, subject to the provisions of this 
section.

(h) Application of section to treaties of United States

    The provisions of this section shall not be construed to authorize 
or require any officer of the United States to enforce any law of the 
United States 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 said 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.

(June 17, 1930, ch. 497, title IV, Sec. 581, 46 Stat. 747; Aug. 5, 1935, 
ch. 438, title II, Sec. 203, 49 Stat. 521; 1946 Reorg. Plan No. 3, 
Secs. 101-104, eff. July 16, 1946, 11 F.R. 7875, 60 Stat. 1097; Sept. 1, 
1954, ch. 1213, title V, Sec. 504, 68 Stat. 1141.)

                       References in Text

    The Anti-Smuggling Act, referred to in subsec. (a), is act Aug. 5, 
1935, ch. 438, 49 Stat. 517, as amended, which is classified principally 
to chapter 5 (Sec. 1701 et seq.) of this title. For complete 
classification of this Act to the Code, see section 1711 of this title 
and Tables.
    The navigation laws, referred to in subsec. (b), are classified 
generally to Title 33, Navigation and Navigable Waters.
    For definition of officer of the customs used in text, see section 
1401 of this title.


                            Prior Provisions

    Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in act 
Sept. 21, 1922, ch. 356, title IV, Sec. 581, 42 Stat. 979. That section 
was superseded by section 581 of act June 17, 1930, comprising this 
section, and repealed by section 651(a)(1) of the 1930 act.
    Prior provisions dealing with the subject matter of this section 
were contained in R.S. Sec. 3059, conferring powers similar in most 
respects to those conferred by this section, so far as it relates to 
vessels, on any officer of the customs, including inspectors and 
occasional inspectors, or of a revenue cutter, or authorized agent of 
the Treasury Department, or other persons specially appointed in 
writing; section 3060, requiring appointments under the preceding 
section to be filed in the custom house; section 3067, authorizing 
collectors, etc., and officers of revenue cutters to go on board vessels 
in port or within four leagues of the coast, for the purpose of 
demanding manifests, and examining and searching vessels; and section 
3069, relative to noting and sealing, if necessary, packages found 
separate from the residue of the cargo. All of these sections were 
repealed by act Sept. 21, 1922, ch. 356, title IV, Sec. 642, 42 Stat. 
989.


                               Amendments

    1954--Subsec. (d). Act Sept. 1, 1954, provided a penalty against the 
owner, operator or person in charge, as well as the master, of a vessel 
failing to come to a required stop and struck out provisions relating to 
the duty of the customs officers to pursue such vessels.
    1935--Act Aug. 5, 1935, amended section generally among which 
changes it subdivided the section into subsecs. (a) to (h), inclusive.

                          Transfer of Functions

    Word ``Treasury'' was substituted for ``Commerce'' in subsection (b) 
upon authority of Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1946. See note set out under 
section 1613 of this title.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 1587, 1703 of this title.
