Drug Trafficking Vessel Interdiction Act

U.S.C. sections amended

18 U.S.C. ch. 111 §§ 2271, 2285
46 U.S.C. ch. 705 § 70501 et seq.

Legislative history

Introduced in the Senate as S. 3598 by Daniel Inouye (D-HI) on September 25, 2008
Committee consideration by House Judiciary, House Transportation and Infrastructure
Passed the Senate on September 25, 2008 (Passed unanimous consent)
Passed the House on September 29, 2008 (Passed voice vote)
Signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 13, 2008

The Drug Trafficking Vessel Interdiction Act of 2008, Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 110–407 (text) (PDF), 122 Stat. 4296, enacted October 23, 2008, was an act of the United States Congress outlawing operation of or travel in unregistered submersibles and semi-submersibles in international waters with the intent to evade detection.

The act was enacted to combat the use of illicit self-propelled semi-submersible and submersible vessels in international drug trafficking (see narco-submarine).^[1] Notably, the act provides for extraterritorial jurisdiction.^[1] The law extended earlier legislation such as the Marijuana on the High Seas Act (MHSA) and Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA).^[1]

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Allyson Bennett, That Sinking Feeling: Stateless Ships, Universal Jurisdiction, and the Drug Trafficking Vessel Interdiction Act, Yale Journal of International Law, Volume 37, Issue 2 (2012).