§3504. Notification to passengers

(a) A person selling passage on a foreign or domestic passenger vessel having berth or stateroom accommodations for at least 50 passengers and embarking passengers at United States ports for a coastwise or an international voyage shall notify each prospective passenger of the safety standards applicable to the vessel in a manner prescribed by regulation.

(b) All promotional literature or advertising through any medium of communication in the United States offering passage or soliciting passengers for ocean voyages anywhere in the world shall include information similar to the information described in subsection (a) of this section, and shall specify the registry of each vessel named, as a part of the advertisement or description of the voyage. Except for the inclusion of the country of registry of the vessel, this subsection does not apply to voyages by vessels meeting the safety standards described in section 3505 of this title.

(c) A person violating this section or a regulation prescribed under this section is liable to the United States Government for a civil penalty of not more than $10,000. If the violation involves the sale of tickets for passage, the owner, charterer, managing operator, agent, master, individual in charge, or any other person involved in each violation also is liable to the Government for a civil penalty of $500 for each ticket sold. The vessel on which passage is sold also is liable in rem for a violation of this section or a regulation prescribed under this section.

( Pub. L. 98–89, Aug. 26, 1983, 97 Stat. 519 .)

Section 3504 requires notification to the public of the safety standards that are applicable to certain foreign flag or United States passenger vessels. In addition, all promotional literature or advertising that offers passage or solicits passengers for ocean voyages anywhere in the world shall include a safety standard statement and shall specify the registry of the vessel. If the vessel meets the international standards to which the United States adheres, then the safety standard statement need not be included. In all other cases the type of safety standard statement that must be included is as prescribed by regulation. This section is intended to place the United States public on notice as to the degree of fire safety compliance of a foreign-flag passenger vessel that does not operate or depart from a port or place in the United States but does embark passengers from the United States at nearby foreign ports. Departures from foreign ports are undertaken because the foreign-flag passenger vessel cannot comply with the safety standards applicable to a United States flag passenger vessel.