---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 12304"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "12304"
heading: "Certificates of numbers"
release: "119-102"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/12304"
units:
  - "Subtitle II — Vessels and Seamen"
  - "Part H — Identification of Vessels"
  - "Chapter 123 — Numbering Undocumented Vessels"
---

# §12304. Certificates of numbers

- (a) A [certificate](/usc/46/55104.md?p=a-1) of number is granted for a number issued under this chapter. The [certificate](/usc/46/55104.md?p=a-1) shall be at all times available for inspection on the [vessel](/usc/46/115.md) for which issued when the [vessel](/usc/46/115.md) is in operation, and may be in hard copy or digital form. Any [certificate](/usc/46/55104.md?p=a-1) issued in hard copy under this section shall be pocketsized. The [certificate](/usc/46/55104.md?p=a-1) shall be valid for not more than 3 years. The [certificate](/usc/46/55104.md?p=a-1) of number for a [vessel](/usc/46/115.md) less than 26 feet in length and leased or rented to another for the latter’s noncommercial operation of less than 7 days may be retained on shore by the [vessel](/usc/46/115.md)’s owner or representative at the place from which the [vessel](/usc/46/115.md) departs or returns to the possession of the owner or the owner’s representative. A [vessel](/usc/46/115.md) that does not have the [certificate](/usc/46/55104.md?p=a-1) of number on board shall be identified when in operation, and comply with requirements, as the issuing authority prescribes.
- (b) The owner of a [vessel](/usc/46/115.md) numbered under this chapter shall provide—
  - (1) the issuing authority notice of the transfer of any part of the owner’s interest in the [vessel](/usc/46/115.md) or of the destruction or abandonment of the [vessel](/usc/46/115.md), within a reasonable time after the transfer, destruction, or abandonment; and
  - (2) notice of a change of address within a reasonable time of the change, as prescribed by regulation.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 98–89, Aug. 26, 1983, 97 Stat. 591; Pub. L. 117–263, div. K, title CXV, § 11506, Dec. 23, 2022, 136 Stat. 4136.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |
| --- | --- |
| Revised section | Source section (U.S. Code) |
| 12304 | 46:1469 |

Section 12304 describes a certificate of number and stipulates when it must be carried on board a vessel. It also requires that the number issuing authority be notified when a boat is sold, transferred, destroyed, or abandoned, or when the owner’s address changes.

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2022—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 117–263 struck out “shall be pocketsized,” after “this chapter. The certificate” and inserted “in hard copy or digital form. Any certificate issued in hard copy under this section shall be pocketsized. The certificate shall be” after “operation, and may be”.