Application of Existing Laws Relating to Foreign Commerce

Application of Existing Laws Relating to Foreign Commerce Sec. 1109. (a) Except as specifically provided in the Act entitled “An Act to authorize the President to proclaim regulations for preventing collisions at sea”, approved October 11, 1951 (Public Law 172, Eighty-second Congress; 65 Stat. 406), the navigation and shipping laws of the United States, including any definition of “vessel” or “vehicle” found therein and including the rules for the prevention of collisions, shall not be construed to apply to seaplanes or other aircraft or to the navigation of vessels in relation to seaplanes or other aircraft. (b) The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to (1) designate places in the United States as ports of entry for civil aircraft arriving in the United States from any place outside thereof and for merchandise carried on such aircraft, (2) detail to ports of entry for civil aircraft such officers and employees of the customs service as he may deem necessary, and to confer or impose upon any officer or employee of the United States stationed at any such port of entry (with the consent of the head of the Government department or other agency under whose jurisdiction the officer or employee is serving) any of the powers, privileges, or duties conferred or imposed upon officers or employees of the customs service, and (3) by regulation to provide for the application to civil air navigation of the laws and regulations relating to the administration of the customs laws to such extent and upon such conditions as he deems necessary. (c) The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized by regulation to provide for the application to civil aircraft of the laws and regulations relating to the entry and clearance of vessels to such extent and upon such conditions as he deems necessary. (d) The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized by regulation to provide for the application to civil air navigation of the laws and regulations related to animal and plant quarantine, including the importation, exportation, transportation, and quarantine of animals, plants, animal and plant products, insects, bacterial and fungus cultures, viruses, and serums, to such extent and upon such conditions as he deems necessary.