# § 1706a. Civil penalties for trading without required certificate of documentation
Whenever a vessel, entitled to be documented and not so documented, is employed in a trade for which certificates of documentation are issued under the vessel documentation laws, other than a trade covered by a registry, the vessel is liable to a civil penalty of $500 for each port at which it arrives without the proper certificate of documentation, and if it has on board any merchandise of foreign growth or manufacture (sea stores excepted), or any taxable domestic spirits, wines, or other alcoholic liquors, on which the duties or taxes have not been paid or secured to be paid, the vessel, together with its equipment and cargo, is liable to seizure and forfeiture. Marks, labels, brands, or stamps, indicative of foreign origin, upon or accompanying merchandise or containers of merchandise found on board such vessel, shall be prima facie evidence of the foreign origin of such merchandise.
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**Source Credit**: (June 19, 1886, ch. 421, § 7, 24 Stat. 81; Aug. 5, 1935, ch. 438, title III, § 314, 49 Stat. 529; Pub. L. 96–594, title I, § 126(e), Dec. 24, 1980, 94 Stat. 3459.)
## Editorial Notes
### Codification
Section was not enacted as part of , which comprises this chapter.
Section was classified to section 319 of the former Appendix to Title 46, Shipping, prior to the completion of the enactment of Title 46 by , , .
### Amendments
1980— substituted provisions relating to violations and penalties for employment in a trade of a vessel entitled to be documented but not so documented for provisions relating to fines and penalties for trading without a license by a vessel twenty tons or upward, and struck out provisions respecting expiration of a license while a vessel is at sea.
1935—Act , provided for forfeiture, to deem marks, etc., prima facie evidence of foreign origin of merchandise, and to substitute “said fine or forfeiture” for “said fine of $30” in last sentence.
## Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
### Effective Date of 1980 Amendment
, , , provided in part that the amendment made by is effective on first day of eighteenth month following December 1980.