46 U.S.C. § 4305
Section 4305 · Exemptions
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case 239 Ill. App. 3d 885 - Farner v. Brunswick Corp. (1992)
Most recently applied in Rollins v. Bombardier Recreational Products, Inc. (December 2015)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Exemptions.—If the Secretary considers that recreational vessel safety will not be adversely affected, the Secretary may issue an exemption from this chapter or a regulation prescribed under this chapter.
(b) Equivalents.—The Secretary may accept a substitution for associated equipment performance or other safety standards for a recreational vessel if the substitution provides an equivalent level of safety.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Section 4305 permits the Secretary to grant appropriate exemptions from the requirements of this chapter when recreational vessel safety will not be adversely affected.
Editorial Notes
Amendments
2021—Pub. L. 116–283 substituted "Exemptions and equivalents" for "Exemptions" in section catchline, designated existing provisions as subsec. (a) and inserted heading, and added subsec. (b).