47 U.S.C. § 305
Section 305 · Government owned stations
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case United States v. Borgese (1964)
Most recently applied in Huawei Tech USA v. FCC (June 2021)
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.
Radio stations belonging to and operated by the United States shall not be subject to the provisions of sections 301 and 303 of this title. All such Government stations shall use such frequencies as shall be assigned to each or to each class by the President. All such stations, except stations on board naval and other Government vessels while at sea or beyond the limits of the continental United States, when transmitting any radio communication or signal other than a communication or signal relating to Government business, shall conform to such rules and regulations designed to prevent interference with other radio stations and the rights of others as the Commission may prescribe.
All stations owned and operated by the United States, except mobile stations of the Army of the United States, and all other stations on land and sea, shall have special call letters designated by the Commission.
The provisions of sections 301 and 303 of this title notwithstanding, the President may, provided he determines it to be consistent with and in the interest of national security, authorize a foreign government, under such terms and conditions as he may prescribe, to construct and operate at the seat of government of the United States a low-power radio station in the fixed service at or near the site of the embassy or legation of such foreign government for transmission of its messages to points outside the United States, but only (1) where he determines that the authorization would be consistent with the national interest of the United States and (2) where such foreign government has provided reciprocal privileges to the United States to construct and operate radio stations within territories subject to its jurisdiction. Foreign government stations authorized pursuant to the provisions of this subsection shall conform to such rules and regulations as the President may prescribe. The authorization of such stations, and the renewal, modification, suspension, revocation, or other termination of such authority shall be in accordance with such procedures as may be established by the President and shall not be subject to the other provisions of this chapter or of subchapter II of chapter 5, and chapter 7, of title 5.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Codification
In subsec. (c), “subchapter II of chapter 5, and chapter 7, of title 5” substituted for “the Administrative Procedure Act” on authority of Pub. L. 89–554, §7(b), Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 631, the first section of which enacted Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.
Amendments
1996—Subsecs. (b) to (d). Pub. L. 104–104 redesignated subsecs. (c) and (d) as (b) and (c), respectively, and struck out former subsec. (b) which read as follows: “Radio stations on board vessels of the Maritime Administration of the Department of Transportation or the Inland and Coastwise Waterways Service shall be subject to the provisions of this subchapter.”
1981—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 97–31 substituted “Maritime Administration of the Department of Transportation” for “United States Shipping Board Bureau or the United States Shipping Board Merchant Fleet Corporation”. For prior transfers of functions, see Transfer of Functions note set out below.
1962—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 87–795 added subsec. (d).
Transfer of Functions
For transfer of functions of United States Shipping Board Bureau and United States Shipping Board Merchant Fleet Corporation, see Ex. Ord. No. 6166, set out under section 901 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, act June 29, 1936, ch. 858, title II, §§203, 204, title IX, §904, 49 Stat. 1987, 2016, and Reorg. Plan No. 6 of 1949, Reorg. Plan No. 21 of 1950, and Reorg. Plan No. 7 of 1961, set out in the Appendix to Title 5.