47 U.S.C. § 322
Section 322 · Exchanging radio communications between land and ship stations and from ship to ship
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case 36 F. Supp. 2d 222 - Omnipoint Communications, Inc. v. City of Scranton (1999)
Most recently applied in Athens Cellular, Inc. v. Oconee Cnty. (April 2018)
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.
Every land station open to general public service between the coast and vessels or aircraft at sea shall, within the scope of its normal operations, be bound to exchange radio communications or signals with any ship or aircraft station at sea; and each station on shipboard or aircraft at sea shall, within the scope of its normal operations, be bound to exchange radio communications or signals with any other station on shipboard or aircraft at sea or with any land station open to general public service between the coast and vessels or aircraft at sea: Provided, That such exchange of radio communication shall be without distinction as to radio systems or instruments adopted by each station.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1937—Act May 20, 1937, provided for radio communications with aircraft stations.