49 U.S.C. § 46312
Section 46312 · Transporting hazardous material
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case United States v. Frith (2006)
Most recently applied in United States v. Hess (July 2024)
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) In General.—A person shall be fined under title 18, imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both, if the person, in violation of a regulation or requirement related to the transportation of hazardous material prescribed by the Secretary of Transportation under this part or chapter 51—
(1) willfully delivers, or causes to be delivered, property containing hazardous material to an air carrier or to an operator of a civil aircraft for transportation in air commerce; or
(2) recklessly causes the transportation in air commerce of the property.
(b) Knowledge of Regulations.—For purposes of subsection (a), knowledge by the person of the existence of a regulation or requirement related to the transportation of hazardous material prescribed by the Secretary under this part or chapter 51 is not an element of an offense under this section but shall be considered in mitigation of the penalty.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 46312 49 App.:1472(h)(2). Aug. 23, 1958, Pub. L. 85–726, §902(h)(2), 72 Stat. 785; restated Jan. 3, 1975, Pub. L. 93–633, §113(c), 88 Stat. 2162. In this section, before clause (1), the words “is guilty of an offense”, “Upon conviction”, and “for each offense” are omitted as surplus. The words “fined under title 18” are substituted for “a fine of not more than $25,000” for consistency with title 18. The word “prescribed” is substituted for “issued” for consistency in the revised title and with other titles of the United States Code. In clause (1), the words “shipment, baggage, or other” are omitted as surplus.
Amendments
2005—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 109–59, §7128(a)(1), substituted “this part or chapter 51—” for “this part—” in introductory provisions.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 109–59, §7128(a)(2), inserted “or chapter 51” after “under this part”.
2000—Pub. L. 106–181 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), inserted heading, and added subsec. (b).
Effective Date of 2000 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 106–181 applicable only to fiscal years beginning after Sept. 30, 1999, see section 3 of Pub. L. 106–181, set out as a note under section 106 of this title.