Extending Limits of United States Customs Waters Act of 2025
Extending Limits of United States Customs Waters Act of 2025 would expand the area where U.S. Customs and Border Protection (and related law enforcement) can enforce customs laws from 12 nautical miles to up to 24 nautical miles from the United States baselines. The bill accomplishes this by redefining the “waters of the United States” in the Tariff Act of 1930 and the Anti-Smuggling Act to cover (a) the territorial sea up to 12 miles and (b) the contiguous zone up to 24 miles, as permitted by international law and consistent with Presidential Proclamations 5928 (1988) and 7219 (1999). It relies on those proclamations to anchor the intended extension and includes a sense-of-Congress provision arguing that advances in maritime technology necessitate a longer enforcement reach. The effective date is the day after enactment. In short, the bill would give U.S. enforcement agencies broader reach to interdict smuggling and related violations in a larger belt of waters off the U.S. coast.
Key Points
- 1Extends customs enforcement authority from 12 to 24 nautical miles from the United States baselines, aligning enforcement with international-law-backed contiguous zones while the territorial sea remains capped at 12 miles.
- 2Amends Tariff Act of 1930 § 401(j) to redefine “waters within” as including (A) the territorial sea up to the 12-mile limit and (B) the contiguous zone up to the 24-mile limit, determined in accordance with international law and Presidential Proclamations 5928 and 7219.
- 3Amends Anti-Smuggling Act § 401(c) with the same definitional changes to extend anti-smuggling enforcement to the expanded waters.
- 4Provides a Findings and Sense of Congress explaining why the extension is necessary (modern fast vessels, improved evasion of enforcement, and public health interests) and that extending to the limits permitted by international law will advance enforcement.
- 5Effective date: the amendments take effect the day after enactment.