33 USC 2707 – Recovery by foreign claimants
(a) Required showing by foreign claimants
(1) In general
In addition to satisfying the other requirements of this Act, to recover removal costs or damages resulting from an incident a foreign claimant shall demonstrate that—
(A) the claimant has not been otherwise compensated for the removal costs or damages; and
(B) recovery is authorized by a treaty or executive agreement between the United States and the claimant’s country, or the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Attorney General and other appropriate officials, has certified that the claimant’s country provides a comparable remedy for United States claimants.
(2) Exceptions
Paragraph (1)(B) shall not apply with respect to recovery by a resident of Canada in the case of an incident described in subsection (b)(4).
(b) Discharges in foreign countries
A foreign claimant may make a claim for removal costs and damages resulting from a discharge, or substantial threat of a discharge, of oil in or on the territorial sea, internal waters, or adjacent shoreline of a foreign country, only if the discharge is from—
(1) an Outer Continental Shelf facility or a deepwater port;
(2) a vessel in the navigable waters;
(3) a vessel carrying oil as cargo between 2 places in the United States; or
(4) a tanker that received the oil at the terminal of the pipeline constructed under the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act (43 U.S.C. 1651 et seq.), for transportation to a place in the United States, and the discharge or threat occurs prior to delivery of the oil to that place.
(c) “Foreign claimant” defined
Terms Used In 33 USC 2707
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- State: means a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other territory or possession of the United States. See 1 USC 7
- vessel: includes every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water. See 1 USC 3
In this section, the term “foreign claimant” means—
(1) a person residing in a foreign country;
(2) the government of a foreign country; and
(3) an agency or political subdivision of a foreign country.