HQ 112538: Coastwise; Territories; Possessions; Guantanamo Naval Station; 46 U.S.C. App. 883.

Native CBP ruling rendition. Applicability is fact-specific; modification/revocation relationships and original publisher date are retained. Publisher sentinel year0001 means unknown date, not a historical legal adoption.

                            HQ 112538

                        January 15, 1993

VES-3  CO:R:IT:C  112538  JBW

CATEGORY:  Carriers

William E. Cassidy, Esquire
Fontainebleu Executive Plaza
Suite 252
8370 West Flagler Street
Miami, Florida 33144

RE:  Coastwise; Territories; Possessions; Guantanamo Naval
     Station; 46 U.S.C. App.  883.

Dear Mr. Cassidy:

     This letter is in response to your request dated November
25, 1992, for a ruling on the application of the coastwise laws
to the proposed transportation of merchandise between ports in
the United States and the United States Guantanamo Naval Station.

FACTS:

     Your client is a Florida corporation that intends to
transport merchandise between ports of the continental United
States and the United States Guantanamo Naval Station in Cuba. 

ISSUE:

     Whether Guantanamo Naval Station is a territory or
possession of the United States embraced within the coastwise
laws, 46 U.S.C. App.  883.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     Section 883 of Title 46, United States Code Appendix,
provides, in pertinent part:

          No merchandise shall be transported by water,
          or by land and water, on penalty of
          forfeiture of the merchandise (or a monetary
          amount up to the value thereof as determined
          by the Secretary of the Treasury, or the
          actual cost of the transportation, whichever
          is greater...), between points in the United
          States, including Districts, Territories, and
          possessions thereof embraced within the
          coastwise laws, either directly or via a
          foreign port, or for any part of the
          transportation, in any other vessel than a
          vessel built in and documented under the laws
          of the United States and owned by persons who
          are citizens of the United States....

46 U.S.C.A. App.  883.  

     The United States occupies the area comprising Guantanamo
Naval Station under a lease from the Cuban government that was
established by treaty.  Agreement for the Lease to the United
States of Lands in Cuba for Coaling and Naval Stations, T.S. No.
418, 6 Bevans 1113 (1971); Lease to the United States by Cuba of
Land and Water for Naval or Coaling Stations in Guantanamo and
Bahia Honda, T.S. No. 426, 6 Bevans 1120 (1971); Treaty on
Relations with Cuba, T.S. No. 866, 48 Stat. 1682 (1934). 
Pursuant to these agreements, the United States exercises certain
jurisdiction rights as established by the treaties, but Cuba does
not cede sovereignty over the area occupied by the United States. 
T.S. No. 418, Art. III.  Such jurisdictional exercise by the
United States, however, does not establish Guantanamo Naval
Station as a territory or possession of the United States for
purposes of the coastwise laws.  Cf.  2 Whiteman, Digest of
International Law 1321-1330 (1963) (discussing generally United
States territories and possessions).  Consequently, we conclude
that transportation of merchandise between ports embraced within
the coastwise laws and Guantanamo Naval Station does not
constitute an engagement in the coastwise trade.

HOLDING:

     Guantanamo Naval Station is not a territory or possession of
the United States embraced within the coastwise laws, 46 U.S.C.
App.  883.



                              Sincerely,




                              Acting Chief