U.S. Code > Appendix to Title 46 > CHAPTER 34—SAFE CONTAINERS FOR INTERNATIONAL CARGO (§§ 1501—1507) > § 1501. Definitions

§ 1501. Definitions

As used in this chapter—
(a) The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of Transportation.
(b) The term “Convention” means the International Convention for Safe Containers, and the annexes thereto, done at Geneva, Switzerland, December 2, 1972.
(c) The term “container” shall have the same meaning as that term is defined in the Convention.
(d) The term “international transport” means the transportation of a container—
(1) to any place within the jurisdiction of the United States from a place within a foreign country;
(2) by United States carriers between two points both of which are outside of the United States; or
(3) from any place within the jurisdiction of the United States to any place within a foreign country.
(e) The term “United States” includes the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and any other territory or possession of the United States.
(f) The term “new container” means a container (other than a container specially designed for air transport) which is used or is designed for use in international transport, the construction of which began on or after September 6, 1977.
(g) The term “existing container” means a container (other than a container specially designed for air transport) which is used or is designed for use in international transport and which is not a new container.
(h) The term “owner” means a person who owns a container, or, if a written lease or bailment provides for the lessee or bailee to exercise the owner’s responsibility for maintaining and examining the container, the lessee or bailee of a container, to the extent such agreement so provides.
(i) The term “safety approval plate” shall have the same meaning as that term is defined in annex I of the Convention.