Misuse of Federal certificate, license or document
Official text prohibited actmental stateif conditionpenaltylegal term
Whoever, not being lawfully entitled thereto, uses, exhibits, or to use or exhibit, or, with intent unlawfully to use the same, receives or possesses any certificate, license, or document issued to vessels, or officers or seamen by any officer or employee of the United States authorized by law to issue the same; or
Whoever, without authority, alters or to alter any such certificate, license, or document by addition, interpolation, deletion, or erasure; or
Whoever forges, counterfeits, or steals, or to forge, counterfeit, or steal, any such certificate, license, or document; or unlawfully possesses or knowingly uses any such altered, changed, forged, counterfeit, or stolen certificate, license, or document; or
Whoever, without authority, prints or manufactures any blank form of such certificate, license, or document, or
Whoever possesses without lawful excuse, and with intent unlawfully to use the same, any blank form of such certificate, license, or document; or
Whoever, in any manner, transfers or negotiates such transfer of, any blank form of such certificate, license, or document, or any such altered, forged, counterfeit, or stolen certificate, license, or document, or any such certificate, license, or document to which the party transferring or receiving the same is not lawfully entitled—
Shall be or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
History: (June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 801 (PDF, 39 MB); Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, §330016(1)(K), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147 (PDF, 52 MB).)
Simplified explanation
It is a federal crime to misuse federal certificates, licenses, or documents issued to ships or seamen. This includes using one without being entitled to it, altering, forging, or stealing one, making or possessing blank forms without authority, or transferring them.