(a) The International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, requires one or more of the certificates described in this subpart to be carried on self-propelled vessels of 500 gross tons or over engaged in international voyages. This subpart prescribes rules for the issuance of these certificates to mobile offshore drilling units.

(b) “International voyage” has the same meaning as stated in Regulation 2(d) of part A, chapter I in the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea, 1974. (SOLAS 74), which is: “a voyage from a country to which the present Convention applies to a port outside such country, or conversely. The Coast Guard has interpreted this definition to include the following:

(1) A voyage from a country to which SOLAS 1974 applies, to a port outside that country or the reverse;

(2) A voyage from any territory, including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, all possessions of the United States, and all lands held by the United States under a protectorate or mandate, whose international relations are the responsibility of a contracting SOLAS 74 government, or which is administered by the United Nations, to a port outside that territory or the reverse;

The Coast Guard has interpreted this definition to not include a “Great Lakes voyage” which means a voyage solely on the Great Lakes of North America and the St. Lawrence River west of a straight line drawn from Capedes Rosiers to West Point, Anticosti Island and, on the north side of Anticosti Island, the 63rd Meridian. [CGD 73-251, 43 FR 56802, Dec. 4, 1978, as amended by CGD 90-008, 55 FR 30662, July 26, 1990]