COLREGs · Rule 20
Application (Lights and Shapes)
Last verified: 2026-05-16
TL;DR
Lights are exhibited from sunset to sunrise and in restricted visibility. Shapes are exhibited by day. Annex I governs the technical particulars.
Authoritative source
Source links checked against the current public rule corpus on 2026-05-16.
- 33 CFR §83.20— verbatim Inland Rule text (US Code of Federal Regulations)(retrieved 2026-05-16)
- International COLREGs Rule 20 verbatim text is published by the IMO. The Inland counterpart 33 CFR §83 chunk above mirrors the international wording almost verbatim.
Inland parallel
Inland Rule 20 — Application (Lights and Shapes) →More from Part C — Lights and Shapes
Related drills
- Rule 21 — Definitions (Lights)
- Rule 22 — Visibility of Lights
- Practise Rule 23 — Power-driven Vessel Underway
- Practise Rule 24 — Towing and Pushing
Drill COLREGs Rule 20
Try the free Rules of the Road practice questions (no sign-in), or sign in to drill citation-backed questions on this rule with immediate feedback and the source chunk in a popover.