⚖️ Coral Island law

Overview

Coral Island makes its own laws. They apply to everyone on the island, in its waters and in its airspace, whether you are a citizen, a resident or a visitor. The laws of Los Santos and of the State of San Andreas do not apply there. Something that is legal in Los Santos may be an offence on the island, and a permit issued in Los Santos may count for nothing: a San Andreas firearms licence, for example, has no effect there, although your driving licence does.

The Government of Coral Island published a new set of criminal and public order laws on 29 September 2026. They come into force on 1 October 2026, and nobody can be punished under them for anything done before that date. This page is a plain summary for players. The full text is on the government website, and where this page and the law differ, the law wins.

For visas, flights, the island's air and sea defence and how to arrive legally, see Coral Island.

The ordinances

These are the laws that come into force on 1 October 2026. Ordinances Nos 1 to 11 (immigration, the Gazette, border security and airspace, gaming, business licensing, public order and events, the reef, ports, access to information, complaints and public holidays) were already in force.

Three regulations come into force on the same day:

Fines and penalty notices

Fines are set on a standard scale of seven levels. On conviction in the Island Court on indictment a fine has no maximum.

Many minor offences can be dealt with by a penalty notice instead of a prosecution. You pay the fixed penalty within 14 days at the Police station in Puerto Coral (or where the notice says), never at Government House or online, or you ask to be tried instead. Paying is not a conviction. No notice is given where there was violence, damage over $1,000 or a risk to safety, and nobody gets more than two notices for the same offence in 180 days.

Drugs and alcohol

The island controls drugs in three classes:

Bringing a controlled drug to the island or taking one away, producing, supplying or possessing one, and growing cannabis are all offences. Cannabis is controlled on Coral Island even if you bought it legally in Los Santos. An adult found with 28 grams or less for their own use may be given a $500 penalty notice instead of being prosecuted, at most twice in 180 days. A medicine supplied or prescribed by a doctor of the Island Health Clinic is lawful.

You must be 18 or over to buy alcohol. Only premises with a premises liquor licence, or an event with a permit that allows it, can sell it, and licensed premises must not serve anyone who is drunk. The government can declare alcohol-free zones in the Gazette, where an officer can make you stop drinking and hand the drink over.

Driving

• A valid driving licence from Los Santos or anywhere else lets you drive on the island. Coral Island does not issue its own.

• Keep to the right.

• The speed limit is 50 km/h in Puerto Coral and at Coral Island Airfield and 80 km/h everywhere else, unless a sign says otherwise.

• The drink-drive limit is 0.05 percent blood alcohol. Refusing a breath test without a good excuse carries the same penalty as being over the limit.

• No driving on beaches, in the Salt Pond Wildlife Reserve or on any other land that is not a road without the owner's permission.

• Racing on a road is an offence, except at a permitted event on a closed road.

• After an accident that causes injury or damage, stop, give your name, help, and report it to the police within 24 hours.

Public decency and noise

Sexual activity is lawful only between consenting adults in private premises, such as a home or a hotel room that cannot be seen into from outside. Anywhere else it is an offence, and a vehicle, vessel or aircraft is never private premises. This matches the out of character rule E10.2: erotic roleplay is only allowed inside a private interior. See Chat and roleplay basics.

It is also an offence in a public place to be naked, to be drunk and disorderly, to use threatening or abusive behaviour, to drop litter or dump rubbish, or to put up graffiti or posters without the owner's consent. Amplified noise that can be heard in a public place or a neighbour's home between 23:00 and 07:00 is an offence unless an event permit allows it, and the equipment can be seized.

Protected places and restricted areas

From 1 October 2026 these are protected places. You can use their public counters while they are open (the public counter and border desk at Government House, the public counters at the Government Complex, and the front office and firearms counter at the Police station). Anywhere else inside needs an authorised officer's permission, and you can be searched as a condition of entry.

• Government House, Puerto Coral, with its grounds and helipad

• the Government Complex, Puerto Coral

• Coral Control and every Coral Island Defence Force installation

• Coral Island Airfield beyond the passenger terminal

• the Police station, Puerto Coral

• the Coastguard berths at Puerto Coral harbour

Other restrictions:

Firearms

The island licenses firearms itself, through the Firearms Registry of the Coral Island Police Service. Your San Andreas firearms licence does not count on the island, and there is no online application: every firearms licence is applied for, and paid for, in person at the firearms counter of the Police station in Puerto Coral.

Categories. Category A is handguns, Category B is shotguns with a barrel of at least 45 cm, and Category C is rifles. Anything automatic is a prohibited weapon and cannot be licensed at all.

Prohibited weapons. Automatic firearms, sawn-off or short shotguns, disguised firearms, sound moderators, grenades and launchers, armour-piercing, explosive and incendiary ammunition, stun weapons, less-lethal launchers and knuckle-dusters. No licence allows a member of the public to have one. Every prohibited weapon on the island must be handed in at the Police station by 31 October 2026.

The amnesty. From 1 to 31 October 2026 anyone can hand in a firearm, ammunition or prohibited weapon at the Police station and will not be prosecuted for having it. If you already had a handgun, shotgun or rifle on the island on 1 October, you can keep it at your address, unloaded and not carried in public, as long as you apply for a certificate by 31 October.

Personal protection is not a good reason for a certificate. A certificate normally lists no more than three firearms, and unless it says otherwise you can hold no more than 200 rounds for each Category A or C firearm and 250 cartridges for each Category B firearm.

Carrying: in public a firearm is carried unloaded in a closed, locked case with the ammunition separate, going directly between your address, a range, a dealer, the Police station or a place of lawful hunting, unless you are hunting, at a range or hold a carry permit. No weapons of any kind are allowed on the scheduled flights between Sandy Shores Airfield and Coral Island Airfield. If you arrive with a firearm by your own craft, declare it at once and deliver it, unloaded, to the Police station.

Knives and other weapons: having a blade, a sharp point, a bat, a club, a bar or a tool in a public place to injure someone is an offence. Work, fishing, farming, clearing land, lawful hunting and lawful sport are good reasons to carry one, and it is up to you to show the reason.

Firearms are never allowed, even with a certificate or carry permit, in:

• Government House and the Government Complex

• any court and the Court Registry

• the Police station, except to hand in or collect a cased firearm at the firearms counter

• Coral Island Airfield, including the terminal, and any aircraft

• casinos and anywhere licensed gaming takes place

• bars and other premises licensed for drinking there, while they are open

• the Island Health Clinic

• schools, and polling stations on polling day

• permitted events, public assemblies and processions

• the three protected nature areas

• every protected place

Courts and the death penalty

Coral Island has three criminal courts: the Magistrates' Court (a magistrate alone, for summary offences, first appearances, warrants and bail), the Island Court (a judge, with a jury of 7 for trials on indictment) and the Court of Appeal (three Justices of Appeal). A person arrested must be released, charged or brought before a magistrate within 24 hours, and has the right to be told why, to stay silent, to see a lawyer in private and to have one person told where they are.

The death penalty exists for two offences only: murder (section 20 of the Criminal Code) and treason (section 44(1)). An attempt, a conspiracy or encouraging either never carries death, and death is never a mandatory sentence. The safeguards are strict:

• A capital charge is tried only in the Island Court, before a judge and a jury of 7, never by a judge alone.

• The court does not accept a guilty plea: the trial goes ahead as if the accused had pleaded not guilty.

• The accused has a lawyer, at public expense if needed, and the verdict must be unanimous.

• Death can only be considered if the Attorney General gave written notice before the trial, and only after a separate sentencing hearing. Otherwise the sentence is life imprisonment with a minimum term.

• Every sentence of death goes to the Court of Appeal automatically. If it is upheld, an independent Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy advises the President, who decides in writing whether to show mercy.

Read the full text

Every law is published in full on the government website. These pages are the best places to start:

• Laws of Coral Island: every ordinance, regulation and bill

• Rules for visitors: the plain English guide for visitors

• Restrictions at a glance: what you cannot bring, what needs a licence and where you cannot go

• Weapons and firearms: categories, prohibited weapons, carrying and the amnesty

• Courts and justice: the courts, arrest, bail, trials, sentences, appeals and mercy

See also

• Coral Island for visas, flights, the airspace rings and asking for clearance

• Weapons for buying and carrying weapons in San Andreas

• Laws for the laws of San Andreas, which do not apply on the island

• How court works for the Superior Court of San Andreas

• Chat and roleplay basics for rule E10.2