Section 3204 - Restrictions on use of penalty mail(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section or section 3220(a) of this title, an officer, executive department, or independent establishment of the Government of the United States may not mail, as penalty mail, any article or document unless-(1) a request therefor has been previously received by the department or establishment; or(2) its mailings is required by law.(b) Subsection (a) of this section does not prohibit the mailing, as penalty mail, by an officer, executive department, or independent agency of-(1) enclosures reasonably related to the subject matter of official correspondence;(2) informational releases relating to the census of the United States and authorized by title 13;(3) matter concerning the sale of Government securities;(4) forms, blanks, and copies of statutes, rules, regulations, instructions, administrative orders, and interpretations necessary in the administration of the department or establishment;(5) agricultural bulletins;(6) lists of public documents offered for sale by the Superintendent of Documents;(7) announcements of the publication of maps, atlases, and statistical and other reports offered for sale by the Federal Power Commission as authorized by section 825k of title 16; or(8) articles or documents to educational institutions or public libraries, or to Federal, State, or other public authorities.Pub. L. 91-375, Aug. 12, 1970, 84 Stat. 752; Pub. L. 99-87, §1(c)(1), Aug. 9, 1985, 99 Stat. 291.EDITORIAL NOTES
AMENDMENTS1985-Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 99-87 substituted "section or section 3220(a) of this title," for "section," in introductory provisions.
STATUTORY NOTES AND RELATED SUBSIDIARIES
EFFECTIVE DATESection effective July 1, 1971, pursuant to Resolution No. 71-9 of the Board of Governors. See section 15(a) of Pub. L. 91-375 set out as a note preceding section 101 of this title.
TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONSThe Federal Power Commission was terminated, and its functions, personnel, property, funds, etc., were transferred to the Secretary of Energy (except for certain functions which were transferred to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) by sections 7151(b), 7171(a), 7172(a), 7291, and 7293 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare.
- Governors
- "Governors" means the 9 members of the Board of Governors appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, under section 202(a) of this title;
- penalty mail
- "penalty mail" means official mail, other than franked mail, which is authorized by law to be transmitted in the mail without prepayment of postage;