39 USC § 403 - General duties | LII / Legal Information Institute

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(a) The Postal Service shall plan, develop, promote, and provide adequate and efficient postal services at fair and reasonable rates and fees. The Postal Service shall receive, transmit, and deliver throughout the United States, its territories and possessions, and, pursuant to arrangements entered into under sections 406 and 411 of this title, throughout the world, written and printed matter, parcels, and like materials and provide such other services incidental thereto as it finds appropriate to its functions and in the public interest. The Postal Service shall serve as nearly as practicable the entire population of the United States.

(b) It shall be the responsibility of the Postal Service—

(1) to maintain an efficient system of collection, sorting, and delivery of the mail nationwide;

(2) to provide types of mail service to meet the needs of different categories of mail and mail users; and

(3) to establish and maintain postal facilities of such character and in such locations, that postal patrons throughout the Nation will, consistent with reasonable economies of postal operations, have ready access to essential postal services.

(c) In providing services and in establishing classifications, rates, and fees under this title, the Postal Service shall not, except as specifically authorized in this title, make any undue or unreasonable discrimination among users of the mails, nor shall it grant any undue or unreasonable preferences to any such user.

Source

(Pub. L. 91–375, Aug. 12, 1970, 84 Stat. 723; Pub. L. 96–70, title I, § 1331(e)(1),Sept. 27, 1979, 93 Stat. 482.)

Amendments

1979—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 96–70substituted “The Postal Service” for “Except as provided in the Canal Zone Code, the Postal Service”.

Effective Date of 1979 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 96–70effective Oct. 1, 1979, see section 3304 ofPub. L. 96–70, set out as an Effective Date note under section 3601 of Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse.

Effective Date

Section effective Jan. 20, 1971, pursuant to Resolution No. 71–10 of the Board of Governors. See section 15(a) ofPub. L. 91–375, set out as a note preceding section 101 of this title.

Continuation of Mail Delivery Services

Provisions requiring continuation of six-day delivery and rural delivery of mail at not less than the 1983 level were contained in the Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006, Pub. L. 109–115, div. A, title VI, Nov. 30, 2005, 119 Stat. 2490, and were repeated in provisions of subsequent appropriations acts which are not set out in the Code. Similar provisions were also contained in the following prior appropriations acts:

Pub. L. 108–447, div. H, title IV, Dec. 8, 2004, 118 Stat. 3264.

Pub. L. 108–199, div. F, title IV, Jan. 23, 2004, 118 Stat. 340.

Pub. L. 108–7, div. J, title II, Feb. 20, 2003, 117 Stat. 442.

Pub. L. 107–67, title II, Nov. 12, 2001, 115 Stat. 525.

Pub. L. 106–554, § 1(a)(3) [title II], Dec. 21, 2000, 114 Stat. 2763, 2763A–135.

Pub. L. 106–58, title II, Sept. 29, 1999, 113 Stat. 444.

Pub. L. 105–277, div. A, § 101(h) [title II], Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2681–480, 2681–492.

Pub. L. 105–61, title II, Oct. 10, 1997, 111 Stat. 1290.

Pub. L. 104–208, div. A, title I, § 101(f) [title II], Sept. 30, 1996, 110 Stat. 3009–314, 3009–326.

Pub. L. 104–52, title II, Nov. 19, 1995, 109 Stat. 476.

Pub. L. 103–329, title II, Sept. 30, 1994, 108 Stat. 2392.

Pub. L. 103–123, title II, Oct. 28, 1993, 107 Stat. 1234.

Pub. L. 102–393, title II, Oct. 6, 1992, 106 Stat. 1737.

Pub. L. 102–141, title II, Oct. 28, 1991, 105 Stat. 843.

Pub. L. 101–509, title II, Nov. 5, 1990, 104 Stat. 1396.

Pub. L. 101–136, title II, Nov. 3, 1989, 103 Stat. 790.

Pub. L. 100–440, title II, Sept. 22, 1988, 102 Stat. 1727.

Pub. L. 100–202, §§ 101(m) [title II], 102, Dec. 22, 1987, 101 Stat. 1329–390, 1329–397, 1329–433.

Pub. L. 99–500, §§ 101(m) [title II], 102, Oct. 18, 1986, 100 Stat. 1783–308, 1783–314, 1783–346, and Pub. L. 99–591, §§ 101(m) [title II], 102, Oct. 30, 1986, 100 Stat. 3341–308, 3341–314, 3341–346.

Pub. L. 99–190, §§ 101(h) [H.R. 3036, title II], 102, Dec. 19, 1985, 99 Stat. 1291, 1315.

Pub. L. 98–473, §§ 101(j) [H.R. 5798, title II], 102, Oct. 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 1963, 1964.

Pub. L. 98–151, §§ 102, 106,Nov. 14, 1983, 97 Stat. 975.

Pub. L. 98–107, §§ 102, 108,Oct. 1, 1983, 97 Stat. 740, 741.

Pub. L. 97–377, title I, § 111B,Dec. 21, 1982, 96 Stat. 1912.

Pub. L. 97–35, title XVII, § 1722,Aug. 13, 1981, 95 Stat. 759, as amended by Pub. L. 98–369, div. B, title II, § 2209,July 18, 1984, 98 Stat. 1061.

Pub. L. 96–499, title IV, § 412,Dec. 5, 1980, 94 Stat. 2607.

Prohibition of 9-Digit ZIP Code

Pub. L. 97–35, title XVII, § 1726,Aug. 13, 1981, 95 Stat. 761, prohibited Postal Service from implementing ZIP code system using more than 5 digits before Oct. 1, 1983, and prohibited executive agencies from taking action to conform mailing procedures to ZIP code system using more than 5 digits during the period from Aug. 13, 1981 to Dec. 31, 1982.

The table below lists the classification updates, since Jan. 3, 2012, for this section. Updates to a broader range of sections may be found at the update page for containing chapter, title, etc.

The most recent Classification Table update that we have noticed was Wednesday, December 26, 2012

An empty table indicates that we see no relevant changes listed in the classification tables. If you suspect that our system may be missing something, please double-check with the Office of the Law Revision Counsel.

How To Use

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Abbreviations used in the Description of Change column:

An empty field implies a standard amendment.
"new" means a new section or new note, or all new text of an existing section or note.
"nt" means note.
"nt [tbl]" means note [table].
"prec" means preceding.
"fr" means a transfer from another section.
"to" means a transfer to another section.
"omitted" means the section is omitted.
"repealed" means the section is repealed.
"nt ed change" and "ed change" - See the Editorial Classification Change Table [pdf].

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General Reference

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You can look for information about what it is and is not, which titles are positive law, the schedule of Supplements, etc. Under download you can find the source data we use here (GPO locator files), as well as, PDF files that look just like the paper books (these may be rather large).

Refer to the Thomas site for changes that have not yet made it into the classification tables.

39 USC	Description of Change	Session Year	Public Law	Statutes at Large

This is a list of parts within the Code of Federal Regulations for which this US Code section provides rulemaking authority.

This list is taken from the Parallel Table of Authorities and Rules provided by GPO [Government Printing Office].

It is not guaranteed to be accurate or up-to-date, though we do refresh the database weekly. More limitations on accuracy are described at the GPO site.

23 CFR - Title 23—Highways

39 CFR - Title 39—Postal Service

39 CFR 1 - POSTAL POLICY (ARTICLE I)

39 CFR 11 - ADVISORY BOARDS (ARTICLE XI)

39 CFR 20 - INTERNATIONAL POSTAL SERVICE

39 CFR 111 - GENERAL INFORMATION ON POSTAL SERVICE