39 U.S.C. § 403
Section 403 · General duties
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 67 court decisions — leading case United States v. Kokinda (1990)
Most recently applied in United States v. Larry Brock (March 2024)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(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.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1979—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 96–70 substituted “The Postal Service” for “Except as provided in the Canal Zone Code, the Postal Service”.
Effective Date of 1979 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 96–70 effective Oct. 1, 1979, see section 3304 of Pub. 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) of Pub. 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 following appropriations acts:
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, provided that:
“(a) The Postal Service shall not implement any ZIP code system using more than 5 digits before October 1, 1983. This subsection shall not be construed as precluding the Postal Service or the Postal Rate Commission from taking such actions as may be required before October 1, 1983, to prepare for the implementation of such a ZIP code system.
“(b) During the period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act [Aug. 13, 1981] and ending December 31, 1982, no Executive agency shall take any action to conform its mailing procedures to those appropriate for use under any ZIP code system using more than 5 digits. As used in this subsection, the term ‘Executive agency’ has the same meaning given such term by section 105 of title 5, United States Code.”