[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 39, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 39CFR9.1]

[Page 19]
 
                        TITLE 39--POSTAL SERVICE
 
                 CHAPTER I--UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE
 
PART 9_POLICY ON COMMUNICATIONS WITH GOVERNORS OF THE POSTAL 
 
Sec.  9.1  General policy.

    (a) To represent the public interest generally and to insure that 
the Postal Service meets the needs of the mailing public, the Governors 
must be free to hold uninhibited discussions on broad postal issues with 
mailers and the general public. Nevertheless, the Governors believe that 
certain restrictions on communications with the public are appropriate 
when the Governors act in their capacity as final administrative 
decisionmakers on recommended decisions of the Postal Rate Commission 
concerning postal rates and classifications. These restrictions should 
reflect a balance between, on the one hand, the need to safeguard the 
integrity of the administrative process for setting rates and 
classifications and insure meaningful judicial review of decisions of 
the Governors on these subjects, and on the other hand, the need for 
open access to the Board to permit the members to meet their statutory 
responsibilities. To strike an appropriate balance, the Board has 
adopted the following general guidelines: From the time the Postal Rate 
Commission issues a recommended decision until the Governors have acted 
on the recommended decision, any communication from an interested person 
to the Governors that is relevant to the merits of the proceeding should 
be on the public record and available for public inspection.
    (b) In reviewing recommended decisions of the Commission, the 
Governors act on the record before them. They are under no obligation to 
take communications from the public into account in reaching their 
decision.