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Title 18 — Crimes and Criminal Procedure

Part I · Chapter 23 — Contracts

§ 441. Postal supply contracts

Statutory text

No contract for furnishing supplies to the Postal Service shall be made with any person who has entered, or proposed to enter, into any combination to prevent the making of any bid for furnishing such supplies, or to fix a price or prices therefor, or who has made any agreement, or given or performed, or promised to give or perform, any consideration whatever to induce any other person not to bid for any such contract, or to bid at a specified price or prices thereon.

Whoever violates this section shall be fined under this title 1 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if the offender is a contractor for furnishing such supplies his contract may be annulled.

Footnotes

  1. 1 See 1994 Amendment note below.

Legislative history

Reconstructed from this section’s Code source credit and amendment notes, resolved against the local Statutes at Large. Editorial notes are evidence, not the law that made the change.

  1. Pub. L. 80–645 · 62 Stat. 683

    Enacted · 18 U.S.C. § 441

    June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 704

    Source evidence

    Code source credit
    June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 704

  2. Postal Reorganization Act

    Pub. L. 91–375 § 6(j)(4) · 84 Stat. 719

    Struck · 18 U.S.C. § 441

    Pub. L. 91–375 struck out “Post Office Department or the” before “Postal Service”

    Source evidence

    Code amendment note
    Pub. L. 91–375 struck out “Post Office Department or the” before “Postal Service”.

    Enacted provision · exact public law section
    (4) Section 441 is amended by striking out “Post Office Department or the”.

    Effective date note
    Amendment by Pub. L. 91–375 effective within 1 year after Aug. 12, 1970, on date established therefor by the Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service and published by it in the Federal Register, see section 15(a) of Pub. L. 91–375, set out as an Effective Date note preceding section 101 of Title 39, Postal Service.

  3. Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994

    Pub. L. 103–322 title XXXIII § 330016(1)(L) · 108 Stat. 1796

    Substituted · 18 U.S.C. § 441

    Pub. L. 103–322, which directed the amendment of this section by substituting “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $10,000”, was executed by making the substitution for “fined not more than $5,000” in second par., to reflect the probable intent of Congress

    Source evidence

    Code amendment note
    Pub. L. 103–322, which directed the amendment of this section by substituting “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $10,000”, was executed by making the substitution for “fined not more than $5,000” in second par., to reflect the probable intent of Congress.

    Enacted provision · exact public law section
    (L) in sections 33, 224, 231, 241, 245, 246, 286, 289, 332, 335, 337, 351, 371, 437, 440, 441, 493, 496, 500, 510, 545, 595, 599, 600, 601, 641, 664, 665, 667, 757, 792, 793, 798, 844, 892, 893, 894, 924, 952, 955, 962, 963, 964, 965, 966, 967, 970, 1001, 1002, 1003, 1019, 1020, 1022, 1023, 1027, 1082, 1084, 1115, 1202, 1361, 1362, 1364, 1365, 1385, 1461, 1462, 1464, 1587, 1623, 1654, 1656, 1735, 1737, 1751, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1910, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1958, 1992, 2101, 2113, 2153, 2154, 2155, 2156, 2231, 2232, 2271, 2274, 2275, 2314, 2315, 2383, 2386, 2387, 2388, and 2512 by striking “not more than $10,000” each place it appears and inserting “under this title”;

2 of 3 references resolved to an enrolled provision · 1 partial

Notes

Historical and Revision Notes

Based on section 808 of title 39, U.S.C., 1940 ed., The Postal Service (Aug. 24, 1912, ch. 389, § 2, 37 Stat. 553).

Minimum punishment provisions “less than $100 nor” and “less than three months nor” were omitted to conform to policy followed by codifiers of 1909 Criminal Code.

Changes in phraseology were also made.

Editorial Notes

Amendments1970–1994 · 2 rounds

1994

Pub. L. 103–322, which directed the amendment of this section by substituting “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $10,000”, was executed by making the substitution for “fined not more than $5,000” in second par., to reflect the probable intent of Congress.

1970

Pub. L. 91–375 struck out “Post Office Department or the” before “Postal Service”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date of 1970 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 91–375 effective within 1 year after , on date established therefor by the Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service and published by it in the Federal Register, see section 15(a) of Pub. L. 91–375, set out as an Effective Date note preceding section 101 of Title 39, Postal Service.

Credits

1948–1994 · 3 acts
  1. 1948June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 704
  2. 1970Pub. L. 91–375, § 6(j)(4), , 84 Stat. 777
  3. 1994Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(L), , 108 Stat. 2147.
Show as published

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 704; Pub. L. 91–375, § 6(j)(4), , 84 Stat. 777; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(L), , 108 Stat. 2147.)

Parsed from the official OLRC USLM XML in data/usc_all/usc18.xml · release point 119-108 · OLRC build 2026-05-04

USLM identifier /us/usc/t18/s441