Title 34 — Crime Control and Law Enforcement
Chapter 205 — Amber Alert
§ 20505. Limitation on liability
Statutory text
Except as provided in subsection (b), the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, including any of its officers, employees, or agents, shall not be liable for damages in any civil action for defamation, libel, slander, or harm to reputation arising out of any action or communication by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, its officers, employees, or agents, in connection with any clearinghouse, hotline or complaint intake or forwarding program or in connection with activity that is wholly or partially funded by the United States and undertaken in cooperation with, or at the direction of a Federal law enforcement agency.
The limitation in subsection (a) does not apply in any action in which the plaintiff proves that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, its officers, employees, or agents acted with actual malice, or provided information or took action for a purpose unrelated to an activity mandated by Federal law. For purposes of this subsection, the prevention, or detection of crime, and the safety, recovery, or protection of missing or exploited children shall be deemed, per se, to be an activity mandated by Federal law.
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.
Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2003
Pub. L. 108–21 title III § 305 · 117 Stat. 650
Enacted · 34 U.S.C. § 20505
(Pub. L. 108–21, title III, § 305, Apr. 30, 2003, 117 Stat. 664.)
Source evidence
Code source credit
(Pub. L. 108–21, title III, § 305, Apr. 30, 2003, 117 Stat. 664.)Enacted provision · exact public law section
SEC. 305. LIMITATION ON LIABILITY. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, including any of its officers, employees, or agents, shall not be liable for damages in any civil action for defamation, libel, slander, or harm to reputation arising out of any action or communication by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, its officers, employees, or agents, in connection with any clearinghouse, hotline or complaint intake or forwarding program or in connection with activity that is wholly or partially funded by the United States and undertaken in cooperation with, or at the direction of a Federal law enforcement agency. (b) The limitation in subsection (a) does not apply in any action in which the plaintiff proves that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, its officers, employees, or agents acted with actual malice, or provided information or took action for a purpose unrelated to an activity mandated by Federal law. For purposes of this subsection, the prevention, or detection of crime, and the safety, recovery, or protection of missing or exploited children shall be deemed, per se, to be an activity mandated by Federal law.
1 of 1 references resolved to an enrolled provision
Editorial Notes
Codification
Section was formerly classified to section 5791d of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.