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Title 39 — Postal Service

Part I · Chapter 6 — Private Carriage of Letters

§ 603. Searches authorized

Statutory text

The Postal Service may authorize any officer or employee of the Postal Service to make searches for mail matter transported in violation of law. When the authorized officer has reason to believe that mailable matter transported contrary to law may be found therein, he may open and search any—

(1)

vehicle passing, or having lately passed, from a place at which there is a post office of the United States;

(2)

article being, or having lately been, in the vehicle; or

(3)

store or office, other than a dwelling house, used or occupied by a common carrier or transportation company, in which an article may be contained.

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. Postal Reorganization Act

    Pub. L. 91–375 · 84 Stat. 719

    Enacted · 39 U.S.C. § 603

    (Pub. L. 91–375, Aug. 12, 1970, 84 Stat. 727.)

    Source evidence

    Code source credit
    (Pub. L. 91–375, Aug. 12, 1970, 84 Stat. 727.)

0 of 1 references resolved to an enrolled provision · 1 partial

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective , pursuant to Resolution No. 71–9 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.

Credits

(Pub. L. 91–375, , 84 Stat. 727.)

Parsed from the official OLRC USLM XML in data/usc_all/usc39.xml · release point 119-108 · OLRC build 2026-03-26

USLM identifier /us/usc/t39/s603