[Code of Federal Regulations] [Title 39, Volume 1] [Revised as of July 1, 2006] From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access [CITE: 39CFR9.2] [Page 21-22] TITLE 39--POSTAL SERVICE CHAPTER I--UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE PART 9_POLICY ON COMMUNICATIONS WITH GOVERNORS OF THE POSTAL SERVICE DURING PENDENCY OF RATE AND CLASSIFICATION PROCEEDINGS [APPENDIX] --Table of Contents Sec. 9.2 Communications with the Governors during the restricted period. Once the Commission issues a recommended decision, and until the Governors have acted on that recommended decision by approving, rejecting, allowing under protest or modifying it, the following guidelines apply to communications with the Governors that are relevant to the merits of the proceeding. (a) Oral communications. During the restricted period, it is the policy of the Governors not to receive oral communications relevant to the merits of the proceeding from any interested person. In the event such a conversation does inadvertently take place, the Governor involved shall prepare a memorandum of the conversation and submit it to the Secretary of the Board for inclusion in the public record, where it shall be available for public inspection. (b) Written communications. (1) During the restricted period any communication relevant to the merits of the proceeding that an interested person may wish to submit to the Governors must be in writing and should not exceed fifteen pages in length. Such comments [[Page 22]] should be based on the record and addressed to the Governors through the Secretary of the Board. If the commenter has been a party to the Commission proceeding, copies should be sent to all other parties to that proceeding. The Secretary shall make all such communications available for public inspection. (2) Because the Governors are often required to act promptly on a recommended decision from the Commission, interested persons seeking to communicate with the Governors should submit their comments no later than ten (10) days after the Commission has issued its recommended decision. This period may be extended at the discretion of the Governors. (c) Scope of the guidelines. These guidelines apply to communications from interested persons to the Governors, their staff, personal assistants (if any), the Secretary of the Board and any official of the Office of the Board. Since the Act assigns final decisionmaking authority on Commission recommended decisions to the Governors and not the Board, these guidelines do not apply to the Postmaster General or the Deputy Postmaster General, nor do they apply to other officers or officials of the Postal Service. Moreover, in order to carry out their statutory responsibility to direct ``the exercise of the power of the Postal Service,'' 39 U.S.C. 202(a), the Governors must be free to discuss all matters of postal policy with officers and employees of the Postal Service. Accordingly, no restrictions apply to communications between the Governors and Postal Service employees.