Title 15—Commerce and Foreign Trade--Volume 1
PART 23—USE OF PENALTY MAIL IN THE LOCATION AND RECOVERY OF MISSING CHILDREN
§ 23.1   Purpose.
These regulations are intended to comply with 39 U.S.C. 3220(a)(2), and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) guidelines (50 FR 46622), to assist in the location and recovery of missing children through the use of penalty mail.
§ 23.2   Contact person.
Tim Coss, Office of Administrative Services Operations, U.S. Department of Commerce (H2063), 14th and Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20230, Telephone (202) 377-2108.
§ 23.3   Plan.
(a) The Department of Commerce will supplement and expand the national effort to assist in the location and recovery of missing children through the economical use of missing children information in domestic penalty mail directed to the public and Federal employees.
(b) The Department of Commerce may include, on or inside authorized types of penalty mail, pictures and biographical data related to missing children, provided such use is determined to be cost effective. The authorized types of penalty mail include:
(1) All envelopes; and
(2) Self-mailer publications (newsletters, bulletins, etc.) with a shelf-life of no more than 90 days.
(c) The manner in which pictures and biographical data may be used includes:
(1) Printing on envelopes at the time they are initially printed with the United States Postal Service (USPS) required postal code identification;
(2) Printed inserts that are placed in envelopes along with other mailing material;
(3) Stickers that are printed and placed on envelopes prior to mailing; and
(4) Printing as part of the content of self-mailers such as bureau newsletters, bulletins, etc.
(d) Missing children information will not be placed on letter-size envelopes in the areas described as the “Penalty Indicia Area,” “OCR Read Area,” “Bar Code Read Area,” and “Return Address Area” per Appendix A of the OJJDP guidelines.
(e) The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (National Center) will be the sole source from which the Department of Commerce will obtain the camera-ready and other photographic and biographical materials for use by organizational units. Photographs which were reasonably current as of the time of the child's disappearance shall be the only acceptable form of visual media or pictorial likeness used on or in penalty mail.
(f) The Department of Commerce will remove all printed penalty mail envelopes and other materials from circulation or other use ( i.e. , use or destroy) within 90 days of notification by the National Center of the need to withdraw penalty mail envelopes and other materials related to a particular child from circulation. The Department of Commerce will not include missing children information on blank pages or covers of items such as those to be included in the Superintendent of Documents' Sales Program, or to be distributed to Depository Libraries, as such material generally could not be withdrawn from use within 90 days of notification. The National Center will be responsible for immediately notifying the Department Contact Person, in writing, of the need to withdraw from circulation penalty mail envelopes and other materials related to a particular child.
(g) The Department of Commerce will give priority:
(1) To penalty mail that is addressed to the public for receipt in the United States, its territories and possessions; and
(2) To inter- and intra-agency publications and other media that will be widely disseminated to and viewed by Federal employees.
(h) All suggestions and/or recommendations for innovative, cost-effective techniques should be forwarded to the Department Contact Person. The Department Contact Person shall conduct biannual meetings of departmental representatives to discuss the current plan and recommendations for future plans.
(i) This shall be the sole regulation implementing this program for the Department of Commerce.
§ 23.4   Cost and percentage estimates.
It is estimated that this program will cost the Department of Commerce $39,530 in the first year. It is the Department of Commerce's estimate that 9% of its penalty mail will transmit missing children photographs and information when the program is fully implemented.
§ 23.5   Report to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
The Department of Commerce will compile and submit a consolidated report to OJJDP, by June 30, 1987, on its experience in implementation of 39 U.S.C. 3220(a) (2), the OJJDP guidelines, and the Department of Commerce's regulation. This report will cover the period from December 24, 1986 through March 31, 1987, and provide detail on:
(a) The Department of Commerce's experience in implementation (including problems encountered), successful and/or innovative methods adopted to use missing children photographs and information on or in penalty mail, the estimated number of pieces of penalty mail containing such information, and the percentage of total penalty mail directed to the public which included missing children information.
(b) The estimated total cost to implement the program, with supporting detail, and
(c) Recommendations for changes in the program to make it more effective.
§ 23.6   Definitions.
(a) Operating units. Bureaus and other organizational entities outside the Office of the Secretary charged with carrying out specified substantive functions ( i.e. , programs).
(b) Organizational units. The organizational units within the Department of Commerce are:
§ 23.7   Notice to Department of Commerce organizational units of implementation and procedures.
Following are roles and responsibilities for the program within the Department of Commerce.
(a) The Department Contact Person shall:
(1) Serve as the Department of Commerce's sole representative for ordering materials, including camera-ready negatives, from the National Center,
(2) Serve as the Department of Commerce's sole supplier of materials to Operating Units,
(3) Maintain a current list of personnel within each Operating Unit who are authorized to order materials,
(4) Notify Operating Units whenever permission to use information on a missing child has been withdrawn,
(5) Ensure that only current missing children materials are distributed to Operating Units, and that only those requests from authorized departmental representatives are filled,
(6) Prepare all required departmental reports on the program,
(7) Promulgate any departmentwide operating instructions deemed appropriate for the program, and
(8) Chair biannual meetings of departmental representatives to discuss the program and identify additional opportunities to use the missing children data with penalty mail.
(b) The Head of each Operating Unit (and for the Office of the Secretary, the Director of the Office of Administrative Services Operations), or his/her representative, shall:
(1) Designate a single person to act as the Operating Unit's representative to the Department for requesting and controlling missing children materials and receiving notification to withdraw materials from use (an alternative may be designated to act in the representative's absence),
(2) Provide the Department Contact Person with the name, title, telephone number, and room number of the Operating Unit's representative for the program (and also for the alternate, if one is designated), and notify the Department of changes when they occur,
(3) Ensure that the shelf-life of printed penalty mail materials containing missing children information is limited to a maximum of three months,
(4) Ensure that information on a child is not used once permission has been withdrawn and the shelf-life for the material would keep the information available for greater than 90 days after the date that permission to use it was withdrawn,
(5) Direct that the Operating Unit representative (or alternate) order missing children information, as appropriate, only from the Department Contact Person,
(6) Comply with policies, procedures, and operating instructions issued by the Department,
(7) Maintain necessary information to prepare required reports and submit them in accordance with requirements,
(8) Provide only current camera-ready and other photographic and biographical materials to printers, including those at the Administrative Support Centers, and
(9) Otherwise determine and control the use of missing children materials and information by the Operating Unit.
(c) The Director of each Administrative Support Center, or his/her representatives, shall:
(1) Cooperate with serviced Operating Units to promote the use of missing children information on penalty mail,
(2) As directed by an Operating Unit, utilize camera-ready and other photographic and biographical material provided by the Operating Unit in preparation of material for use with penalty mail, and
(3) Assure that any printing performed or procured under its direction is in accordance with the type of material and the manner of presentation as prescribed in this regulation.