---
kind: "section"
citation: "39 U.S.C. § 602"
title: "39"
title_heading: "Postal Service"
number: "602"
heading: "Foreign letters out of the mails"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/39/602"
units:
  - "Part I — General"
  - "Chapter 6 — Private Carriage of Letters"
---

# §602. Foreign letters out of the mails

- (a) Except as provided in [section 601 of this title](/usc/39/601.md), the master of a vessel departing from the United States for foreign ports may not receive on board or transport any letter which originated in the United States that—
  - (1) has not been regularly received from a United States post office; or
  - (2) does not relate to the cargo of the vessel.
- (b) The officer of the port empowered to grant clearances shall require from the master of such a vessel, as a condition of clearance, an oath that he does not have under his care or control, and will not receive or transport, any letter contrary to the provisions of this section.
- (c) Except as provided in [section 1699 of title 18](/usc/18/1699.md), the master of a vessel arriving at a port of the United States carrying letters not regularly in the mails shall deposit them in the post office at the port of arrival.

## Source credit

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

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Section effective July 1, 1971, 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.