PRC Lets USPS Keep Mum About Net-Based Service
The U.S. Postal Service won a partial victory Tuesday when the Postal Rate Commission allowed it to shield certain commercially sensitive information about its international operations from the public.
The PRC, in separate rulings, agreed to prevent public access to the information, which it will use for its first report to Congress on USPS international operations. But the PRC left open the issue regarding disclosure of that data in connection with a challenge to Post E.C.S., an Internet-based document delivery service for direct marketers.
Postal officials asked the commission to keep the information secret because it could be used by its competitors and result in commercial harm to itself, Canada Post, France’s La Poste, its partners in Post E.C.S. and the company providing the software for that experimental service, which began last summer.
Ruling on a motion by Atlanta-based United Parcel Service for public access to data for its report to Congress, the PRC denied the bid, saying that it “is not functioning in its usual role as a quasi-judicial body” under the Administrative Procedures Act, but simply preparing a report as required by law. The report is due by July 1.
Rejecting United Parcel’s claim that disclosure of that data “is consistent with the broad public policy reflected in the Freedom of Information Act,” the PRC called the move “an informal request” for “an ad hoc disclosure policy” which it rejected, opting to stay within the framework of existing information laws and policies.
The PRC, rejecting a bid by the USPS to dismiss United Parcel’s challenge to Post E.C.S. and keep much of the same information about its international operations from becoming public, said it would decide the issue as hearings in the matter continue.
