PRIA Logo™
Take the PRIA Score
Title 40 — Public Buildings, Property, and WorksRelease 119-73

§18102 Federal telecommunications system

Title 40 › Subtitle SUBTITLE VI— - MISCELLANEOUS › Chapter CHAPTER 181— - TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACCESSIBILITY FOR HEARING-IMPAIRED AND SPEECH-IMPAIRED INDIVIDUALS › § 18102

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The head of the General Services Administration must, after talking with the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, the Interagency Committee on Computer Support of Handicapped Employees, the Federal Communications Commission, and affected federal agencies, write rules so federal phone and communications systems are fully usable by people with hearing or speech impairments, including federal employees. They must keep the federal TTY relay service, make and keep a directory of agency TTYs and other assistive devices and their access numbers, and, after consulting the Board, create a standard logo that shows where those devices are available.

Full Legal Text

Title 40, §18102

Public Buildings, Property, and Works — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Administrator of General Services, after consultation with the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, the Interagency Committee on Computer Support of Handicapped Employees, the Federal Communications Commission, and affected federal agencies, shall prescribe regulations to ensure that the federal telecommunications system is fully accessible to hearing-impaired and speech-impaired individuals, including federal employees, for communications with and within federal agencies.
(b)The Administrator shall provide for the continuation of the existing federal relay system for users of TTY’s.
(c)The Administrator shall assemble, publish, and maintain a directory of TTY’s and other devices used by federal agencies to comply with regulations prescribed under subsection (a).
(d)The Administrator shall publish access numbers of TTY’s and such other devices in federal agency directories.
(e)After consultation with the Board, the Administrator shall adopt the design of a standard logo to signify the presence of a TTY or other device used by a federal agency to comply with regulations prescribed under subsection (a).

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 18102(a)40:762a(a).Pub. L. 100–542, § 3, Oct. 28, 1988, 102 Stat. 2721. 18102(b)40:762a(b)(1). 18102(c), (d)40:762a(b)(2)–(5), (c). 18102(e)40:762a(b)(6). In subsection (a), the words “prescribe

Regulations

to ensure” are substituted for “by regulation, take such actions in accordance with this section as may be necessary to assure” to eliminate unnecessary words. In subsection (c), the text of 40:762a(b)(2)–(4) and (c) is omitted as executed and obsolete. The words “In carrying out subsection (a) of this section” are omitted as unnecessary.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

40 U.S.C. § 18102

Title 40 — Public Buildings, Property, and Works

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73