Title 40Public Buildings, Property, and WorksRelease 119-73not60

§17301 Definitions

Title 40 › Subtitle SUBTITLE VI— MISCELLANEOUS › Chapter 173— GOVERNMENT LOSSES IN SHIPMENT › § 17301

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

Defines key words used in the chapter. "Replacement" means paying for, reimbursing, replacing, duplicating, or covering the costs to do those things. "Shipment" means moving valuables by any method and includes deliveries to any federal department, agency, government-owned corporation, officer, employee, or someone acting for them. "Valuables" means property the government owns or is responsible for, and also items the Secretary of the Treasury names as valuables; the Secretary cannot call items lost, destroyed, or damaged in shipment valuables unless replacing them under these rules would be in the public interest. "Wholly owned Government corporation" means a company entirely owned by the federal government and includes its authorized officers, employees, and agents.

Full Legal Text

Title 40, §17301

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

In this chapter, the following definitions apply:
(1)The term “replacement” means payment, reimbursement, replacement, or duplication or the expenses incident to payment, reimbursement, replacement, or duplication.
(2)The term “shipment”—
(A)means the transportation, or the effecting of transportation, of valuables, without limitation as to the means or facilities used or by which the transportation is effected or the person to whom it is made; and
(B)includes shipments made to any executive department, independent establishment, agency, wholly owned or mixed-ownership Government corporation, officer, or employee of the Federal Government, or any person acting on behalf of, or at the direction of, the executive department, independent establishment, agency, wholly or partly owned Government corporation, officer, or employee.
(3)(A)The term “valuables” means any articles or things or representatives of value—
(i)in which the Government, its executive departments, independent establishments, and agencies, including wholly owned Government corporations, and officers and employees of the Government or its executive departments, independent establishments, and agencies while acting in their official capacity, have any interest, or in connection with which they have any obligation or responsibility; and
(ii)which the Secretary of the Treasury declares to be valuables within the meaning of this chapter.
(B)The Secretary shall not declare articles or things that are lost, destroyed, or damaged in the course of shipment to be valuables unless the Secretary determines that replacement of the articles or things in accordance with the procedure established in this chapter would be in the public interest.
(4)The term “wholly owned Government corporation”—
(A)means any corporation, regardless of the law under which it is incorporated, the capital of which is entirely owned by the Government; and
(B)includes the authorized officers, employees, and agents of the corporation.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 17301(1)40:729(d).July 8, 1937, ch. 444, § 7, 50 Stat. 480; Aug. 10, 1939, ch. 665, §3, 53 Stat. 1359. 17301(2)40:729(b). 17301(3)40:729(a). 17301(4)40:729(c). In this chapter, the words “wholly owned Government corporation” are substituted for “wholly owned corporation” for consistency in the revised title and with other titles of the United States Code. In clause (3)(A)(i), the words “direct or indirect” are omitted as unnecessary. In clause (4)(A), the words “or laws” are omitted because of 1:1. The words “directly or indirectly” are omitted as unnecessary. In clause (4)(B), the word “duly” is omitted as unnecessary.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

40 U.S.C. § 17301

Title 40Public Buildings, Property, and Works

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60