Sec.  97.219   Message forwarding system.

   (a) Any amateur station may participate in a message forwarding system,
   subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held.

   (b) For stations participating in a message forwarding system, the control
   operator of the station originating a message is primarily accountable for
   any violation of the rules in this part contained in the message.

   (c) Except as noted in (d) of this section, for stations participating in a
   message forwarding system, the control operators of forwarding stations that
   retransmit inadvertently communications that violate the rules in this part
   are not accountable for the violative communications. They are, however,
   responsible for discontinuing such communications once they become aware of
   their presence.

   (d) For stations participating in a message forwarding system, the control
   operator of the first forwarding station must:

   (1) Authenticate the identity of the station from which it accepts
   communications on behalf of the system; or

   (2) Accept accountability for any violation of the rules in this part
   contained in messages it retransmits to the system.

   [ 59 FR 18975 , Apr. 21, 1994]