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]