4-1.3 Definitions of Terms

The terms used here are defined as follows:

1. The term “addressee’s next business day” means the first calendar day, stated in the addressee’s local time, on which the addressee conducts business, following the calendar day of dispatch, stated in the sender’s local time.
2. The term “data processing” means electro-mechanical or electronic processing and includes the recording of data by electro-mechanical or electronic means for further processing.
3. The term “data processing materials” means materials of all types that are sent exclusively for data processing and are ready for immediate data processing, but only if they are produced recurringly in the course of the normal business operations of the office originating them or receiving them back from the processing center. For purposes of this suspension, the performance of clerical work that is merely preparatory and incidental to the commencement of data processing is allowable under the requirement that the materials be sent exclusively for data processing and be ready for immediate data processing.

Example

• Jeff’s Construction Company (JCC) forwards its weekly pay records, which are contained on floppy diskettes, to Chuck’s Data Processing Center (CDPC) each Monday afternoon by private carrier. The records arrive by 9 a.m. the following day.

CDPC processes the pay records and generates paychecks from the data by 5 p.m. each Wednesday and forwards the paychecks back to JCC by private carrier for arrival by 10 a.m. Thursday. On Friday morning, the paychecks are distributed to JCC employees.

This practice meets this suspension because the data processing material is conveyed to CDPC by noon of the next business day, the data is processed within 36 hours of their receipt, and the output from the data is carried back to JCC by noon of the addressee’s next business day. However, if the paychecks were privately carried back to the home addresses of the JCC employees, the material would not qualify for this suspension.