NASA Procedural Requirements

NPR 1450.10D Effective Date: March 24, 2006 Expiration Date: March 24, 2026

Subject: NASA Correspondence Management and Communications Standards and Style Revalidated (6/21/2021)

Responsible Office: Office of the Chief of Staff

Appendix E Foreign Correspondence

E.1 General.

a. Due to political sensitivities and concerns regarding potential technology transfer, NASA policy requires special handling of all official correspondence, including electronic messages, sent from NASA systems to designated areas. Requests from foreign entities for published information about NASA activities should be forwarded to the Headquarters' Office of Public Affairs for response. All other correspondence, including e-mails, to designated areas requires the concurrence of either the Center Export Administrator or the Headquarters' Office of External Relations.

b. The list of designated areas is a compilation of countries with which the United States has no diplomatic relations, countries determined by the Department of State to support terrorism, countries under Sanction or Embargo by the United States, and countries of Missile Technology Concern. This list is updated periodically and is accessible via the NASA Export Control Program Web site at the following address: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oer/nasaecp/index.html.

c. Correspondence, including e-mails, to countries listed on the designated countries list in Columns I, II, and IV requires the concurrence of the local Center Export Administrator prior to transmission. A list of Center Export Administrators may be found at http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oer/nasaecp/index.html.

d. Correspondence, including e-mails, to countries listed in Column III on the designated countries list requires the concurrence of the Headquarters' Office of External Relations prior to transmission.

e. Correspondence which consists of nothing more than a denial of a request for information does not require concurrence by either the Headquarters' Office of External Relations or the Center Export Administrator.

E.2 Format.

Prepare correspondence for individuals overseas in the standard business-letter style.

E.3 Address.

The country name is the official name; e.g., Federal Republic of Germany, not West Germany. The Headquarters' Office of External Relations can provide official country names.

E.4 Avoid Jargon.

Avoid using U.S. jargon and acronyms, which may not be familiar to non-U.S. personnel.

E.5 Coordination with Headquarters.

Transmit all correspondence with non-NASA U.S. Embassy personnel through the Office of External Relations.

E.6 Capitalization.

Capitalize the country name in the inside address. However, USPS policy requires that the name of the country be in all-capital letters and appear on the last line of the address information on the envelope or mailer.

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