Q480 What are the rules regarding Winlink and “Third Party Traffic”?

A480 Third-party traffic is any traffic transmitted over the Amateur bands that is either from or to a non-amateur. In the Western Hemisphere (with a few exceptions) there is no restriction on third-party traffic being passed over amateur radio. Many countries outside of the Western Hemisphere also now permit third-party traffic over amateur radio.

Messages between amateurs even if they originate or are delivered over Internet are not considered third-party traffic. Third-party traffic only deals with that portion which is transmitted over the radio spectrum. Since there is no limitation on third-party traffic over Internet itself, messages passed between WL2K participating stations, or a participating station and the Internet are not
restricted. Only when the message involves a non-amateur and is passed over a radio
link is the issue a concern. For example: if a message originates in the U.K. on Internet but is delivered to a U.S. amateur over the radio from a U.S.-based station no third-party rule is broken even though the U.K. does not allow third-party traffic over amateur channels. Likewise, a message originating over the radio from a U.S. amateur and passed to a U.S. station is legal even if it is addressed to the Internet address of a nonamateur in the U.K.

Users must make themselves familiar with these third-party rules for the country in which they are operating as well as linking with if they are exchanging messages with nonamateurs. See the country list for countries known to permit third-party traffic for U.S. stations and their reciprocals.