[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 22 (Thursday, February 2, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 6390-6391]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-2597]



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OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS

5 CFR Part 2635

RINs 3209-AA04, 3209-AA15


Further Grace Period Extension for Certain Existing Agency 
Standards of Conduct

AGENCY: Office of Government Ethics (OGE).

ACTION: Final rule; technical amendment.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Government Ethics is granting a further 
grandfathering grace period extension for up to eleven months for 
certain existing executive agency standards of conduct, dealing with 
financial interest prohibitions and prior approval for outside 
employment and activities, which have been temporarily preserved. This 
further action (one previous extension was granted last year) is 
necessary because many agencies have not been able to issue, with OGE 
concurrence and co-signature, interim or final supplemental regulations 
during the first two years' grace period. This further extension will 
help ensure that agencies which have submitted draft supplementals to 
OGE will have adequate time to issue, if they so desire, successor 
regulatory provisions to replace grandfathered financial interest 
prohibitions and prior approval requirements.

EFFECTIVE DATE: February 3, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William E. Gressman, Office of 
Government Ethics, telephone: 202-523-5757, FAX: 202-523-6325.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office of Government Ethics is granting 
under the executive branch standards of ethical conduct a further 
extension of time for up to eleven months, until January 3, 1996, for 
certain agencies' existing conduct standards dealing with prohibited 
financial interests and prior approval for outside employment and 
activities. When OGE published its ethical conduct standards for 
executive branch employees in the Federal Register on August 7, 1992 
(as now codified at 5 CFR part 2635), it provided that most existing 
individual agency standards of conduct would be superseded once the 
executive branch-wide standards took effect on February 3, 1993. 
However, OGE also provided, by means of notes following 5 CFR 
2635.403(a) and 2635.803, that any existing agency standards dealing 
with the two types of restrictions noted above would be preserved for 
one more year, until February 3, 1994, or until the agency concerned 
issued (with OGE concurrence and co-signature) a supplemental 
regulation, whichever occurred first. See 57 FR 35006-35067, as 
corrected at 57 FR 48557 and 52583. Last year, OGE extended that 
original grace period for an additional year, until February 3, 1995 
(or until agency issuance of a supplemental regulation), for those 
executive branch departments and agencies that had not yet had a chance 
to issue final or interim final successor rules. See 59 FR 4779-4780 
(February 2, 1994) and, in particular, appendix A which was added to 
part 2635 at that time.
    Through OGE's liaison efforts, the Office of the Federal Register 
(OFR) has assigned new chapters, including parts, at the end of title 5 
of the Code of Federal Regulations to accommodate agencies' future 
supplemental standards regulations (on these two and other appropriate 
subject areas), as well as any supplemental agency regulations under 
OGE's executive branch-wide financial disclosure provisions at 5 CFR 
part 2634. Some 60 agencies have had such chapters reserved, including 
those which have by now already issued, with OGE concurrence and co-
signature, interim final or final supplemental ethics regulations. 
However, many agencies have still not yet had the time to issue their 
planned supplemental standards regulations in interim or final form.
    The Office of Government Ethics has therefore determined to permit 
a further preservation of existing agency regulatory standards of 
conduct setting forth financial interest prohibitions and outside 
employment and activities prior approval requirements for up to eleven 
more months, until January 3, 1996 (or until issuance by each agency of 
its supplemental regulation, whichever comes first), for those agencies 
which submitted draft supplemental standards regulations to OGE on or 
before January 25, 1995. This is the last grace period extension that 
OGE intends to grant. The agencies subject to this further 
grandfathering grace period extension, as provided in the notes (which 
are hereby being further amended) following 5 CFR 2635.403(a) and 
2635.803, are enumerated at new appendix B which OGE is adding to part 
2635. The agencies are listed in the order of the assignment of their 
chapter numbers at the end of 5 CFR. Agencies 

[[Page 6391]]
not listed either have not expressed an interest in issuing 
supplemental agency ethics regulations, have indicated to OGE that they 
are no longer interested in a further grace period extension, did not 
file draft supplemental standards regulations with OGE by January 25, 
1995, or have already issued final or interim final supplemental 
standards.
    The Office of Government Ethics notes that it is not by this 
rulemaking setting a deadline for agencies to submit supplemental 
ethics regulations. Agencies can, with OGE concurrence and co-
signature, issue supplementals at any time. Further, they can, at any 
time, have new title 5 CFR chapters reserved through OGE and OFR for 
such purpose if they have not already done so.
    Moreover, if an agency's prohibited financial interest (and/or 
prior approval) restrictions are based on a separate statute, they are 
not superseded by the 5 CFR part 2635 executive branch-wide standards. 
If any related regulatory provisions were located in its old agency 
standards of conduct, the agency concerned could, after consultation 
with OGE, retain them in their existing place in the agency's own CFR 
title and chapter or move the provisions to another appropriate part of 
its regulations. See 5 CFR 2635.105(c)(3). Only prior standards of 
conduct provisions that are purely regulatory in nature are subject to 
supersession from the executive branch-wide regulation at 5 CFR part 
2635, with entitlement to the successive grace periods for the two 
enumerated types of provisions as provided in the further amended notes 
at Secs. 2635.403(a) and 2635.803 as well as appendixes A and B.

Administrative Procedure Act

    Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b) and (d), as Director of the Office of 
Government Ethics, I find good cause exists for waiving the general 
notice of proposed rulemaking and 30-day delay in effectiveness as to 
this grace period extension. The notice and delayed effective date are 
being waived because this rulemaking concerns a matter of agency 
organization, practice and procedure. Furthermore, it is in the public 
interest that those agencies concerned have adequate time to promulgate 
successor provisions to their existing standards of conduct regulations 
in these two areas without a lapse in necessary regulatory 
restrictions.

Executive Order 12866

    In promulgating this grace period extension technical amendment, 
the Office of Government Ethics has adhered to the regulatory 
philosophy and the applicable principles of regulation set forth in 
section 1 of Executive Order 12866, Regulatory Planning and Review. 
This amendment has not been reviewed by the Office of Management and 
Budget under that Executive order, as it is not deemed ``significant'' 
thereunder.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    As Director of the Office of Government Ethics, I certify under the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. chapter 6) that this rulemaking 
will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of 
small entities.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    The Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35) does not apply 
because this rulemaking does not contain information collection 
requirements that require the approval of the Office of Management and 
Budget.

List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 2635

    Conflict of interests, Government employees.

    Approved: January 27, 1995.
Stephen D. Potts,
Director, Office of Government Ethics.

    Accordingly, pursuant to its authority under title IV of the Ethics 
in Government Act and Executive Orders 12674 and 12731, the Office of 
Government Ethics is amending 5 CFR part 2635 as follows:

PART 2635--[AMENDED]

    1. The authority citation for part 2635 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 7351, 7353; 5 U.S.C. App. (Ethics in 
Government Act of 1978); E.O. 12674, 54 FR 15159, 3 CFR, 1989 Comp., 
p. 215, as modified by E.O. 12731, 55 FR 42547, 3 CFR, 1990 Comp., 
p. 306.

    2. The notes following both Secs. 2635.403(a) and 2635.803 are 
amended by adding a new sentence at the end of each to read as follows:

    Note: * * * Provided further, that for those agencies listed in 
appendix B to this part, the grace period for any such existing 
provisions shall be further extended for an additional eleven months 
until January 3, 1996 (for a total of two years and eleven months 
after the effective date of this part) or until issuance by each 
individual agency concerned of a supplemental regulation, whichever 
occurs first.

    3. A new appendix B is added at the end of part 2635 to read as 
follows:

Appendix B to Part 2635--Agencies Entitled to a Further (Second) 
Grace Period Extension Pursuant to Notes Following 
Secs. 2635.403(a) and 2635.803

 1. Department of the Treasury
 2. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
 3. Department of Energy
 4. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
 5. Department of the Interior
 6. Department of Commerce
 7. Department of Justice
 8. Federal Communications Commission
 9. Farm Credit Administration
10. Securities and Exchange Commission
11. Office of Personnel Management
12. Thrift Depositor Protection Oversight Board
13. United States Information Agency
14. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission
15. Department of State
16. Department of Labor
17. National Science Foundation
18. Small Business Administration
19. Department of Health and Human Services
20. Federal Labor Relations Authority
21. Department of Transportation
22. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
23. Export-Import Bank of the United States
24. Department of Education
25. Environmental Protection Agency
26. National Transportation Safety Board
27. General Services Administration
28. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
29. United States Postal Service
30. National Labor Relations Board
31. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
32. Resolution Trust Corporation
33. Department of Housing and Urban Development
34. National Archives and Records Administration
35. Peace Corps
36. Tennessee Valley Authority
37. Consumer Product Safety Commission
38. Executive Office of the President
39. Department of Agriculture
40. Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission
41. Office of Management and Budget
42. Agency for International Development

[FR Doc. 95-2597 Filed 2-1-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6345-01-U