[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 206 (Wednesday, October 26, 2005)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 61713]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-21343]



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  Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 206 / Wednesday, October 26, 2005 / 
Rules and Regulations  

[[Page 61713]]



DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

5 CFR Part 5502

RIN 3209-AA15


Supplemental Financial Disclosure Requirements for Employees of 
the Department of Health and Human Services; Corrections

AGENCY: Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Correcting amendments.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Health and Human Services published a final 
rule in the Federal Register on Wednesday, August 31, 2005 (70 FR 
51559), establishing supplemental financial disclosure reporting 
requirements for certain employees of the Food and Drug Administration 
(FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). That document 
contained language that incorrectly rendered the supplemental reporting 
requirements inapplicable to new entrant employees who file either a 
public or confidential financial disclosure report. This document 
corrects the final regulation by revising the appropriate sections.

DATES: This correction is effective October 26, 2005.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Edgar M. Swindell, Associate General 
Counsel, Office of the General Counsel, Ethics Division, Department of 
Health and Human Services, telephone (202) 690-7258, fax (202) 205-
9752.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document corrects two errors in the 
final rule which HHS published, with the concurrence of the Office of 
Government Ethics (OGE), on August 31, 2005, at 70 FR 51559. The 
corrections involve the supplemental financial disclosure reporting 
requirements for employees of the Food and Drug Administration and the 
National Institutes of Health contained respectively in 5 CFR 5502.106 
and 5502.107. These sections require certain FDA and NIH employees to 
report financial interests in organizations affected by the programs 
and operations of their respective agencies. In the final rule, the 
text of each section erroneously carried forward an exception that had 
appeared in the interim final rule published on February 3, 2005, at 70 
FR 5543. In the interim final rule, new entrant employees to positions 
classified as public or confidential filers were excepted from the 
supplemental reporting requirement because the disclosure of financial 
interests in significantly regulated organizations (SROs) for FDA or 
substantially affected organizations (SAOs) for NIH would duplicate the 
data submitted on an SF 278 or OGE 450 report. However, the final rule 
provided that the value of the reported interests must be disclosed. 
Because the SF 278 requires a reporting of value only within certain 
categories of amount and an OGE 450 requires no report of value 
whatsoever, these forms do not provide the information required by the 
final rule. As a result, the exception for new entrant employees was 
retained inadvertently. Accordingly, Sec.  5502.106(c)(1) is corrected 
to delete the phrase ``other than a public filer or a confidential 
filer;'' and Sec.  5502.107(c)(1) is corrected to state affirmatively 
that new entrant public or confidential filers are subject to the 
reporting requirement.

List of Subjects

5 CFR Part 5502

    Conflict of interests, Ethics, Government employees, Outside 
activities, Reporting and record keeping requirements.

    Dated: October 17, 2005.
Edgar M. Swindell,
Designated Agency Ethics Official, Department of Health and Human 
Services.
    Dated: October 18, 2005.
Michael O. Leavitt,
Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services.
    Approved: October 18, 2005.
Marilyn L. Glynn,
General Counsel, Office of Government Ethics.

0
For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Department of Health and 
Human Services, with the concurrence of the Office of Government 
Ethics, corrects the HHS Supplemental Financial Disclosure Regulation 
at 5 CFR part 5502, by making the following correcting amendments:

PART 5502--SUPPLEMENTAL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS FOR 
EMPLOYEES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

0
1. The authority citation for part 5502 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301, 7301; 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; 5 CFR 2634.103.


Sec.  5502.106  [Amended]

0
2. Amend Sec.  5502.106 by removing from paragraph (c)(1) the commas 
and words ``, other than a public filer or a confidential filer,''.


Sec.  5502.107  [Amended]

0
3. Amend Sec.  5502.107 by removing from paragraph (c)(1) the commas 
and words ``, other than a public filer or a confidential filer,'' and 
adding in their place the words ``who is a public filer or a 
confidential filer or''.

[FR Doc. 05-21343 Filed 10-25-05; 8:45 am]
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