[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 124 (Tuesday, July 1, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Page 28818]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-12176]


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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

[Notice: 25-020]


Guidance on Referrals for Potential Criminal Enforcement

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice describes the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration's (NASA) plans to address criminally liable regulatory 
offenses under the recent executive order on Fighting 
Overcriminalization in Federal Regulations.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Emily Pellegrino, Federal Register 
Liaison Officer, Office of the Executive Secretariate, NASA 
Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546, via email at 
[email protected] or [email protected] or 
(202) 358-1525.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 9, 2025, the President issued 
Executive Order (``E.O.'') 14294, Fighting Overcriminalization in 
Federal Regulations. 90 FR 20363 (published May 14, 2025). Section 7 of 
E.O. 14294 provides that within 45 days of the order, and in 
consultation with the Attorney General, each agency should publish 
guidance in the Federal Register describing its plan to address 
criminally liable regulatory offenses.
    Consistent with that requirement, NASA advises the public that by 
May 9, 2026, the Agency, in consultation with the Attorney General, 
will provide to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
(``OMB'') a report containing: (1) a list of all criminal regulatory 
offenses \1\ enforceable by the Department of Justice (``DOJ'') via a 
referral by NASA; and (2) for each such criminal regulatory offense, 
the range of potential criminal penalties for a violation and the 
applicable mens rea standard \2\ for the criminal regulatory offense.
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    \1\ ``Criminal regulatory offense'' means a Federal regulation 
that is enforceable by a criminal penalty. E.O. 14294, sec. 3(b).
    \2\ ``Mens rea'' means the state of mind that by law must be 
proven to convict a particular defendant of a particular crime. E.O. 
14294, sec. 3(c).
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    This notice also announces a general policy, subject to appropriate 
exceptions and to the extent consistent with law, that when NASA is 
deciding whether to refer alleged violations of criminal regulatory 
offenses to DOJ, officers and employees of NASA should consider, among 
other factors:
     the harm or risk of harm, pecuniary or otherwise, caused 
by the alleged offense;
     the potential gain to the putative defendant that could 
result from the offense;
     whether the putative defendant held specialized knowledge, 
expertise, or was licensed in an industry related to the rule or 
regulation at issue; and
     evidence, if any is available, of the putative defendant's 
general awareness of the unlawfulness of his conduct as well as his 
knowledge or lack thereof of the regulation at issue.
    This general policy is not intended to, and does not, create any 
right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in 
equity by any party against the United States, its departments, 
agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other 
person.

Emily A. Pellegrino,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2025-12176 Filed 6-30-25; 8:45 am]
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