CFR

2638.501—In general.

(a) Authority. The Director of the Office of Government Ethics has authority under sub sections 402(b)(9) and 402(f)(2) of the Act to order corrective and remedial action with respect to individual employees to bring about compliance with applicable ethics provisions. Nothing in this subpart relieves an agency of its primary responsibility to ensure compliance.

(b) Definitions. For the purpose of this subpart:

(1) Ethics provision includes any rule, regulation or executive order relating to conflicts of interest or standards of conduct in the executive branch. The term excludes any statute that is contained in title 18 of the United States Code or which imposes a criminal penalty as well as any statute made applicable to a specific agency that mandates or proscribes conduct not otherwise the subject of Governmentwide standards. It excludes any matter covered by sections 101 (k) and (m) of Executive Order 12674 that are within the cognizance of agency Inspectors General, the Office of Special Counsel or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

(2) Employee means any officer or employee, including a special Government employee, covered by any of the provisions contained in part 735 of this title.

(3) Head of an agency, in the case of an agency that is headed by a board, committee or other group of individuals, refers to the employee's appointing authority.

(4) Corrective action means any action necessary to remedy a violation of an ethics provision including, but not limited to, recusal, divestiture, termination of an activity, restitution, or the creation of a qualified blind or diversified trust.

(5) Disciplinary action includes the full range of disciplinary actions provided for by Office of Personnel Management regulations and instructions implementing authorities contained in title 5 of the United States Code or provided for in comparable authorities applicable to employees not subject to title 5.

(6) The terms he, his and him include “she,” “hers” and “her.”

(c) Violations of criminal statutes. Nothing contained in this part gives the Director or any agency official authority to make a finding that any criminal statute relating to conflicts of interest is being or has been violated. If facts elicited under these procedures indicate that a criminal violation of any such provision is occurring or has occurred, the suspected violation will be referred for possible prosecution in accordance with 28 U.S.C. 535 and the reporting requirements set forth in § 2638.603 of this chapter shall apply. Subsequent to referral, proceedings under this subpart may be initiated or continued at the discretion of the Director, after consultation with the appropriate investigatory or prosecutorial authorities.

(d) National security. Proceedings under this subpart shall be conducted in accordance with applicable national security requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations

[55 FR 1667, Jan. 18, 1990; as amended at 55 FR 21846, May 30, 1990]

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