[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 5, Volume 3]
[Revised as of January 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 5CFR2635.501]

[Page 565-566]
 
                    TITLE 5--ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
 
                CHAPTER XVI--OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS
 
PART 2635--STANDARDS OF ETHICAL CONDUCT FOR EMPLOYEES OF THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH--Table of Contents
 
          Subpart E--Impartiality in Performing Official Duties
 
Sec. 2635.501  Overview.


    (a) This subpart contains two provisions intended to ensure that an 
employee takes appropriate steps to avoid an appearance of loss of 
impartiality in the performance of his official duties. Under 
Sec. 2635.502, unless he receives prior authorization, an employee 
should not participate in a particular matter involving specific parties 
which he knows is likely to affect the financial interests of a member 
of his household, or in which he knows a person with whom he has a 
covered relationship is or represents a party, if he determines that a 
reasonable person with knowledge of the relevant facts would question 
his impartiality in the matter. An employee who is concerned that other 
circumstances would raise a question regarding his impartiality should 
use the process described in Sec. 2635.502 to determine whether he 
should or should not participate in a particular matter.
    (b) Under Sec. 2635.503, an employee who has received an 
extraordinary severance or other payment from a former employer prior to 
entering Government service is subject, in the absence of a waiver, to a 
two-year period of disqualification from participation in particular 
matters in which that former employer is or represents a party.
    Note: Questions regarding impartiality necessarily arise when an 
employee's official duties impact upon the employee's own financial 
interests or those of certain other persons, such as the employee's 
spouse or minor child. An employee is prohibited by criminal statute, 18 
U.S.C. 208(a), from participating personally and substantially in an 
official capacity in any particular matter in

[[Page 566]]

which, to his knowledge, he, his spouse, general partner or minor child 
has a financial interest, if the particular matter will have a direct 
and predictable effect on that interest. The statutory prohibition also 
extends to an employee's participation in a particular matter in which, 
to his knowledge, an organization in which the employee is serving as 
officer, director, trustee, general partner or employee, or with whom he 
is negotiating or has an arrangement concerning prospective employment 
has a financial interest. Where the employee's participation in a 
particular matter would affect any one of these financial interests, the 
standards set forth in subparts D or F of this part apply and only a 
statutory waiver or exemption, as described in Secs. 2635.402(d) and 
2635.605(a), will enable the employee to participate in that matter. The 
authorization procedures in Sec. 2635.502(d) may not be used to 
authorize an employee's participation in any such matter. Where the 
employee complies with all terms of the waiver, the granting of a 
statutory waiver will be deemed to constitute a determination that the 
interest of the Government in the employee's participation outweighs the 
concern that a reasonable person may question the integrity of agency 
programs and operations. Similarly, where the employee meets all 
prerequisites for the application of one of the exemptions set forth in 
subpart B of part 2640 of this chapter, that also constitutes a 
determination that the interest of the Government in the employee's 
participation outweighs the concern that a reasonable person may 
question the integrity of agency programs and operations.

[57 FR 35042, Aug. 7, 1992, as amended at 62 FR 48748, Sept. 17, 1997]