Complete Home & Office Legal Guide/Complete Home and Office Legal Guide (Chestnut) (1993).ISO/stat/fed/cfr2635f.asc

Text File | 1993-08-01 | 30KB | 612 lines

2635.702 Use of public office for private gain.

 An employee shall not use his public office for his own
private gain, for the endorsement of any product, service or
enterprise, or for the private gain of friends, relatives, or
persons with whom the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental
capacity, including nonprofit organizations of which the employee
is an officer or member, and persons with whom the employee has
or seeks employment or business relations. The specific
prohibitions set forth in paragraphs (a) through (d) of this
section apply this general standard, but are not intended to be
exclusive or to limit the application of this section.

 (a) Inducement or coercion of benefits. An employee shall
not use or permit the use of his Government position or title or
any authority associated with his public office in a manner that
is intended to coerce or induce another person, including a
subordinate, to provide any benefit, financial or otherwise, to
himself or to friends, relatives, or persons with whom the
employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity.

 Example 1: Offering to pursue a relative's consumer
complaint over a household appliance, an employee of the
Securities and Exchange Commission called the general counsel of
the manufacturer and, in the course of discussing the problem,
stated that he worked at the SEC and was responsible for
reviewing the company's filings. The employee violated the
prohibition against use of public office for private gain by
invoking his official authority in an attempt to influence action
to benefit his relative.

 Example 2: An employee of the Department of Commerce was

asked by a friend to determine why his firm's export license had
not yet been granted by another office within the Department of
Commerce. At a department-level staff meeting, the employee
raised as a matter for official inquiry the delay in approval of
the particular license and asked that the particular license be
expedited. The official used her public office in an attempt to
benefit her friend and, in acting as her friend's agent for the
purpose of pursuing the export license with the Department of
Commerce, may also have violated 18 U.S.C. 205.

 (b) Appearance of governmental sanction. Except as
otherwise provided in this part, an employee shall not use or
permit the use of his Government position or title or any
authority associated with his public office in a manner that
could reasonably be construed to imply that his agency or the
Government sanctions or endorses his personal activities or those
of another. When teaching, speaking, or writing in a personal
capacity, he may refer to his official title or position only as
permitted by 2635.807(b). He may sign a letter of recommendation
using his official title only in response to a request for an
employment recommendation or character reference based upon
personal knowledge of the ability or character of an individual
with whom he has dealt in the course of Federal employment or
whom he is recommending for Federal employment.

 Example 1: An employee of the Department of the Treasury
who is asked to provide a letter of recommendation for a former
subordinate on his staff may provide the recommendation using
official stationery and may sign the letter using his official
title. If, however, the request is for the recommendation of a
personal friend with whom he has not dealt in the Government, the
employee should not use official stationery or sign the letter of
recommendation using his official title, unless the
recommendation is for Federal employment. In writing the letter
of recommendation for his personal friend, it may be appropriate
for the employee to refer to his official position in the body of
the letter.

 (c) Endorsements. An employee shall not use or permit the
use of his Government position or title or any authority
associated with his public office to endorse any product, service
or enterprise except:

 (1) In furtherance of statutory authority to promote
products, services or enterprises; or

 (2) As a result of documentation of compliance with agency
requirements or standards or as the result of recognition for
achievement given under an agency program of recognition for
accomplishment in support of the agency's mission.

 Example 1: A Commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety
Commission may not appear in a television commercial in which she
endorses an electrical appliance produced by her former employer,
stating that it has been found by the CPSC to be safe for
residential use.

 Example 2: A Foreign Commercial Service officer from the
Department of Commerce is asked by a United States
telecommunications company to meet with representatives of the
Government of Spain, which is in the process of procuring
telecommunications services and equipment. The company is bidding
against five European companies and the statutory mission of the
Department of Commerce includes assisting the export activities
of U.S. companies. As part of his official duties, the Foreign
Commercial Service officer may meet with Spanish officials and
explain the advantages of procurement from the United States
company.

 Example 3: The Administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency may sign a letter to an oil company indicating
that its refining operations are in compliance with Federal air
quality standards even though he knows that the company has
routinely displayed letters of this type in television
commercials portraying it as a ``trustee of the environment for
future generations.''

 Example 4: An Assistant Attorney General may not use his
official title or refer to his Government position in a book
jacket endorsement of a novel about organized crime written by an
author whose work he admires. Nor may he do so in a book review
published in a newspaper.

 (d) Performance of official duties affecting a private
interest. To ensure that the performance of his official duties
does not give rise to an appearance of use of public office for
private gain or of giving preferential treatment, an employee
whose duties would affect the financial interests of a friend,
relative or person with whom he is affiliated in a
nongovernmental capacity shall comply with any applicable
requirements of 2635.502.

 (e) Use of terms of address and ranks. Nothing in this
section prohibits an employee who is ordinarily addressed using a
general term of address, such as ``The Honorable'', or a rank,
such as a military or ambassadorial rank, from using that term of
address or rank in connection with a personal activity.

2635.703 Use of nonpublic information.

 (a) Prohibition. An employee shall not engage in a
financial transaction using nonpublic information, nor allow the
improper use of nonpublic information to further his own private
interest or that of another, whether through advice or
recommendation, or by knowing unauthorized disclosure.

 (b) Definition of nonpublic information. For purposes of
this section, nonpublic information is information that the
employee gains by reason of Federal employment and that he knows
or reasonably should know has not been made available to the
general public. It includes information that he knows or
reasonably should know:

 (1) Is routinely exempt from disclosure under 5 U.S.C. 552
or otherwise protected from disclosure by statute, Executive
order or regulation;

 (2) Is designated as confidential by an agency; or

 (3) Has not actually been disseminated to the general
public and is not authorized to be made available to the public
on request.

 Example 1: A Navy employee learns in the course of her
duties that a small corporation will be awarded a Navy contract
for electrical test equipment. She may not take any action to
purchase stock in the corporation or its suppliers and she may
not advise friends or relatives to do so until after public