Supplemental Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Department of the Interior

Résumé

The Department of the Interior, with the concurrence of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), is issuing an interim rule for the employees of the Department that supplements the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch issued by OGE. This interim rule is a necessary supplement to the Standards because it addresses ethical issues unique to the Department. The interim rule designates separate agency components for purposes of identifying prohibited sources of gifts and applying the restrictions on compensated outside teaching, speaking and writing that relate to an employee's official duties; provides cross-references to certain statutory prohibitions against the holding by some Department employees of certain financial and other interests, and regulations implementing those prohibitions; prohibits certain financial interests and outside employment; and requires employees to obtain prior approval for certain outside employment. The Department is also revising its employee responsibilities and conduct regulations by adding a cross-reference to ethics and other conduct-related regulations, removing superseded or redundant provisions, and redesignating the pro