This Program Advisory announces the U.S. Office of Government Ethics' (OGE) plan to list information about individuals who receive conflict of interest waivers (waivers) issued under 18 U.S.C. § 208(b)(1) in its Officials’ Individual Disclosures Search Collection (Collection). This Advisory describes why, how, and when OGE will make this information available, and reminds agencies that they may withhold from public disclosure information that would be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Maintaining the public’s trust is a shared responsibility between OGE and the 5,300 ethics officials supporting 2.7 million employees across more than 140 executive branch agencies.

This Legal Advisory discusses the application of the terms “organization” under 18 U.S.C. § 208 and “person” under 5 C.F.R. § 2635.502 for employees with outside employment interests with state and local government entities.

In this Program Advisory, OGE asks each agency to forward its annual letter stating whether its components that are currently designated should remain designated for purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 207(c). Any request to modify the existing list of components should be submitted in accordance with regulatory procedures.

The final rule revises the Standards based on OGE’s experience gained from applying the regulation since its inception, input gathered during the public comment period, as well as feedback from ethics officials over the years. It also incorporates past interpretive guidance, improves clarity, modernizes regulatory examples to make them more relevant and inclusive, updates citations, and corrects technical deficiencies.

The final rule making modernization updates to the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch (Standards) becomes effective on August 15, 2024. This Legal Advisory highlights some of the notable updates to the Standards which will go into effect at that time.