§ 2640.102 - Definitions.

§ 2640.102 Definitions.

For purposes of this part:

(a) Diversified means that the fund, trust or plan does not have a stated policy of concentrating its investments in any industry, business, single country other than the United States, or bonds of a single State within the United States and, in the case of an employee benefit plan, means that the plan's trustee has a written policy of varying plan investments.

Note to paragraph (a):

A mutual fund is diversified for purposes of this part if it does not have a policy of concentrating its investments in an industry, business, country other than the United States, or single State within the United States. Whether a mutual fund meets this standard may be determined by checking the fund's prospectus or by calling a broker or the manager of the fund. An employee benefit plan is diversified if the plan manager has a written policy of varying assets. This policy might be found in materials describing the plan or may be obtained in a written statement from the plan manager. It is important to note that a mutual fund or employee benefit plan that is diversified for purposes of this part may not necessarily be an excepted investment fund (EIF) for purposes of reporting financial interests pursuant to 5 CFR 2634.310(c) and 2634.907(i)(3). In some cases, an employee may have to report the underlying assets of a fund or plan on his financial disclosure statement even though an exemption set forth in this part would permit the employee to participate in a matter affecting the underlying assets of the fund or plan. Conversely, there may be situations in which no exemption in this part is applicable to the assets of a fund or plan which is properly reported as an EIF on the employee's financial disclosure statement.

(b) Employee means an officer or employee of the executive branch of the United States, or of any independent agency of the United States, a Federal Reserve bank director, officer, or employee, an officer or employee of the District of Columbia, or any other individual subject to requirements of 18 U.S.C. 208. The term also includes a special Government employee as defined in 18 U.S.C. 202.

(c) Employee benefit plan means a plan as defined in section 3(3) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. 1002(3), and that has more than one participant. An employee benefit plan is any plan, fund or program established or maintained by an employer or an employee organization, or both, to provide its participants medical, disability, death, unemployment, or vacation benefits, training programs, day care centers, scholarship funds, prepaid legal services, deferred income, or retirement income.

(d) He, his, and him include she, hers, and her.

(e) Holdings means portfolio of investments.

(f) Independent trustee means a trustee who is independent of the sponsor and the participants in a plan, or is a registered investment advisor.

(g) Institution of higher education means an educational institution as defined in 20 U.S.C. 1141(a).

(h) Issuer means a person who issues or proposes to issue any security, or has any outstanding security which it has issued.

(i) Long-term Federal Government security means a bond or note, except for a U.S. Savings bond, with a maturity of more than one year issued by the United States Treasury pursuant to 31 U.S.C. chapter 31.

(j) Municipal security means direct obligation of, or obligation guaranteed as to principal or interest by, a State (or any of its political subdivisions, or any municipal corporate instrumentality of one or more States), or the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, or any other possession of the United States.

(k) Mutual fund means an entity which is registered as a management company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (15 U.S.C. 80a-1 et seq.). For purposes of this part, the term mutual fund includes open-end and closed-end mutual funds and registered money market funds.

(l) Particular matter involving specific parties includes any judicial or other proceeding, application, request for a ruling or other determination, contract, claim, controversy, investigation, charge, accusation, arrest or other particular matter involving a specific party or parties. The term typically involves a specific proceeding affecting the legal rights of the parties, or an isolatable transaction or related set of transactions between identified parties.

(m) Particular matter of general applicability means a particular matter that is focused on the interests of a discrete and identifiable class of persons, but does not involve specific parties.

(n) Pension plan means any plan, fund or program maintained by an employer or an employee organization, or both, to provide retirement income to employees, or which results in deferral of income for periods extending to, or beyond, termination of employment.

(o) Person means an individual, corporation, company, association, firm, partnership, society or any other organization or institution.

(p) Publicly traded security means a security as defined in paragraph (r) of this section and which is:

(1) Registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78l) and listed on a national or regional securities exchange or traded through NASDAQ;

(2) Issued by an investment company registered pursuant to section 8 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (15 U.S.C. 80a-8); or

(3) A corporate bond registered as an offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission under section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78l) and issued by an entity whose stock is a publicly traded security.

Note to paragraph (p):

National securities exchanges include the American Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. Regional exchanges include Boston, Cincinnati, Intermountain (Salt Lake City), Midwest (Chicago), Pacific (Los Angeles and San Francisco), Philadelphia (Philadelphia and Miami), and Spokane stock exchanges.

(q) Sector mutual fund or sector unit investment trust means a mutual fund or unit investment trust that concentrates its investments in an industry, business, single country other than the United States, or bonds of a single State within the United States.

(r) Security means common stock, preferred stock, corporate bond, municipal security, long-term Federal Government security, and limited partnership interest. The term also includes “mutual fund” for purposes of § 2640.202(e) and (f) and § 2640.203(a).

(s) Short-term Federal Government security means a bill with a maturity of one year or less issued by the United States Treasury pursuant to 31 U.S.C. chapter 31.

(t) Special Government employee means those executive branch officers or employees specified in 18 U.S.C. 202(a). A special Government employee is retained, designated, appointed or employed to perform temporary duties either on a full-time or intermittent basis, with or without compensation, for a period not to exceed 130 days during any consecutive 365-day period.

(u) Unit investment trust means an investment company as defined in 15 U.S.C. 80a-4(2) that is a regulated investment company under 26 U.S.C. 851.

(v) United States Savings bond means a savings bond issued by the United States Treasury pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3105.

[61 FR 66841, Dec. 18, 1996, as amended at 67 FR 12445, Mar. 19, 2002; 71 FR 28239, May 16, 2006; 78 FR 14441, Mar. 6, 2013; 81 FR 61100, Sept. 6, 2016]