[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 124 (Monday, June 29, 1998)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 35130]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-17232]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
16 CFR Part 5
Exemption of Insubstantial Financial Conflicts.
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: The Commission is amending a Commission Rule to make it
consistent with the Office of Government Ethics' regulation
establishing regulatory waivers of certain financial conflicts of
interest.
EFFECTIVE DATE: This amendment is effective on June 29, 1998.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ira S. Kaye, Attorney, Federal Trade
Commission, Room 594, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington
DC 20580. 202-326-2426.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: When the Standards of Ethical Conduct for
Employees of the Executive Branch (``Standards''), 5 CFR Part 2635,
became effective on February 3, 1993, they superseded most of the
Commission's own standards of conduct, 16 CFR Part 5. The Commission
rescinded its superseded standards on February 8, 1993. See 58 FR 15763
(March 24, 1993). The Commission retained Rule 5.8 because it had not
been superseded by the new Standards, but renumbered it as Rule 5.2.
Rule 5.2(a)-(c) provides the requirements and procedures for
seeking a waiver of a financial conflict of interest. In addition, Rule
5.2(d) notes that a financial interest in ``[s]tocks and bonds of a
diversified mutual fund or investment company'' is waived
automatically, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 208(a), provided that the employee
does not own more than one percent of the value of the fund's reported
assets.
The U.S. Office of Government Ethics issued a final rule, 5 CFR
Part 2640, effective on January 17, 1997, describing a number of
additional circumstances under which a financial conflict of interest
is waived automatically. For example, an employee may participate in a
particular matter, despite holding a financial interest that would be
affected by the matter, if the interest arises from the ownership of
publicly traded securities and is valued at no more than $5000. 5 CFR
2640.202(a). Thus, the reference to an automatic waiver in Commission
Rule 5.2(d) should be amended to reflect the existence of these
additional regulatory waivers.
This rule amendment relates solely to agency practice, and, thus,
is not subject to the notice and comment requirements of the
Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 553(a)(2), or to the
requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601(2).
The amended rule does not involve the ``collection of information''
as that term is defined by the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA''), 44
U.S.C. 3501-3520.
List of Subjects in 16 CFR Part 5
Standards of conduct.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Federal Trade
Commission amends Title 16, Chapter I, subchapter A, of the Code of
Federal Regulations as follows:
PART 5--STANDARDS OF CONDUCT
1. The authorities citation for Part 5 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 5 U.S.C. 7301; 5 U.S.C. App. (Ethics in Government
Act of 1978); 15 U.S.C. 46(g); E.O. 12674, 54 FR 15159, 3 CFR, 1989
Comp. p. 215, as modified by E.O. 12731, 55 FR 42547, 3 CFR, 1990
Comp., p. 306, 5 CFR part 2635, unless otherwise noted.
2. Section 5.2 is amended by revising paragraph (d) to read as
follows:
Sec. 5.2 Exemption of insubstantial financial conflicts.
* * * * *
(d) Pursuant to 5 CFR Part 2640, certain financial interests are
exempted from the provisions of 18 U.S.C. 208(a) as being too remote to
too inconsequential to affect the integrity of an employee's services.
By direction of the Commission.
Benjamin I. Berman,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 98-17232 Filed 6-26-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-M
