§207   Disqualification of former officers and employees in matters connected with former duties or offical responsibilities; disqualification of partners.

(a) Whoever, having been an officer or employee of the executive branch of the United States Government, of any independent agency of the United States, or of the District of Columbia, including a special Government employee, after his employment has ceased, knowingly acts as agent or attorney for anyone other than the United States in connection with any judicial or other proceeding, application, request for a ruling or other determination, contract, claim, controversy, charge, accusation, arrest, or other particular matter involving a specific party or parties in which the United States is a party or has a direct and substantial interest and in which he participated personally and substantially as an officer or employee, through decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation, the rendering of advice, investigation, or otherwise, while so employed, or

(b) Whoever, having been so employed, within one year after his employment has ceased, appears personally before any court or department or agency of the Government as agent, or attorney for, anyone other than the United States in connection with any proceeding, application, request for a ruling or other determination, contract, claim, controversy, charge, accusation, arrest, or other particular matter involving a specific party or parties in which the United States is a party or directly and substantially interested, and which was under his official responsibility as an officer or employee of the Government at any time within a period of one year prior to the termination of such responsibility:

Shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both: Provided, That nothing in subsection (a) or (b) prevents a former officer or employee, including a former special Government employee, with outstanding scientific or technological qualifications from acting as attorney or agent or appearing personally in connection with a particular matter in a scientific or technological field if the head of the department or agency concerned with the matter shall make a certification in writing, published in the Federal Register, that the national interest would be served by such action or appearance by the former officer or employee.

(c) Whoever, being a partner of an officer or employee of the executive branch of the United States Government, of any independent agency of the United States, or of the District of Columbia, including a special Government employee, acts as agent or attorney for anyone other than the United States, in connection with any judicial or other proceeding, application, request for a ruling or other determination, contract, claim, controversy, charge, accusation, arrest, or other particular matter in which the United States is a party or has a direct and substantial interest and in which such officer or employee of the Government or special Government employee participates or has participated personally and substantially as a Government employee through decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation, the rendering of advice, investigation or otherwise, or which is the subject of his official responsibility:

Shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

A partner of a present or former officer or employee of the executive branch of the United States Government, of any independent agency of the United States, or of the District of Columbia or of a present or former special Government employee shall as such be subject to the provisions of sections 203, 205, and 207 of this title only as expressly provided in subsection (c) of this section. (Added Pub. L. 87-349, section 1(a), Oct. 23, 1962, 76 Stat. 1123.)

§203   Acts affecting a personal financial interest.

(a) Except as permitted by subsection (b) hereof, whoever, being an officer or employee of the executive branch of the United States Government, of any independent agency of the United States, or of the District of Columbia, including a special Government employee, participates personally and substantially as a Government officer or employee, through decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation, the rendering of advice, investigation, or otherwise, in a judicial or other proceeding, application, request for a ruling or other determination, contract, claim, controversy, charge, accusation, arrest, or other particular matter in which, to his knowledge, he, his spouse, minor child, partner, organization in which he is serving as officer, director, trustee, partner or employee, or any person or organization with whom he is negotiating or has any arrangement concerning prospective employment, has a financial interest:

Shall be fined not more than $10,000, or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

(b) Subsection (a) hereof shall not apply (1) if the officer or employee first advises the Government official responsible for appointment to his position of the nature and circumstances of the judicial or other proceeding, application, request for a ruling or other determination, contract, claim, controversy, charge, accusation, arrest, or other particular matter and makes full disclosure of the financial interest and receives in advance a written determination made by such official that the interest is not so substantial as to be deemed likely to affect the integrity of the services which the Government may expect from such officer or employee, or (2) if, by general rule or regulation published in the Federal Register, the financial interest has been exempted from the requirements of clause (1) hereof as being too remote or too inconsequential to affect the integrity of Government officers' or employees' services. (Added Pub. L. 87-849, section 1(a), Oct. 23, 1962, 76 Stat. 1124.)

New 18 U.S.C. 208. This section forbids certain actions by an officer or employee of the Government in his role as a servant or representative of the Government. Its thrust is therefore to be distinguished from that of sections 203 and 205 which forbid certain actions in his capacity as a representative of persons outside the Government.

Subsection (a) in substance requires an officer or employee of the executive branch, an independent agency or the District of Columbia, including a special Government employee, to refrain from participating as such in any matter in which, to his knowledge, he, his spouse, minor child or partner has a financial interest. He must also remove himself from a matter in which a business or nonprofit organization with which he is connected or is seeking employment has a financial interest.

Subsection (b) permits the agency of an officer or employee to grant him an ad hoc exemption from subsection (a) if the outside financial interest in a matter is deemed not substantial enough to have an effect on the integrity of his services. Financial interests of this kind may also be made nondisqualifying by a general regulation published in the Federal Register.

Section 208 is similar in purpose to the former 18 U.S.C. 434 but prohibits a greater variety of conduct than the “transaction of business with *  *  * [a] business entity” to which the prohibition of section 434 was limited. In addition, the provision in section 208 including the interests of a spouse and others is new, as is the provision authorizing exemptions for insignificant interest.

[Amdt. 99-10, 42 FR 3119, Jan. 14, 1977, as amended by 58 FR 7995, Feb. 11, 1993]