### §552. Savings provisions

#### (a) Completed administrative actions

(1) Completed administrative actions of an agency shall not be affected by the enactment of this chapter or the transfer of such agency to the Department, but shall continue in effect according to their terms until amended, modified, superseded, terminated, set aside, or revoked in accordance with law by an officer of the United States or a court of competent jurisdiction, or by operation of law.

(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), the term "completed administrative action" includes orders, determinations, rules, regulations, personnel actions, permits, agreements, grants, contracts, certificates, licenses, registrations, and privileges.

#### (b) Pending proceedings

Subject to the authority of the Secretary under this chapter—

(1) pending proceedings in an agency, including notices of proposed rulemaking, and applications for licenses, permits, certificates, grants, and financial assistance, shall continue notwithstanding the enactment of this chapter or the transfer of the agency to the Department, unless discontinued or modified under the same terms and conditions and to the same extent that such discontinuance could have occurred if such enactment or transfer had not occurred; and

(2) orders issued in such proceedings, and appeals therefrom, and payments made pursuant to such orders, shall issue in the same manner and on the same terms as if this chapter had not been enacted or the agency had not been transferred, and any such orders shall continue in effect until amended, modified, superseded, terminated, set aside, or revoked by an officer of the United States or a court of competent jurisdiction, or by operation of law.

#### (c) Pending civil actions

Subject to the authority of the Secretary under this chapter, pending civil actions shall continue notwithstanding the enactment of this chapter or the transfer of an agency to the Department, and in such civil actions, proceedings shall be had, appeals taken, and judgments rendered and enforced in the same manner and with the same effect as if such enactment or transfer had not occurred.

#### (d) References

References relating to an agency that is transferred to the Department in statutes, Executive orders, rules, regulations, directives, or delegations of authority that precede such transfer or the effective date of this chapter shall be deemed to refer, as appropriate, to the Department, to its officers, employees, or agents, or to its corresponding organizational units or functions. Statutory reporting requirements that applied in relation to such an agency immediately before the effective date of this chapter shall continue to apply following such transfer if they refer to the agency by name.

#### (e) Employment provisions

(1) Notwithstanding the generality of the foregoing (including subsections (a) and (d)), in and for the Department the Secretary may, in regulations prescribed jointly with the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, adopt the rules, procedures, terms, and conditions, established by statute, rule, or regulation before the effective date of this chapter, relating to employment in any agency transferred to the Department pursuant to this chapter; and

(2) except as otherwise provided in this chapter, or under authority granted by this chapter, the transfer pursuant to this chapter of personnel shall not alter the terms and conditions of employment, including compensation, of any employee so transferred.

#### (f) Statutory reporting requirements

Any statutory reporting requirement that applied to an agency, transferred to the Department under this chapter, immediately before the effective date of this chapter shall continue to apply following that transfer if the statutory requirement refers to the agency by name.

(Pub. L. 107–296, title XV, §1512, Nov. 25, 2002, 116 Stat. 2310.)

#### **Editorial Notes**

#### References in Text

This chapter, referred to in text, was in the original "this Act", meaning Pub. L. 107–296, Nov. 25, 2002, 116 Stat. 2135, known as the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 101 of this title and Tables.

The effective date of this chapter, referred to in subsecs. (d), (e)(1), and (f), is 60 days after Nov. 25, 2002, see section 4 of Pub. L. 107–296, set out as an Effective Date note under section 101 of this title.