Presidential Documents

Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 15 / Monday, January 26, 2009 / Presidential Documents 4673 

Executive Order 13490 of January 21, 2009 

Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel 

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the 

laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3, 

United States Code, and sections 3301 and 7301 of title 5, United States 

Code, it is hereby ordered as follows: 

Section 1. Ethics Pledge. Every appointee in every executive agency appointed 

on or after January 20, 2009, shall sign, and upon signing shall be contractually committed to, the following pledge upon becoming an appointee: 

‘‘As a condition, and in consideration, of my employment in the United 

States Government in a position invested with the public trust, I commit 

myself to the following obligations, which I understand are binding on 

me and are enforceable under law: 

‘‘1. Lobbyist Gift Ban. I will not accept gifts from registered lobbyists or 

lobbying organizations for the duration of my service as an appointee. 

‘‘2. Revolving Door Ban—All Appointees Entering Government. I will not 

for a period of 2 years from the date of my appointment participate in 

any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to my former employer or former clients, including regulations 

and contracts. 

‘‘3. Revolving Door Ban—Lobbyists Entering Government. If I was a registered 

lobbyist within the 2 years before the date of my appointment, in addition 

to abiding by the limitations of paragraph 2, I will not for a period of 

2 years after the date of my appointment: 

(a) participate in any particular matter on which I lobbied within the 

2 years before the date of my appointment; 

(b) participate in the specific issue area in which that particular matter 

falls; or 

(c) seek or accept employment with any executive agency that I lobbied 

within the 2 years before the date of my appointment. 

‘‘4. Revolving Door Ban—Appointees Leaving Government. If, upon my departure from the Government, I am covered by the post-employment restrictions 

on communicating with employees of my former executive agency set forth 

in section 207(c) of title 18, United States Code, I agree that I will abide 

by those restrictions for a period of 2 years following the end of my appointment. 

‘‘5. Revolving Door Ban—Appointees Leaving Government to Lobby. In addition to abiding by the limitations of paragraph 4, I also agree, upon leaving 

Government service, not to lobby any covered executive branch official 

or non-career Senior Executive Service appointee for the remainder of the 

Administration. 

‘‘6. Employment Qualification Commitment. I agree that any hiring or other 

employment decisions I make will be based on the candidate’s qualifications, 

competence, and experience. 

‘‘7. Assent to Enforcement. I acknowledge that the Executive Order entitled 

’Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel,’ issued by the President 

on January 21, 2009, which I have read before signing this document, defines 

certain of the terms applicable to the foregoing obligations and sets forth 

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the methods for enforcing them. I expressly accept the provisions of that 

Executive Order as a part of this agreement and as binding on me. I understand that the terms of this pledge are in addition to any statutory or 

other legal restrictions applicable to me by virtue of Federal Government 

service.’’ 

Sec. 2. Definitions. As used herein and in the pledge set forth in section 

1 of this order: 

(a) ‘‘Executive agency’’ shall include each ‘‘executive agency’’ as defined 

by section 105 of title 5, United States Code, and shall include the Executive 

Office of the President; provided, however, that for purposes of this order 

‘‘executive agency’’ shall include the United States Postal Service and Postal 

Regulatory Commission, but shall exclude the Government Accountability 

Office. 

(b) ‘‘Appointee’’ shall include every full-time, non-career Presidential or 

Vice-Presidential appointee, non-career appointee in the Senior Executive 

Service (or other SES-type system), and appointee to a position that has 

been excepted from the competitive service by reason of being of a confidential or policymaking character (Schedule C and other positions excepted 

under comparable criteria) in an executive agency. It does not include any 

person appointed as a member of the Senior Foreign Service or solely 

as a uniformed service commissioned officer. 

(c) ‘‘Gift’’ 

(1) shall have the definition set forth in section 2635.203(b) of title 

5, Code of Federal Regulations; 

(2) shall include gifts that are solicited or accepted indirectly as defined 

at section 2635.203(f) of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations; and 

(3) shall exclude those items excluded by sections 2635.204(b), (c), 

(e)(1) & (3) and (j)-(l) of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations. 

(d) ‘‘Covered executive branch official’’ and ‘‘lobbyist’’ shall have the 

definitions set forth in section 1602 of title 2, United States Code. 

(e) ‘‘Registered lobbyist or lobbying organization’’ shall mean a lobbyist 

or an organization filing a registration pursuant to section 1603(a) of title 

2, United States Code, and in the case of an organization filing such a 

registration, ‘‘registered lobbyist’’ shall include each of the lobbyists identified therein. 

(f) ‘‘Lobby’’ and ‘‘lobbied’’ shall mean to act or have acted as a registered 

lobbyist. 

(g) ‘‘Particular matter’’ shall have the same meaning as set forth in section 

207 of title 18, United States Code, and section 2635.402(b)(3) of title 5, 

Code of Federal Regulations. 

(h) ‘‘Particular matter involving specific parties’’ shall have the same meaning as set forth in section 2641.201(h) of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, 

except that it shall also include any meeting or other communication relating 

to the performance of one’s official duties with a former employer or former 

client, unless the communication applies to a particular matter of general 

applicability and participation in the meeting or other event is open to 

all interested parties. 

(i) ‘‘Former employer’’ is any person for whom the appointee has within 

the 2 years prior to the date of his or her appointment served as an employee, 

officer, director, trustee, or general partner, except that ‘‘former employer’’ 

does not include any executive agency or other entity of the Federal Government, State or local government, the District of Columbia, Native American 

tribe, or any United States territory or possession. 

(j) ‘‘Former client’’ is any person for whom the appointee served personally 

as agent, attorney, or consultant within the 2 years prior to the date of 

his or her appointment, but excluding instances where the service provided 

was limited to a speech or similar appearance. It does not include clients 

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of the appointee’s former employer to whom the appointee did not personally 

provide services. 

(k) ‘‘Directly and substantially related to my former employer or former 

clients’’ shall mean matters in which the appointee’s former employer or 

a former client is a party or represents a party. 

(l) ‘‘Participate’’ means to participate personally and substantially. 

(m) ‘‘Post-employment restrictions’’ shall include the provisions and exceptions in section 207(c) of title 18, United States Code, and the implementing 

regulations. 

(n) ‘‘Government official’’ means any employee of the executive branch. 

(o) ‘‘Administration’’ means all terms of office of the incumbent President 

serving at the time of the appointment of an appointee covered by this 

order. 

(p) ‘‘Pledge’’ means the ethics pledge set forth in section 1 of this order. 

(q) All references to provisions of law and regulations shall refer to such 

provisions as in effect on January 20, 2009. 

Sec. 3. Waiver. (a) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget, 

or his or her designee, in consultation with the Counsel to the President 

or his or her designee, may grant to any current or former appointee a 

written waiver of any restrictions contained in the pledge signed by such 

appointee if, and to the extent that, the Director of the Office of Management 

and Budget, or his or her designee, certifies in writing (i) that the literal 

application of the restriction is inconsistent with the purposes of the restriction, or (ii) that it is in the public interest to grant the waiver. A waiver 

shall take effect when the certification is signed by the Director of the 

Office of Management and Budget or his or her designee. 

(b) The public interest shall include, but not be limited to, exigent circumstances relating to national security or to the economy. De minimis 

contact with an executive agency shall be cause for a waiver of the restrictions 

contained in paragraph 3 of the pledge. 

Sec. 4. Administration. (a) The head of every executive agency shall, in 

consultation with the Director of the Office of Government Ethics, establish 

such rules or procedures (conforming as nearly as practicable to the agency’s 

general ethics rules and procedures, including those relating to designated 

agency ethics officers) as are necessary or appropriate to ensure that every 

appointee in the agency signs the pledge upon assuming the appointed 

office or otherwise becoming an appointee; to ensure that compliance with 

paragraph 3 of the pledge is addressed in a written ethics agreement with 

each appointee to whom it applies, which agreement shall also be approved 

by the Counsel to the President or his or her designee prior to the appointee 

commencing work; to ensure that spousal employment issues and other 

conflicts not expressly addressed by the pledge are addressed in ethics 

agreements with appointees or, where no such agreements are required, 

through ethics counseling; and generally to ensure compliance with this 

order within the agency. 

(b) With respect to the Executive Office of the President, the duties set 

forth in section 4(a) shall be the responsibility of the Counsel to the President 

or his or her designee. 

(c) The Director of the Office of Government Ethics shall: 

(1) ensure that the pledge and a copy of this order are made available 

for use by agencies in fulfilling their duties under section 4(a) above; 

(2) in consultation with the Attorney General or the Counsel to the 

President or their designees, when appropriate, assist designated agency 

ethics officers in providing advice to current or former appointees regarding 

the application of the pledge; and 

(3) in consultation with the Attorney General and the Counsel to the 

President or their designees, adopt such rules or procedures as are necessary or appropriate: 

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(i) to carry out the foregoing responsibilities; 

(ii) to apply the lobbyist gift ban set forth in paragraph 1 of the pledge 

to all executive branch employees; 

(iii) to authorize limited exceptions to the lobbyist gift ban for circumstances that do not implicate the purposes of the ban; 

(iv) to make clear that no person shall have violated the lobbyist gift 

ban if the person properly disposes of a gift as provided by section 

2635.205 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations; 

(v) to ensure that existing rules and procedures for Government employees engaged in negotiations for future employment with private 

businesses that are affected by their official actions do not affect the integrity of the Government’s programs and operations; 

(vi) to ensure, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, that the requirement set forth in paragraph 6 of the 

pledge is honored by every employee of the executive branch; 

(4) in consultation with the Director of the Office of Management and 

Budget, report to the President on whether full compliance is being 

achieved with existing laws and regulations governing executive branch 

procurement lobbying disclosure and on steps the executive branch can 

take to expand to the fullest extent practicable disclosure of such executive 

branch procurement lobbying and of lobbying for presidential pardons, 

and to include in the report both immediate action the executive branch 

can take and, if necessary, recommendations for legislation; and 

(5) provide an annual public report on the administration of the pledge 

and this order. 

(d) The Director of the Office of Government Ethics shall, in consultation 

with the Attorney General, the Counsel to the President, and the Director 

of the Office of Personnel Management, or their designees, report to the 

President on steps the executive branch can take to expand to the fullest 

extent practicable the revolving door ban set forth in paragraph 5 of the 

pledge to all executive branch employees who are involved in the procurement process such that they may not for 2 years after leaving Government 

service lobby any Government official regarding a Government contract that 

was under their official responsibility in the last 2 years of their Government 

service; and to include in the report both immediate action the executive 

branch can take and, if necessary, recommendations for legislation. 

(e) All pledges signed by appointees, and all waiver certifications with 

respect thereto, shall be filed with the head of the appointee’s agency for 

permanent retention in the appointee’s official personnel folder or equivalent 

folder. 

Sec. 5. Enforcement. (a) The contractual, fiduciary, and ethical commitments 

in the pledge provided for herein are solely enforceable by the United 

States pursuant to this section by any legally available means, including 

debarment proceedings within any affected executive agency or judicial 

civil proceedings for declaratory, injunctive, or monetary relief. 

(b) Any former appointee who is determined, after notice and hearing, 

by the duly designated authority within any agency, to have violated his 

or her pledge may be barred from lobbying any officer or employee of 

that agency for up to 5 years in addition to the time period covered by 

the pledge. The head of every executive agency shall, in consultation with 

the Director of the Office of Government Ethics, establish procedures to 

implement this subsection, which procedures shall include (but not be limited to) providing for factfinding and investigation of possible violations 

of this order and for referrals to the Attorney General for his or her consideration pursuant to subsection (c). 

(c) The Attorney General or his or her designee is authorized: 

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(1) upon receiving information regarding the possible breach of any 

commitment in a signed pledge, to request any appropriate Federal investigative authority to conduct such investigations as may be appropriate; 

and 

(2) upon determining that there is a reasonable basis to believe that 

a breach of a commitment has occurred or will occur or continue, if 

not enjoined, to commence a civil action against the former employee 

in any United States District Court with jurisdiction to consider the matter. 

(d) In any such civil action, the Attorney General or his or her designee 

is authorized to request any and all relief authorized by law, including 

but not limited to: 

(1) such temporary restraining orders and preliminary and permanent 

injunctions as may be appropriate to restrain future, recurring, or continuing conduct by the former employee in breach of the commitments 

in the pledge he or she signed; and 

(2) establishment of a constructive trust for the benefit of the United 

States, requiring an accounting and payment to the United States Treasury 

of all money and other things of value received by, or payable to, the 

former employee arising out of any breach or attempted breach of the 

pledge signed by the former employee. 

Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) No prior Executive Orders are repealed by 

this order. To the extent that this order is inconsistent with any provision 

of any prior Executive Order, this order shall control. 

(b) If any provision of this order or the application of such provision 

is held to be invalid, the remainder of this order and other dissimilar 

applications of such provision shall not be affected. 

(c) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: 

(1) authority granted by law to a department, agency, or the head thereof; 

or 

(2) functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

relating to budget, administrative, or legislative proposals. 

(d) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and 

subject to the availability of appropriations. 

(e) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, 

substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party 

against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, 

employees, or agents, or any other person. 

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(f) The definitions set forth in this order are solely applicable to the 

terms of this order, and are not otherwise intended to impair or affect 

existing law. 

THE WHITE HOUSE, 

January 21, 2009. 

[FR Doc. E9–1719 

Filed 1–23–09; 8:45 am] 

Billing code 3195–W9–P 


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