Supplemental Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Department of the Interior and Residual Employee Responsibilities and Conduct Regulations

The Department of the Interior, with the concurrence of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), is issuing a final rule for employees of the Department that supplements the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch (Standards) issued by OGE. This final rule is a necessary supplement to the Standards because it addresses ethical issues unique to the Department. The final rule adopts prior interim regulations as final, with amendments deleting the provision specifying the title of an employee to serve as the Designated Agency Ethics Official and a typographical correction. The portion of the interim rule concerning the Department's separate employee responsibilities and conduct regulation is being amended by this final rule by changing the reference to the Designated Agency Ethics Official as well and by making technical revisions to the authority citation.