An employee may not acquire or hold any financial interest that agency employees are prohibited from acquiring or holding by statute, by agency regulation issued in accordance with paragraph (a) of this section, or by reason of an agency determination of substantial conflict under paragraph (b) of this section.

(a) Agency regulation prohibiting certain financial interests. An agency may, by supplemental agency regulation, prohibit or restrict the acquisition or holding of a financial interest or a class of financial interests by agency employees, or any category of agency employees, and the spouses and minor children of those employees, based on the agency's determination that the acquisition or holding of such financial interests would cause a reasonable person to question the impartiality and objectivity with which agency programs are administered. When the agency restricts or prohibits the holding of certain financial interests by its employees' spouses or minor children, any such prohibition or restriction must be based on a determination that there is a direct and appropriate nexus between the prohibition or restriction as applied to spouses and minor children and the efficiency of the service.

(b) Agency determination of substantial conflict. An agency may prohibit or restrict an individual employee from acquiring or holding a financial interest or a class of financial interests based upon the agency designee's determination that the holding of such interest or interests will:

(1) Require the employee to recuse from particular matters so central or critical to the performance of the employee's official duties that their ability to perform the duties of their position would be materially impaired; or

(2) Adversely affect the efficient accomplishment of the agency's mission because another employee cannot be readily assigned to perform work from which the employee would be recused by reason of the financial interest.

Example 1 to paragraph (b): An Air Force employee who owns $33,778 of stock in a major aircraft engine manufacturer is being considered for promotion to a position that involves responsibility for development of a new fighter airplane. If the agency determined that engineering and other decisions about the Air Force's requirements for the fighter would directly and predictably affect the employee's financial interests, the employee could not, by virtue of 18 U.S.C. 208(a), perform these significant duties of the position while retaining stock in the company. The agency can require the employee to sell the stock as a condition of being selected for the position rather than allowing the employee to recuse from particular matters.

(c) Definition of financial interest. For purposes of this section:

(1) Except as provided in paragraph (c)(2) of this section, the term financial interest is limited to financial interests that are owned by the employee or by the employee's spouse or minor children. However, the term is not limited to only those financial interests that would require the employee to recuse under 18 U.S.C. 208(a) and § 2635.402. The term includes any current or contingent ownership, equity, or security interest in real or personal property or a business, and may include an indebtedness or compensated employment relationship. It thus includes, for example, interests in the nature of stocks, bonds, partnership interests, fee and leasehold interests, mineral and other property rights, deeds of trust, and liens, and extends to any right to purchase or acquire any such interest, such as a stock option or commodity future. It does not include a future interest created by someone other than the employee, the employee's spouse, or minor child, or any right as a beneficiary of an estate that has not been settled.

Example 1 to paragraph (c)(1): A regulatory agency has concluded that ownership by its employees of stock in entities regulated by the agency would significantly diminish public confidence in the agency's performance of its regulatory functions and thereby interfere with the accomplishment of its mission. In its supplemental agency regulations, the agency may prohibit its employees from acquiring or continuing to hold stock in regulated entities.

Example 2 to paragraph (c)(1): An agency that insures bank deposits may, by supplemental agency regulation, prohibit its employees who are bank examiners from obtaining loans from banks they examine. Examination of a member bank could have no effect on an employee's fixed obligation to repay a loan from that bank and, thus, would not affect an employee's financial interests so as to require recusal under § 2635.402. Nevertheless, a loan from a member bank is a discrete financial interest within the meaning of paragraph (c) of this section that may, when appropriate, be prohibited by supplemental agency regulation.

(2) The term financial interest includes service, with or without compensation, as an officer, director, trustee, general partner, or employee of any person, including a nonprofit entity, whose financial interests are imputed to the employee under § 2635.402(b)(2)(iii) or (iv).

Example 1 to paragraph (c)(2): The Foundation for the Preservation of Wild Horses maintains herds of horses that graze on public and private lands. Because its costs are affected by Federal policies regarding grazing permits, the Foundation routinely comments on all proposed rules governing use of Federal grasslands issued by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). BLM may require an employee to resign from their uncompensated position as Vice President of the Foundation as a condition of a promotion to a policy-level position within the Bureau rather than allowing the employee to rely on recusal in particular cases.

(d) Reasonable period to divest or terminate. Whenever an agency directs divestiture of a financial interest under paragraph (a) or (b) of this section, the employee will be given a reasonable period of time, considering the nature of their particular duties and the nature and marketability of the interest, within which to comply with the agency's direction. Except in cases of unusual hardship, as determined by the agency, a reasonable period must not exceed 90 days from the date divestiture is first directed. However, as long as the employee continues to hold the financial interest, all restrictions imposed by this subpart remain applicable.

(e) Eligibility for special tax treatment. Employees required to sell or otherwise divest a financial interest may be eligible to defer the tax consequences of divestiture under part 2634, subpart J, of this chapter.