US Code Title 18 Section 205

CITE

    18 USC Sec. 205                                             01/05/2009

EXPCITE

    TITLE 18 - CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
    PART I - CRIMES
    CHAPTER 11 - BRIBERY, GRAFT, AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

HEAD

    Sec. 205. Activities of officers and employees in claims against
      and other matters affecting the Government

STATUTE

      (a) Whoever, being an officer or employee of the United States in
    the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government or
    in any agency of the United States, other than in the proper
    discharge of his official duties -
        (1) acts as agent or attorney for prosecuting any claim against
      the United States, or receives any gratuity, or any share of or
      interest in any such claim, in consideration of assistance in the
      prosecution of such claim; or
        (2) acts as agent or attorney for anyone before any department,
      agency, court, court-martial, officer, or civil, military, or
      naval commission in connection with any covered matter in which
      the United States is a party or has a direct and substantial
      interest;
    shall be subject to the penalties set forth in section 216 of this
    title.
      (b) Whoever, being an officer or employee of the District of
    Columbia or an officer or employee of the Office of the United
    States Attorney for the District of Columbia, otherwise than in the
    proper discharge of official duties -
        (1) acts as agent or attorney for prosecuting any claim against
      the District of Columbia, or receives any gratuity, or any share
      of or interest in any such claim in consideration of assistance
      in the prosecution of such claim; or
        (2) acts as agent or attorney for anyone before any department,
      agency, court, officer, or commission in connection with any
      covered matter in which the District of Columbia is a party or
      has a direct and substantial interest;
    shall be subject to the penalties set forth in section 216 of this
    title.
      (c) A special Government employee shall be subject to subsections
    (a) and (b) only in relation to a covered matter involving a
    specific party or parties -
        (1) in which he has at any time participated personally and
      substantially as a Government employee or special Government
      employee through decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation,
      the rendering of advice, investigation, or otherwise; or
        (2) which is pending in the department or agency of the
      Government in which he is serving.
    Paragraph (2) shall not apply in the case of a special Government
    employee who has served in such department or agency no more than
    sixty days during the immediately preceding period of three hundred
    and sixty-five consecutive days.
      (d)(1) Nothing in subsection (a) or (b) prevents an officer or
    employee, if not inconsistent with the faithful performance of that
    officer's or employee's duties, from acting without compensation as
    agent or attorney for, or otherwise representing -
        (A) any person who is the subject of disciplinary, loyalty, or
      other personnel administration proceedings in connection with
      those proceedings; or
        (B) except as provided in paragraph (2), any cooperative,
      voluntary, professional, recreational, or similar organization or
      group not established or operated for profit, if a majority of
      the organization's or group's members are current officers or
      employees of the United States or of the District of Columbia, or
      their spouses or dependent children.
      (2) Paragraph (1)(B) does not apply with respect to a covered
    matter that -
        (A) is a claim under subsection (a)(1) or (b)(1);
        (B) is a judicial or administrative proceeding where the
      organization or group is a party; or
        (C) involves a grant, contract, or other agreement (including a
      request for any such grant, contract, or agreement) providing for
      the disbursement of Federal funds to the organization or group.
      (e) Nothing in subsection (a) or (b) prevents an officer or
    employee, including a special Government employee, from acting,
    with or without compensation, as agent or attorney for, or
    otherwise representing, his parents, spouse, child, or any person
    for whom, or for any estate for which, he is serving as guardian,
    executor, administrator, trustee, or other personal fiduciary
    except -
        (1) in those matters in which he has participated personally
      and substantially as a Government employee or special Government
      employee through decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation,
      the rendering of advice, investigation, or otherwise, or
        (2) in those matters which are the subject of his official
      responsibility,
    subject to approval by the Government official responsible for
    appointment to his position.
      (f) Nothing in subsection (a) or (b) prevents a special
    Government employee from acting as agent or attorney for another
    person in the performance of work under a grant by, or a contract
    with or for the benefit of, the United States if the head of the
    department or agency concerned with the grant or contract certifies
    in writing that the national interest so requires and publishes
    such certification in the Federal Register.
      (g) Nothing in this section prevents an officer or employee from
    giving testimony under oath or from making statements required to
    be made under penalty for perjury or contempt.
      (h) For the purpose of this section, the term "covered matter"
    means any judicial or other proceeding, application, request for a
    ruling or other determination, contract, claim, controversy,
    investigation, charge, accusation, arrest, or other particular
    matter.
      (i) Nothing in this section prevents an employee from acting
    pursuant to -
        (1) chapter 71 of title 5;
        (2) section 1004 or chapter 12 of title 39;
        (3) section 3 of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933 (16
      U.S.C. 831b);
        (4) chapter 10 of title I of the Foreign Service Act of 1980
      (22 U.S.C. 4104 et seq.); or
        (5) any provision of any other Federal or District of Columbia
      law that authorizes labor-management relations between an agency
      or instrumentality of the United States or the District of
      Columbia and any labor organization that represents its
      employees.

SOURCE

    (Added Pub. L. 87-849, Sec. 1(a), Oct. 23, 1962, 76 Stat. 1122;
    amended Pub. L. 101-194, title IV, Sec. 404, Nov. 30, 1989, 103
    Stat. 1750; Pub. L. 101-280, Sec. 5(c), May 4, 1990, 104 Stat. 159;
    Pub. L. 104-177, Sec. 2, Aug. 6, 1996, 110 Stat. 1563; Pub. L. 107-
    273, div. B, title IV, Sec. 4002(a)(9), Nov. 2, 2002, 116 Stat.
    1807.)

REFERENCES IN TEXT

      The Foreign Service Act of 1980, referred to in subsec. (i)(4),
    is Pub. L. 96-465, Oct. 17, 1980, 94 Stat. 2071, as amended.
    Chapter 10 of title I of the Act is classified generally to
    subchapter X (Sec. 4101 et seq.) of chapter 52 of Title 22, Foreign
    Relations and Intercourse. For complete classification of this Act
    to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 3901 of
    Title 22 and Tables.

PRIOR PROVISIONS

      A prior section 205, act June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 692,
    related to the acceptance by a Member of Congress of anything of
    value to influence him, prior to the general amendment of this
    chapter by Pub. L. 87-849 and is substantially covered by revised
    section 201.
      Provisions similar to those comprising this section were
    contained in section 283 of this title prior to the repeal of such
    section and the general amendment of this chapter by Pub. L. 87-
    849.
                                AMENDMENTS
      2002 - Subsec. (d)(1)(B). Pub. L. 107-273 substituted "group's"
    for "groups's".
      1996 - Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 104-177, Sec. 2(a), amended subsec.
    (d) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (d) read as follows:
    "Nothing in subsection (a) or (b) prevents an officer or employee,
    if not inconsistent with the faithful performance of his duties,
    from acting without compensation as agent or attorney for, or
    otherwise representing, any person who is the subject of
    disciplinary, loyalty, or other personnel administration
    proceedings in connection with those proceedings."
      Subsec. (i). Pub. L. 104-177, Sec. 2(b), added subsec. (i).
      1990 - Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 101-280, Sec. 5(c)(1), substituted
    "civil" for "any civil".
      Subsec. (b)(2). Pub. L. 101-280, Sec. 5(c)(2), substituted
    "commission" for "any commission".
      1989 - Pub. L. 101-194 amended section generally, revising and
    restating as subsecs. (a) to (h) provisions formerly consisting of
    eight undesignated pars.
                              EFFECTIVE DATE
      Section effective 90 days after Oct. 23, 1962, see section 4 of
    Pub. L. 87-849, set out as a note under section 201 of this title.

DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY

      Authority of President under subsec. (e) of this section to grant
    exemptions or approvals to individuals delegated to agency heads,
    see section 401 of Ex. Ord. No. 12674, Apr. 12, 1989, 54 F.R.
    15159, as amended, set out as a note under section 7301 of Title 5,
    Government Organization and Employees.
      Authority of President under subsec. (e) of this section to grant
    exemptions or approvals for Presidential appointees to committees,
    commissions, boards, or similar groups established by the
    President, and for individuals appointed pursuant to sections 105
    and 107(a) of Title 3, The President, delegated to Counsel to
    President, see section 402 of Ex Ord. No. 12674, Apr. 12, 1989, 54
    F.R. 15159, as amended, set out as a note under section 7301 of
    Title 5.

EXEMPTIONS

      Exemptions from former section 283 of this title deemed to be
    exemptions from this section, see section 2 of Pub. L. 87-849, set
    out as a note under section 203 of this title.