General Principles
Executive branch employees hold their positions as a public trust and the American people have a right to expect that all employees will place loyalty to the Constitution, laws, regulations, and ethical principles above private gain. Employees fulfill that trust by adhering to general principles of ethical conduct, as well as specific ethical standards.
Executive Order 12674 (HTML - PDF - TXT) issued by President Bush in 1989 and modified in 1990 by Executive Order 12731 (HTML - PDF - TXT) states 14 general principles that broadly define the obligations of public service. Underlying these 14 principles are two core concepts - -
- employees shall not use public office for private gain, and
- employees shall act impartially and not give preferential treatment to any private organization or individual.
In addition, employees must strive to avoid any action that would create the appearance that they are violating the law or ethical standards.
By observing these general principles, and specific ethics standards, employees help to ensure that citizens have confidence in the integrity of Government operations and programs.
Please note that an officer or employee who is appointed to perform temporary duties for 130 or fewer days is a "Special Government Employee" (SGE). Many of the provisions summarized below apply differently to SGEs. For a summary of these differences, see OGE Informal Opinion 00x1 (Feb. 15, 2000).
Reference: Executive Order (E.O.) 11222; E.O. 12674, as modified by E.O. 12731; 3 C.F.R. 306-311 (1990); 5 C.F.R. § 2635.101; 18 U.S.C. § 202.