Title 22Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-73

§6615 Savings provisions

Title 22 › Chapter CHAPTER 74— - FOREIGN AFFAIRS AGENCIES CONSOLIDATION › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER VI— - TRANSITION › Part Part B— - Reorganization Authority › § 6615

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Keeps existing federal orders, rules, permits, agreements, grants, contracts, licenses, and other official actions in place when their duties are moved into the Department. If those actions were already in effect on the transfer date, or were final and set to start later, they stay effective. Ongoing cases, rulemakings, and applications that were pending when the duties moved must continue. Orders from those proceedings stay valid until the Secretary, a court, or law changes them. Lawsuits and actions started before the transfer do not stop because of the transfer. If a transferred agency or officer was a party to a suit, the Secretary or the right Department official replaces or is added as the party. The Secretary’s orders on transferred duties can be reviewed by courts the same way they were before, and the Secretary may make rules to move cases into the Department.

Full Legal Text

Title 22, §6615

Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)All orders, determinations, rules, regulations, permits, agreements, grants, contracts, certificates, licenses, registrations, privileges, and other administrative actions—
(1)that have been issued, made, granted, or allowed to become effective by the President, any Federal agency or official thereof, or by a court of competent jurisdiction, in the performance of functions that are transferred under any subchapter of this chapter; and
(2)that are in effect as of the effective date of such subchapter, or were final before the effective date of such subchapter and are to become effective on or after the effective date of such subchapter,
(b)(1)The provisions of any subchapter of this chapter shall not affect any proceedings, including notices of proposed rulemaking, or any application for any license, permit, certificate, or financial assistance pending on the effective date of any subchapter of this chapter before any Federal agency, commission, or component thereof, functions of which are transferred by any subchapter of this chapter. Such proceedings and applications, to the extent that they relate to functions so transferred, shall be continued.
(2)Orders shall be issued in such proceedings, appeals shall be taken therefrom, and payments shall be made pursuant to such orders, as if this chapter had not been enacted. Orders issued in any such proceedings shall continue in effect until modified, terminated, superseded, or revoked by the Secretary, by a court of competent jurisdiction, or by operation of law.
(3)Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to prohibit the discontinuance or modification of any such proceeding under the same terms and conditions and to the same extent that such proceeding could have been discontinued or modified if this chapter had not been enacted.
(4)The Secretary is authorized to promulgate regulations providing for the orderly transfer of proceedings continued under this subsection to the Department.
(c)Except as provided in subsection (e) and section 6543(d) of this title—
(1)the provisions of this chapter shall not affect suits commenced prior to the effective dates of the respective subchapters of this chapter; and
(2)in all such suits, proceedings shall be had, appeals taken, and judgments rendered in the same manner and effect as if this chapter had not been enacted.
(d)No suit, action, or other proceeding commenced by or against any officer in the official capacity of such individual as an officer of any Federal agency, or any commission or component thereof, functions of which are transferred by any subchapter of this chapter, shall abate by reason of the enactment of this chapter. No cause of action by or against any Federal agency, or any commission or component thereof, functions of which are transferred by any subchapter of this chapter, or by or against any officer thereof in the official capacity of such officer shall abate by reason of the enactment of this chapter.
(e)If, before the effective date of any subchapter of this chapter, any Federal agency, or officer thereof in the official capacity of such officer, is a party to a suit, and under this chapter any function of such department, agency, or officer is transferred to the Secretary or any other official of the Department, then effective on such date such suit shall be continued with the Secretary or other appropriate official of the Department substituted or added as a party.
(f)Orders and actions of the Secretary in the exercise of functions transferred under any subchapter of this chapter shall be subject to judicial review to the same extent and in the same manner as if such orders and actions had been by the Federal agency or office, or part thereof, exercising such functions immediately preceding their transfer. Any statutory requirements relating to notice, hearings, action upon the record, or administrative review that apply to any function transferred by any subchapter of this chapter shall apply to the exercise of such function by the Secretary.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in text, was in the original “this subdivision”, meaning subdiv. A of div. G of Pub. L. 105–277, Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2681–765, known as the Foreign Affairs Agencies Consolidation Act of 1998. For complete classification of this subdivision to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 6501 of this title and Tables. The

Effective Date

s of the respective subchapters of this chapter, referred to in subsecs. (a)(2), (b)(1), (c)(1), and (e), was in the original, references to the

Effective Date

s of the respective titles of this subdivision, meaning the

Effective Date

s of titles XI to XVI of subdiv. A of div. G of Pub. L. 105–277, Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 765. Titles XI and XVI of subdiv. A of div. G of Pub. L. 105–277 are effective Oct. 21, 1998. For the

Effective Date

s of titles XII, XIII, XIV, and XV of subdiv. A of div. G of Pub. L. 105–277, see section 1201, 1301, 1401, and 1501, respectively, of div. G of Pub. L. 105–277, set out as notes under section 6511, 6531, 6561, and 6581, respectively, of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

22 U.S.C. § 6615

Title 22Foreign Relations and Intercourse

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73