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Title 5 — Government Organization and EmployeesRelease 119-73

§13121 Establishment; appointment of Director

Title 5 › Part PART IV— - ETHICS REQUIREMENTS › Chapter CHAPTER 131— - ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS › § 13121

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Creates the Office of Government Ethics and puts a Director in charge. The President picks the Director and the Senate must confirm the choice. If a person is appointed or reappointed on or after October 1, 1983, the Director must serve a 5-year term. The Director can hire staff, including lawyers, under federal personnel rules. The Director can also pay another agency (like the General Services Administration) to handle budget, accounting, personnel, and other admin work. Payments come from the Office’s funds as agreed, and these contracts only apply in a fiscal year if money has been appropriated for them.

Full Legal Text

Title 5, §13121

Government Organization and Employees — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)There is established an executive agency to be known as the Office of Government Ethics.
(b)There shall be at the head of the Office of Government Ethics a Director (hereinafter referred to as the “Director”), who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Effective with respect to any individual appointed or reappointed by the President as Director on or after October 1, 1983, the term of service of the Director shall be 5 years.
(c)The Director may—
(1)appoint officers and employees, including attorneys, in accordance with chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of this title; and
(2)contract for financial and administrative services (including those related to budget and accounting, financial reporting, personnel, and procurement) with the General Services Administration, or such other Federal agency as the Director determines appropriate, for which payment shall be made in advance, or by reimbursement, from funds of the Office of Government Ethics in such amounts as may be agreed upon by the Director and the head of the agency providing such services.Contract authority under paragraph (2) shall be effective for any fiscal year only to the extent that appropriations are available for that purpose.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 131215 U.S.C. App. (EGA § 401)Pub. L. 95–521, title IV, § 401, Oct. 26, 1978, 92 Stat. 1862; Pub. L. 98–150, § 2, Nov. 11, 1983, 97 Stat. 959; Pub. L. 100–598, § 3, Nov. 3, 1988, 102 Stat. 3031; Pub. L. 104–179, § 4(b)(2)(A), Aug. 6, 1996, 110 Stat. 1567.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

5 U.S.C. § 13121

Title 5 — Government Organization and Employees

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73