# 2026-00685: Commerce Ditches Duplicate Employee Rules for Simpler Conduct

2026-00685, Removing Unnecessary Department-Specific Regulations Related to Employee Responsibilities and Conduct, is a Federal Register rule from Commerce Department published 2026-01-15, effective 2026-01-15 (as of 2026-06-11).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-00685
- As of: 2026-06-11
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Document number: 2026-00685
- Title: Removing Unnecessary Department-Specific Regulations Related to Employee Responsibilities and Conduct
- Type: Rule
- Agencies: Commerce Department
- Citation: 91 FR 1674
- Published: 2026-01-15
- Effective: 2026-01-15
- Comments close: not stated
- Significant: no
- Touches household money: no
- Regulation identifier numbers: 0605-AA75
- Last updated: 2026-06-11

## In one line

Commerce Ditches Duplicate Employee Rules for Simpler Conduct

## Summary

The Department of Commerce is cleaning house by removing old, unnecessary rules about employee behavior that are already covered by government-wide policies. This change affects all Department employees and takes effect on January 15, 2026. It won’t cost extra money but will make things simpler and less confusing for everyone.

## Abstract

By this rule, the Department of Commerce (the "Department") eliminates regulations that relate to the responsibilities and conduct of the Department's employees. None of the regulations at Part 0 is required by statute and, as a whole, Part 0 has been supplanted and rendered obsolete by various Executive branch-wide regulations in Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations and Department Administrative Orders ("DAOs"). The removal of Part 0 is necessary to streamline the Department's regulations and to eliminate unnecessary regulatory complexity and clutter. The intended effect of this action is to reduce the potential for confusion regarding employee conduct and to promote administrative efficiency.

## Effects PRIA read

No economic effects identified for this document.

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## Sources
- [2026-00685 on federalregister.gov](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/01/15/2026-00685/removing-unnecessary-department-specific-regulations-related-to-employee-responsibilities-and)
- [2026-00685 as published (PDF)](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-01-15/pdf/2026-00685.pdf)

## Related
- [Previous: 2026-00677, New Source Performance Standards Review for Stationary Combustion Turbines and…](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-00677)
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- [All Federal Register documents](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-00685 (as of 2026-06-11).