conflicts of interest

conflicts of interest Sec. 522. (a) Each officer or employee of the Federal Energy Administration or of the Department of the Interior who— (1) performs any function or duty under this Act; and (2) has any known financial interest— (A) in any person engaged in the business of exploring, developing, producing, refining, transporting by pipeline, or distributing (other than at the retail level) coal, natural gas, or petroleum products, or (B) in property from which coal, natural gas, or crude oil is commercially produced; shall, beginning on February 1, 1977, annually file with the Administrator or the Secretary of the Interior, as the case may be, a written statement disclosing all such interests held by such officer or employee during the preceding calendar year. Such statement shall be subject to examination, and available for copying, by the public upon request. (b) The Administrator and the Secretary of the Interior shall each— (1) act, within 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, in accordance with section 553 of title 5, United States Code— (A) to define the term “known financial interest” for purposes of subsection (a); and (B) to establish the methods by which the requirement to file written statements specified in subsection (a) will be monitored and enforced, including appropriate provisions for the filing by such officers and employees of such statements and the review by the Administrator or the Secretary of the Interior, as the case may be, of such statements; and 89 STAT. 962 (2) report to the Congress on June 1 of each calendar year with respect to such disclosures and the actions taken in regard thereto during the preceding calendar year. (c) In the rules prescribed in subsection (b), the Administrator and the Secretary of the Interior each may identify specific positions, or classes thereof within the Federal Energy Administration or Department of the Interior, as the case may be, which are of a nonregulatory and nonpolicymaking nature and provide that officers or employees occupying such positions shall be exempt from the requirements of this section. (d) Any officer or employee who is subject to, and knowingly violates, subsection (a) shall be fined not more than $2,500 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.