Office of the General Counsel, Ethics Division

The Ethics Division in the Office of the General Counsel administers the ethics program for the Department of Health and Human Services.  The Division is headed by the Associate General Counsel for Ethics, who serves concurrently by secretarial appointment as the Designated Agency Ethics Official (DAEO).  As the primary source for ethics guidance and policy, the Division provides advice and training directly to senior management officials and directs the provision of these services by subordinate ethics programs administered by and located within the Department components.

The Division's advice covers the Federal criminal conflict of interest statutes, the Standards of Ethical Conduct regulations, the HHS Supplemental Standards, the financial disclosure provisions of the Ethics in Government Act, the Procurement Integrity Act, and the political activity restrictions in the Hatch Act.  Through individual advice to senior officials and staff, ethics training, review of financial disclosure reports, and development of guidance documents, the Division seeks to prevent any action by an employee that may be, or may appear to be, a conflict of interest or improper.

Each component has a Deputy Ethics Counselor (DEC) who is responsible for administering the ethics program within his or her component, and other ethics staff who are available to assist employees.

We hope this web site will assist ethics officials in managing their ethics programs.  We also encourage employees to use the web site as a source of information, but they should remember that certain rules are complex and require analysis in applying them to specific situations. For this reason, employees should always seek the advice of an ethics official when contemplating any action that may be covered by the rules.