Standards of conduct and disclosure

The Commission shall seek to effectively and freely cooperate with all entities engaged in the promotion of religious freedom abroad, governmental and nongovernmental, in the performance of the Commission’s duties under this subchapter. Except as provided in paragraph (3), in order to ensure the independence and integrity of the Commission, the Commission may not compensate any nongovernmental agency, project, or person related to or affiliated with any member of the Commission, whether in that member’s direct employ or not. Staff employed by the Commission may not serve in the employ of any nongovernmental agency, project, or person related to or affiliated with any member of the Commission while employed by the Commission. Staff of the Commission may not receive compensation from any other source for work performed in carrying out the duties of the Commission while employed by the Commission. Subject to subparagraph (B), paragraph (1) shall not apply to payments made for items such as conference fees or the purchase of periodicals or other similar expenses, if such payments would not cause the aggregate value paid to any agency, project, or person for a fiscal year to exceed $250. Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), the Commission shall not give special preference to any agency, project, or person related to or affiliated with any member of the Commission. In this subsection, the term “affiliated” means the relationship between a member of the Commission and— Subject to the availability of appropriations, the Commission may contract with and compensate Government agencies or persons for the conduct of activities necessary to the discharge of its functions under this subchapter. Any such person shall be hired without interruption or loss of civil service or Foreign Service status or privilege. The Commission may procure temporary and intermittent services under the authority of section 3109(b) of title 5, except that the Commission may not expend more than $250,000 in any fiscal year to procure such services. In the case of a study requested under section 6474 22 See References in Text note below. of this title, the Commission may, subject to the availability of appropriations, contract with experts and shall provide the funds for such a study. The Commission shall not be required to provide the funds for that part of the study conducted by the Comptroller General of the United States. In order to preserve its independence, the Commission may not accept, use, or dispose of gifts or donations of services or property. An individual Commissioner or employee of the Commission may not, in his or her capacity as a Commissioner or employee, knowingly accept, use or dispose of gifts or donations of services or property, unless he or she in good faith believes such gifts or donations to have a value of less than $50 and a cumulative value during a calendar year of less than $100. This subsection shall not apply to the following: In addition to providing the reports required under section 6432 of this title, the Commission shall provide, each year no later than January 1, to the Committees on Foreign Affairs and Appropriations of the House of Representatives, and to the Committees on Foreign Relations and Appropriations of the Senate, a financial report detailing and identifying its expenditures for the preceding fiscal year. The Commission shall comply with all of the records management requirements set forth in chapter 31 of title 44 (commonly referred to as the “Federal Records Act of 1950”). When conducting any Commission business on electronic accounts, Commission Members and staff shall use official Commission electronic accounts.