Government operations and workforce

Executive Order 12834: Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Appointees

President: Bill Clinton

Required covered executive-branch appointees and trade negotiators to sign post-employment ethics pledges; EO 13184 later ended those commitments.

Status: Revoked.

Is Executive Order 12834 still in effect? No. Revoked effective January 20, 2001.

What does Executive Order 12834 do?

EO 12834 required senior Clinton administration appointees to sign ethics pledges restricting certain post-employment lobbying and foreign-government representation. EO 13184 revoked the pledge requirement at noon on January 20, 2001. The Office of Government Ethics advised that the revocation did not remove statutory post-employment restrictions, including 18 U.S.C. 207.

Administration position: The order said additional restrictions were needed to preserve public trust. That was the administration’s stated ethics rationale, not an independently measured finding.
SignedJanuary 20, 1993
Lead officesAgency heads and Office of Government Ethics
Legal authority cited3 U.S.C. § 301; 5 U.S.C. §§ 3301 and 7301

Before and after

Before the order

Federal ethics statutes and regulations governed conflicts and post-employment conduct; no EO 12834 pledge yet applied.

After the order

Covered appointees signed the additional pledge until EO 13184 ended its commitments prospectively.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
Covered appointeesSign the applicable ethics pledgeAs a condition of employment or appointment
Agency heads and OGEAdminister and interpret the pledgeWhile the order operated
Attorney GeneralBring a civil action for breach when appropriateCase by case

What happened next

EO 12834 signed.

The Office of Government Ethics explained the forthcoming pledge revocation and the continuing statutory restrictions.

EO 13184 revoked EO 12834 and ended its commitments prospectively.