---
kind: "section"
citation: "41 C.F.R. § 304-5.3"
title: "41"
number: "304-5.3"
heading: "Considerations for approving non-Federal source payment acceptance."
url: "https://uscodex.org/cfr/41/304-5.3"
---

# §304-5.3. Considerations for approving non-Federal source payment acceptance.

- (a) The approving official must not authorize acceptance of the payment if the approving official determines that acceptance of the payment under the circumstances would cause a reasonable person with knowledge of all the facts relevant to a particular case to question the integrity of agency programs or operations. The approving official must be guided by all relevant considerations, including but not limited to the—
  - (1) Identity of the non-Federal source;
  - (2) Purpose of the meeting;
  - (3) Identity of other expected participants;
  - (4) Nature and sensitivity of any matter pending at the agency which may affect the interest of the non-Federal source;
  - (5) Significance of the employee's role in any such matter; and
  - (6) **Monetary value and character of the travel benefits offered by the non-Federal source.**
- (b) The agency official may find that, while acceptance from the non-Federal source is permissible, it is in the interest of the agency to qualify acceptance of the offered payment by, for example, authorizing attendance at only a portion of the event or limiting the type or character of benefits that may be accepted.

## Notes

### Authority

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 5707; 31 U.S.C. 1353.

### Source

Source: FTR Case 2025-05, 90 FR 56893, Dec. 8, 2025, unless otherwise noted.