Change 6 to DoD 5500.7-R, Joint Ethics Regulation (JER), adding a new section 3-400, is on our website. It implements section 8127 of the 2006 Department of Defense Appropriations Act, P.L. No. 108-148. The change expands the ability of certain members of the Armed Forces on active duty to accept unsolicited gifts from non-Federal entities. The members must have incurred a combat-related disability or an illness or injury in a combat operation or zone, while on active duty on or after September 11, 2001. Family members of qualifying members may also accept those gifts. This authority is retroactive to September 11, 2001 and is in addition to other existing gift acceptance authority.

The authority to accept such gifts has only a few limitations:

• It does not apply to gifts from foreign governments, which are covered by the Foreign Gifts Act (5 U.S.C. 7342).
• It does not apply to gifts accepted in violation of 18 U.S.C. 201 or 209, or to solicited gifts.
• For gifts valued in excess of "minimal value" (as set by the General Services Administration, currently $305) per occasion or in excess of $1000 from the same source in a calendar year, an ethics official must also make a written determination.

You can print the Change 6 document and incorporate it in your hard copy of the JER. The JER, now including all changes 1-6, has also been posted for those who want to print the entire revised document.

DISCLAIMER: The purpose of this advisory is to disseminate relevant information and sources of general guidance, policy and law on Government Ethics issues to the Department of Defense ethics community. Advisories are not intended to be and should not be cited as authoritative guidance, DoD policy, or law.