General prohibition. Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, no employee of the Department of the Treasury shall purchase, directly or indirectly, property:

Owned by the Government and under the control of the employee's bureau (or a bureau over which the employee exercises supervision); or

Sold under the direction or incident to the functions of the employee's bureau.

Exceptions. The prohibition in paragraph (a) of this section does not apply to the purchase of Government securities or items sold generally to the public at fixed prices, such as numismatic items produced by the United States Mint or foreign gifts deposited with the Department pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 7342 that an employee may purchase pursuant to 41 CFR part 101-49.

Waiver. An employee may make a purchase otherwise prohibited by this section where a written waiver of the prohibition has been given to the employee by an agency designee with the advice and legal clearance of the DAEO, or the appropriate Office of Chief or Legal Counsel. Such a waiver may be granted only on a determination that the waiver is not otherwise prohibited by law and that, in the mind of a reasonable person with knowledge of the particular circumstances, the purchase of the asset will not raise a question as to whether the employee has used his or her official position or inside information to obtain an advantageous purchase or create an appearance of loss of impartiality in the performance of the employee's duties.

Employees of the OCC are subject to additional limitations on the purchase of assets that are set out in the OCC-specific rules contained in § 3101.108.