(a) The Chairperson (or designee) may initiate administrative offset with regard to debts owed by a person to another agency of the United States Government, upon receipt of a request from the head of another agency or his or her designee, and a certification that the debt exists and that the person has been afforded the necessary due process rights.
(b) The Chairperson (or designee) may notify the Department of the Treasury of delinquent debts for purposes of administrative offset, and may request another agency which holds funds payable to a Commission debtor to offset that debt against the funds held; the Commission will provide certification that:
(1) The debt is past due and legally enforceable; and
(2) The person has been afforded the necessary due process rights.
(c) No collection by administrative offset shall be made on any debt that has been outstanding for more than 10 years unless facts material to the Government's right to collect the debt were not known, and reasonably could not have been known, by the official or officials responsible for discovering the debt. This limitation does not apply to debts reduced to judgment.
(d) Administrative offset under this subpart may not be initiated against:
(1) A debt in which administrative offset of the type of debt involved is explicitly provided for or prohibited by another statute;
(2) Debts owed by other agencies of the United States or by any State or local Government; or
(3) Debts arising under the Internal Revenue Code of 1954; the Social Security Act; or the tariff laws of the United States.
(e) The procedures for administrative offset in this subpart do not apply to the offset of Federal salaries under 5 U.S.C. 5514 or Federal tax refunds under 31 U.S.C. 3720A and 31 CFR 285.2.
[58 FR 64370, Dec. 7, 1993, as amended at 66 FR 54130, Oct. 26, 2001]