5 U.S.C. § 572
Section 572 · General authority
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 2 court decisions — leading case In re Grand Jury Subpoena Dated December 17, 1996 (1998)
Most recently applied in 420 F. Supp. 2d 1324 - Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Fl v. United States (March 2006)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) An agency may use a dispute resolution proceeding for the resolution of an issue in controversy that relates to an administrative program, if the parties agree to such proceeding.
(b) An agency shall consider not using a dispute resolution proceeding if—
(1) a definitive or authoritative resolution of the matter is required for precedential value, and such a proceeding is not likely to be accepted generally as an authoritative precedent;
(2) the matter involves or may bear upon significant questions of Government policy that require additional procedures before a final resolution may be made, and such a proceeding would not likely serve to develop a recommended policy for the agency;
(3) maintaining established policies is of special importance, so that variations among individual decisions are not increased and such a proceeding would not likely reach consistent results among individual decisions;
(4) the matter significantly affects persons or organizations who are not parties to the proceeding;
(5) a full public record of the proceeding is important, and a dispute resolution proceeding cannot provide such a record; and
(6) the agency must maintain continuing jurisdiction over the matter with authority to alter the disposition of the matter in the light of changed circumstances, and a dispute resolution proceeding would interfere with the agency's fulfilling that requirement.
(c) Alternative means of dispute resolution authorized under this subchapter are voluntary procedures which supplement rather than limit other available agency dispute resolution techniques.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Termination of Section
For termination of section by section 11 of Pub. L. 101–552, see Termination Date; Savings Provision note set out under section 571 of this title.
Codification
Section 572 of former Title 5, Executive Departments and Government Officers and Employees, was transferred to section 2257 of Title 7, Agriculture.
Prior Provisions
A prior section 572 was renumbered section 592 of this title.
Amendments
1992—Pub. L. 102–354 renumbered section 582 of this title as this section.