Executive Order 5661—Amendments to the Consular Regulations

The final sentence of the last paragraph of section 21 of the Consular Regulations as established by Executive Order No. 5642 of June 8, 1931, is hereby canceled.

The following section is hereby established in Article I of the Consular Regulations, 1896:

29. Responsibility for office during absence of principal officer. During the absence of the principal officer, the ranking consular officer, or a consular officer specifically designated by the Secretary of State, shall assume full charge of the office under his bond.

Determination of ranking officer. The ranking consular officer shall be determined by consular grade in the following order of precedence: Consuls general, consuls, vice consuls of career, vice consuls not of career. In case there are at the post two or more officers of the same grade, the senior officer shall be determined by rank in the classified Foreign Service; and in the case of officers of the same grade who hold commissions in the same class of Foreign Service officers, the one whose consular commission assigning him to the post bears the earliest date shall take precedence.

Seniority between vice consuls of career at the same post shall be determined in the manner indicated in the preceding paragraph except that the salary grades established for Foreign Service officers unclassified shall be considered as separate classes in determining the order of rank of such officers. Seniority between vice consuls not of career shall be governed by the dates of consular commissions to the post. (See also sec. 442.)

Section 442 of the Consular Regulations, 1896, is amended to read as follows:

442. Rank by seniority in the same grade. Consular officers of the United States are entitled to enjoy the rank and precedence above stated. This precedence shall be determined, among officers of the same grade, in accordance with the provisions of section 29 of these regulations. For their relative rank among their colleagues representing other countries at the same place, see section 76.

HERBERT HOOVER

The White House,
July 1, 1931.