104 STAT. 46 PUBLIC LAW 101-246—FEB. 16, 1990 SEC. 156. LIMITATION ON HOUSING BENEFITS. 5 USC 5921 note. (a) IN GENERAL.— The Secretary of State shall establish and implement an appropriate housing policy and space standards in consultation with all agencies with employees outside the United States who are under the authority of the chief of mission or with other agencies or employees who participate in the overseas housing program. Such policy may not provide housing or related benefits based solely on the representational status of the employee, except if such individual is the ambassador, deputy chief of mission, permanent charge, or the consul general when serving as the principal officer. (b) WAIVER. —The Secretary of State may grant exceptions to the restriction on providing housing or related benefits on a representational basis under subsection (a) on a case-by-case basis where a documented need for such exception is established. The Secretary of State shall prepare a comprehensive list annually of all such exceptions granted under this subsection. PART E—FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMPETENCE WITHIN THE FOREIGN SERVICE 22 USC 4171 SEC. 161. EXPANSION OF MODEL FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMPETENCE note. POSTS. (a) DESIGNATION OF POSTS.—In order to carry out the purposes of section 702 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980, and in light of the positive report issued on March 28, 1986, by the Department of State, as required by section 2207 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980, the Secretary of State shall designate as model foreign language competence posts a minimum of six Foreign Service posts, representing the Department of State's five geographic bureaus, in countries where English is not the common language. Such designation shall be made not later than February 1, 1990, and shall be implemented so that not later than October 1, 1991, in the case of non-hard language posts, and October 1, 1992, in the case of hard language posts, each Government employee permanently assigned to those posts shall possess an appropriate level of competence in the language common to the country where the post is located. The Secretary of State shall determine appropriate levels of language competence for employees assigned to those posts by reference to the nature of their functions and the standards employed by the Foreign Service Institute. (b) "HARD LANGUAGE COUNTRY" POST TO BE DESIGNATED. — At least one of the posts designated under subsection (a) shall be in a "hard language" country, as identified in the report to the Under Secretary of State for Management of May 12, 1986, entitled "Hard Language Proficiency in the Foreign Service". Such post shall be in one of the countries where the official or principal language is Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, or Russian. (c) TERMINATION DATE.— The posts designated under subsection (a) shall continue as model foreign language posts at least until September 30, 1993, in the case of non-hard language posts, and Reports. September 30, 1994, in the case of hard language posts. Not later than January 31, 1995, the Secretary of State shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives a report describing the operation of such posts and the costs, advantages, and
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