OPM has issued a final rule, effective January 3rd, 2017, that prohibits an agency from making specific inquiries concerning an applicant’s criminal or adverse credit background of the sort asked on the OF306,”Declaration of Federal Employment” in its “Background Information” section, or in other forms used to determine suitability or conduct background investigations for Federal employment, until a hiring agency has made a conditional offer of employment to the applicant. The compliance date for the final rule will be March 31st, 2017.