FDA, Other Agencies Asked to Consider 'Cumulative' Impact of Regulations
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), the federal agency tasked with overseeing and approving all regulations in the US, sent notice to all federal agencies this week calling on them to "take account of the cumulative effects of new and existing rules."
In a letter dated 20 March, OIRA Administrator Cass Sunstein noted the effects of regulations on companies, and asked federal agencies to take steps to "reduce redundant, overlapping, and inconsistent requirements."
The call comes after President Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13563 on 18 January, which orders all agencies to harmonize and streamline their regulations.
In order to comply with this executive order, Sunstein calls on agencies to:
- work closely with stakeholders to identify potential conflicts
- work with other government agencies to harmonize requirements, when possible
- obtain public input as early on in the rulemaking process as possible
- consider the sumulative effects of regulations on small businesses and start-up companies
- identify ways to improve existing regulations
- do a cost-benefit analysis of existing regulations
- coordinate the timing, content and requirements of multiple rulemakings
"Consideration of cumulative effects and of opportunities to reduce burdens and to increase net benefits should be part of the assessment of costs and benefits, consistent with the requirement of Executive Order 13563 that, to the extent permitted by law, agencies must "select, in choosing among alternative regulatory approaches, those approaches that maximize net benefits," finished Sunstein.
Read more:
OIRA - MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES