Regulatory Flexibility Act

Agencies' Use of the October 1997 Unified Agenda Often Did Not Satisfy Notification Requirements Gao ID: GGD-98-61R February 12, 1998

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed whether federal agencies' entries in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions satisfy the notification requirements of subsection 610(c) of the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980.

GAO noted that: (1) pursuant to recommendations in GAO's last report, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) Administrator issued guidance in June 1997 on how to use the Unified Agenda to satisfy the notification requirements, and the most recent edition of the Agenda contains an index listing all of the section 610 reviews by agency; (2) nevertheless, most of the agencies' entries in the most recent edition of the Agenda did not meet the public notification requirements of subsection 610(c); (3) of the thousands of entries in the Agenda submitted by 59 federal departments, agencies, and commissions, 7 agencies identified a total of 34 entries as section 610 reviews; and (4) of these, only three satisfied all of the requirements of subsection 610(c).

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