News | The Regulatory Group

This RegulationWriter Alert brings to your attention two timely issues of concern to agency regulation writers. Both of these topics were the subject of recommendations made by the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) in December 2011 and were the subject of a meeting held today sponsored by ACUS and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The first deals with Incorporation by Reference. The second deals with the issue of international regulatory cooperation.

Incorporation by Reference (IBR) refers to the act of giving binding effect on a standard that is not published in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) merely by referencing in the CFR the document containing the standard. IBR has been an issue of concern for the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) for many decades. In 1982 the OFR revised its regulations establishing the OFR Director's responsibilities for approving IBRs and eligibility and use requirements for agencies with IBRs.

A recent petition for rulemaking requested the OFR to revise its regulations with particular focus on the meaning of "reasonable availability" in light of the easy access to electronic documents in our technologically advanced time. The OFR published the petition and requested public comments. Comments are due by June 1, 2012.

International Regulatory Cooperation focuses on the interrelationship between the regulatory choices by foreign countries and the success of domestic regulatory choices. In an Executive Order issued today the President states that "the differences between the regulatory approaches of U.S. agencies and those of their foreign counterparts might not be necessary and might impair the ability of American businesses to export and compete internationally."

This RegulationWriter Alert provides links to the most relevant documents related to IBR and International Regulatory Cooperation.

Incorporation by Reference