Highlights from Individual Agency Analyses:

Environmental Protection Agency

EPA lists four initiatives for its retrospective plan: electronic reporting, improved transparency, innovative compliance approaches and integrated problem-solving. The agency identifies 35 priority regulatory reviews that fall under those categories. Of the reviews, EPA expects to act on 16 before the end of the year, while the remaining 19 are listed as longer-term actions. Some of the proposed revisions include: reducing reporting requirements by switching to electronic reporting systems for some health and safety data collections, updating permitting regulations for wastewater facilities to remove outdated requirements, and expanding surface water regulations to prevent the contamination of public drinking water with disease-causing microorganisms.

EPA estimates that, as a whole, its recent and proposed reforms will save more than $1.5 billion over the next five years. The total savings of all reviews is expected to be much greater, but it is too soon in the review process to provide cost saving estimates for many of the new or ongoing reviews.

Food and Drug Administration

FDA, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), includes both existing and proposed reforms in its review plan. It has listed 24 rules for review: 22 that focus on medical products and two that cover food safety. For example, FDA’s review of an eight-year-old rule requiring linear bar codes on drug packaging containers will examine whether the original cost-benefit analysis was accurate and determine whether the rule should be updated to reflect technological advancements. FDA originally estimated that the rule would save $93 billion and prevent nearly 500,000 medication errors over 20 years. FDA will convert to electronic submission of medical device reporting information and re-examine the classification of medical devices to reduce burdens on industry.

Department of Labor

DOL lists eight rules that it plans to review as a result of E.O. 13563. It mentions that twenty more rules were already scheduled for review through the agency’s existing regulatory review program. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is working on Phase IV of its standards improvement project that will revise and streamline construction industry standards. Second, OSHA intends to revise its chemical hazard labeling information to provide clear and consistent information for industry and consumers. Another DOL agency, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), plans to improve the approval process for electrical products. The regulations, which have not been modified since 1968, have become cumbersome for producers to navigate due to technological advances in the industry.

OSHA estimates its chemical labeling initiative will save employers between $585 million and $798.4 million annually in reduced employee training costs and increased efficiency in the workplace. The MSHA electrical product approval revisions will save electrical equipment manufacturers $500,000 – $1 million each year.

Highlights from Additional Agency Review Plans:

Food Safety and Inspection Service

The Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) intends to expand its Public Health Information System (PHIS) to share data and reduce data reporting. For example, FSIS plans to allow information on imported foods to be submitted and maintained electronically. FSIS also intends to consolidate nutrition label regulations for meat and poultry products to clarify requirements and reduce burdens. The agency anticipates the re-labeling revision will save industry $2.9 million over ten years.

Department of Interior

DOI includes in its plan a mix of rules that are already under review and rules that will be reviewed in the next two years. The upcoming revisions include a modernization of regulations implementing the Endangered Species Act, many of which have not been changed since the 1970s or 1980s. These revisions include expanding state-level participation in the listing of species, accelerating the development and approval of conservation agreements with landowners, and updating an arcane rule that mandates written descriptions of critical habitat boundaries. Once this final revision is in place, regulators will be able to submit maps and internet-based descriptions of these critical boundary lines.

DOI does not include any cost-savings estimates in its plan. However, it does indicate that the proposed revisions will reduce paperwork requirements and administrative burdens, clarify and streamline confusing regulations, and provide more flexibility to industry by including both prescriptive and performance-based requirements to give industry the choice on how to comply with certain regulations.

Department of Transportation

DOT indicates 79 regulations that will be subject to retrospective review. The agency also lists 55 additional regulations that it needs to study further to determine the most appropriate action. One set of rules slated for immediate review is an update of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) that control the transportation of hazardous chemicals on trucks, airplanes and shipping vessels. Administered by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), the revisions will streamline the regulations and update them to reflect current best practices and available technology. In 2012, the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) plans to review the effectiveness of a rule issued in 2003 that was designed to prevent children from being killed by airbags. DOT does not estimate cost savings or burden reductions resulting from these changes.