§610 Periodic Review of Rules

Summary

Each agency must publish in the Federal Register within 180 days after the effective date of this chapter a plan to regularly review any rules that cause significant economic effects for a substantial number of small entities. The agency can change that plan later by publishing the update. The reviews must decide whether a rule should stay the same, be changed, or be removed, while still following the law and reducing large economic harm to many small entities. The plan must cover all such rules that existed on the effective date within 10 years, and must review any rule made after the effective date within 10 years after it is published as final. If the agency head cannot finish on time, they must say so in the Federal Register and may extend the deadline one year at a time for up to five years total. When reviewing rules, the agency must consider five things: the continued need for the rule; public complaints or comments; the rule’s complexity; overlap or conflict with other federal, state, or local rules; and how long it has been since the rule was last checked and whether technology, the economy, or other conditions have changed. Each year the agency must also publish in the Federal Register a list of the rules to be reviewed in the next 12 months. That list must include a short description of each rule, why it is needed and the legal basis for it, and must invite public comment.