Finding a Way to Better Guidance

Guidance vs. rulemaking by OSHA ...

"The OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is trying to address an accepted practice in which many agencies issue policy statements and other documents as "guidance" to interpret their rules and set out expectations for compliance.

Unlike traditional rulemaking, guidance is not subject to notice and comment procedures or judicial review. It's faster to issue and, normally, not reviewed by the OIRA. Though not legally binding, guidance is sometimes considered practically binding by regulated industries, a sort of "backdoor" rulemaking.

More recently, business groups have complained that OSHA's ergonomic guidelines, which set out practices for several industries to follow, are too much like a rule. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce last year challenged the EPA on its authority to assert regulatory control over prions, infectious agents made primarily of protein that the EPA wants to treat as "pests." The chamber told the EPA that the agency should subject its decision to notice-and-comment rulemaking."   continued ...   (Via Washington Post)

OSHA.