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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 17 (Tuesday, January 28, 2025)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 8249-8250]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-01906]



                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 17 / Tuesday, January 28, 2025 / 
Presidential Documents

[[Page 8249]]

                Memorandum of January 20, 2025

                
Regulatory Freeze Pending Review

                Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and 
                Agencies

                By the authority vested in me as President by the 
                Constitution and the laws of the United States of 
                America, I hereby order all executive departments and 
                agencies to take the following steps:

                    (1) Do not propose or issue any rule in any manner, 
                including by sending a rule to the Office of the 
                Federal Register (the ``OFR''), until a department or 
                agency head appointed or designated by the President 
                after noon on January 20, 2025, reviews and approves 
                the rule. The department or agency head may delegate 
                this power of review and approval to any other person 
                so appointed or designated by the President, consistent 
                with applicable law. The Director or Acting Director of 
                the Office of Management and Budget (the ``OMB 
                Director'') may exempt any rule that he deems necessary 
                to address emergency situations or other urgent 
                circumstances, including rules subject to statutory or 
                judicial deadlines that require prompt action.
                    (2) Immediately withdraw any rules that have been 
                sent to the OFR but not published in the Federal 
                Register, so that they can be reviewed and approved as 
                described in paragraph 1, subject to the exceptions 
                described in paragraph 1.
                    (3) Consistent with applicable law and subject to 
                the exceptions described in paragraph 1, consider 
                postponing for 60 days from the date of this memorandum 
                the effective date for any rules that have been 
                published in the Federal Register, or any rules that 
                have been issued in any manner but have not taken 
                effect, for the purpose of reviewing any questions of 
                fact, law, and policy that the rules may raise. During 
                this 60-day period, where appropriate and consistent 
                with applicable law, consider opening a comment period 
                to allow interested parties to provide comments about 
                issues of fact, law, and policy raised by the rules 
                postponed under this memorandum, and consider 
                reevaluating pending petitions involving such rules. As 
                appropriate and consistent with applicable law, and 
                where necessary to continue to review these questions 
                of fact, law, and policy, consider further delaying, or 
                publishing for notice and comment, proposed rules 
                further delaying such rules beyond the 60-day period.
                    (4) Following the postponement described in 
                paragraph 3, no further action needs to be taken for 
                those rules that raise no substantial questions of 
                fact, law, or policy. For those rules that raise 
                substantial questions of fact, law, or policy, agencies 
                should notify and take further appropriate action in 
                consultation with the OMB Director.
                    (5) Comply in all circumstances with any applicable 
                Executive Orders concerning regulatory management.

                As used in this memorandum, ``rule'' has the definition 
                set forth in section 551(4), title 5, United States 
                Code. It also includes any ``regulatory action,'' as 
                defined in section 3(e) of Executive Order 12866 of 
                September 30, 1993, as amended, and any ``guidance 
                document'' as defined in section 2(b) of Executive 
                Order 13891 of October 9, 2019 (Promoting the Rule of 
                Law Through Improved Agency Guidance Documents), when 
                that order was in effect. Thus, the requirements of 
                this memorandum apply not only to ``rules'' as defined 
                in section 551(4) of title 5, but also to any 
                substantive action by an agency (normally published in 
                the Federal Register) that promulgates

[[Page 8250]]

                or is expected to lead to the promulgation of a final 
                rule or regulation, including notices of inquiry, 
                advance notices of proposed rulemaking, and notices of 
                proposed rulemaking. They shall also apply to any 
                agency statement of general applicability and future 
                effect that sets forth a policy on a statutory, 
                regulatory, or technical issue or an interpretation of 
                a statutory or regulatory issue.

                The OMB Director shall oversee the implementation of 
                this memorandum, and any communications regarding any 
                matters pertaining to this review should be addressed 
                to the OMB Director. The OMB Director is also 
                authorized to establish a process to review pending 
                collections of information under the Paperwork 
                Reduction Act of 1995, as codified in chapter 35, title 
                44, United States Code, and to take actions that the 
                OMB Director deems appropriate based on that review, 
                consistent with applicable law.

                Should actions be identified that were undertaken 
                before noon on January 20, 2025, that frustrate the 
                purpose underlying this memorandum, I may modify or 
                extend this memorandum, to require that department and 
                agency heads consider taking steps to address those 
                actions.

                The OMB Director is authorized and directed to publish 
                this memorandum in the Federal Register.

                This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with 
                applicable law.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    Washington, January 20, 2025

[FR Doc. 2025-01906
Filed 1-27-25; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3110-01-P
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