Presidential Documents

20621

Federal Register

Vol. 60, No. 80

Wednesday, April 26, 1995

Title 3—

The President

Memorandum of April 21, 1995

Regulatory Reform—Waiver of Penalties and Reduction of

Reports

Memorandum for

The Secretary of State

The Secretary of the Treasury

The Secretary of Defense

The Attorney General

The Secretary of the Interior

The Secretary of Agriculture

The Secretary of Commerce

The Secretary of Labor

The Secretary of Health and Human Services

The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

The Secretary of Transportation

The Secretary of Energy

The Secretary of Education

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs

The Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency

The Administrator, Small Business Administration

The Secretary of the Army

The Secretary of the Navy

The Secretary of the Air Force

The Director, Federal Emergency Management Agency

The Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The Director, National Science Foundation

The Acting Archivist of the United States

The Administrator of General Services

The Chair, Railroad Retirement Board

The Chairperson, Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance

Board

The Executive Director, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

On March 16, I announced that the Administration would implement new

policies to give compliance officials more flexibility in dealing with small

business and to cut back on paperwork. These Governmentwide policies,

as well as the specific agency actions I announced, are part of this Administration’s continuing commitment to sensible regulatory reform. With your help

and cooperation, we hope to move the Government toward a more flexible,

effective, and user friendly approach to regulation.

A. Actions: This memorandum directs the designated department and agency

heads to implement the policies set forth below.

1. Authority to Waive Penalties. (a) To the extent permitted by law, each

agency shall use its discretion to modify the penalties for small businesses

in the following situations. Agencies shall exercise their enforcement discretion to waive the imposition of all or a portion of a penalty when the

violation is corrected within a time period appropriate to the violation

in question. For those violations that may take longer to correct than the

period set by the agency, the agency shall use its enforcement discretion

to waive up to 100 percent of the financial penalties if the amounts waived
20622 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 80 / Wednesday, April 26, 1995 / Presidential Documents

are used to bring the entity into compliance. The provisions in paragraph

1(a) of this memorandum shall apply only where there has been a good

faith effort to comply with applicable regulations and the violation does

not involve criminal wrongdoing or significant threat to health, safety, or

the environment.

(b) Each agency shall, by June 15, 1995, submit a plan to the Director

of the Office of Management and Budget (‘‘Director’’) describing the actions

it will take to implement the policies in paragraph 1(a) of this memorandum.

The plan shall provide that the agency will implement the policies described

in paragraph 1(a) of this memorandum on or before July 14, 1995. Plans

should include information on how notification will be given to frontline

workers and small businesses.

2. Cutting Frequency of Reports. (a) Each agency shall reduce by one-half

the frequency of the regularly scheduled reports that the public is required,

by rule or by policy, to provide to the Government (from quarterly to

semiannually, from semiannually to annually, etc.), unless the department

or agency head determines that such action is not legally permissible; would

not adequately protect health, safety, or the environment; would be inconsistent with achieving regulatory flexibility or reducing regulatory burdens;

or would impede the effective administration of the agency’s program. The

duty to make such determinations shall be nondelegable.

(b) Each agency shall, by June 15, 1995, submit a plan to the Director

describing the actions it will take to implement the policies in paragraph

2(a), including a copy of any determination that certain reports are excluded.

B. Application and Scope: 1. The Director may issue further guidance as

necessary to carry out the purposes of this memorandum.

2. This memorandum does not apply to matters related to law enforcement,

national security, or foreign affairs, the importation or exportation of prohibited or restricted items, Government taxes, duties, fees, revenues, or receipts;

nor does it apply to agencies (or components thereof) whose principal purpose is the collection, analysis, and dissemination of statistical information.

3. This memorandum is not intended, and should not be construed, to

create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law

by a party against the United States, its agencies, its officers, or its employees.

4. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget is authorized

and directed to publish this memorandum in the 

œ–

Federal Register.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

Washington, April 21, 1995 [FR Doc. 95–10433

Filed 4-24-95; 4:25 pm]

Billing code 3110–01–P