Regulatory Transactions

Editor’s Note: In two recent articles, Randolph J. May and Seth L. Cooper argue that the FCC is undermining the rule of law in different ways. In “The FCC Threatens the Rule of Law: A Focus on Agency Enforcement and Merger Review Abuses” here, the authors discuss the enforcement and merger review activities of the Federal Communications Commission and argue “that they undermine important rule of law principles.” In a new article, the authors discuss a letter from of the United States Register of Copyrights to the Congress on the Commission’s video navigation/set-top box rulemaking; the US Copyright Office informed Congress that the proposed rule could “interfere with copyright owners’ rights to license their works as provided in copyright law, and restrict their ability to impose reasonable conditions on the use of those works through the private negotiations that are the hallmark of the vibrant and dynamic MVPD [multichannel video programming distributors] marketplace.”

Editor’s Note: CRE’s July letter to USDA and EPA is available here.

From: Inside EPA

Dave Reynolds

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In a July 18 letter to EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE) urges EPA to work with USDA to craft SOPs for using epidemiological data in pesticide risk reviews, and to not rely on human data to strengthen pesticide regulations until the SOPs are complete. The letter is available on InsideEPA.com,. (Doc. ID: 193542)

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From: JDSupra Business Advisor

by Joann Needleman  | Clark Hill PLC

Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB” or “Bureau”), issued its outline of proposals under consideration for the regulation of debt collection. More than three years in the making, the CFPB’s proposals will subject debt collectors to stricter rules under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (“FDCPA”). The Bureau’s release came in preparation for the convening of a Small Business Review Panel (“Panel”) to gather feedback from small debt collection industry players, which constitute the large majority of debt collection firms, according to the CFPB. The Panel process is the first step in the debt collection rulemaking process.

From: Investment News

The regulation, which offers states a route to avoid liability under ERISA, took its final step toward finalization

By Greg Iacurci

A Labor Department rule governing state-based retirement plans for the private sector has taken its final step toward finalization, after the regulatory agency sent the measure to the Office of Management and Budget for review.

The OMB, which received the measure last week, reviews all proposed and final rules, looking particularly at economic consequences. It has up to 90 days to review the rule, but the assessment will likely take around half that time, said Judy Miller, director of retirement policy at the American Retirement Association.

From: Ballard Spahr | CFPB Monitor

By Barbara S. Mishkin

The American Bankers Association and the Consumer Bankers Association (the Associations) have sent a letter to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) (part of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)) urging OIRA to update its existing guidance on information collections to ensure that the CFPB or other agencies do not improperly use the generic clearance process.

From: NAHBNow

Good news for builders who want increased scrutiny of the changes being made to the Environmental Protection Agency’s existing 2012 Construction General Permit (CGP):

EPA officials recently confirmed they will submit the agency’s 2017 CGP to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review this fall. OMB’s review will examine the potential impact of EPA’s proposal and provide NAHB with the opportunity to discuss the cost to small businesses of implementing the changes.

Read Complete Article

From: Wired

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But there’s a problem: Even if the car companies do, they don’t. Or at least, no one has any way to know if they do. Because the EPA’s test to make sure automakers are hitting their CAFE numbers—the sole federal, legal requirement that cars get more efficient—probably doesn’t work. At all.

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Meanwhile, the EPA doesn’t know exactly how its CAFE testing correlates with actual results, because it has never done a comprehensive study of real-world fuel economy. Nor does anyone else. The best available data comes from consumers who report it to the DOT—hardly a scientific sampling.

Editor’s Note: All labeling proposals are subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act and Data Quality Act.

From: Politico

By Jenny Hopkinson

Over the next two years, the Department of Agriculture will be the new battleground in the GMO-labeling war as it implements the nationwide labeling requirements. Every organization from the Grocery Manufacturers Association to the Environmental Working Group is now homing its sights on the department, looking to influence its decisions on what the symbol on the package denoting GMO ingredients should look like, the amount of genetically engineered contents a product must contain to trigger that and other labeling, and other related regulations.

From: MarketWatch

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness states that environmental organizations have been successful in terminating offshore drilling in the Arctic and the Atlantic.

Now their strategy to terminate drilling in the Gulf of Mexico has been exposed and called to the attention of Administration officials, http://www.thecre.com/emerging/enforcement.html.

In that the Gulf of Mexico supplies some seventeen percent of the total US crude production it behooves interested stakeholders to participate in the resolution of this issue; in particular those residents in the Gulf states whose livelihood is dependent upon the continuance of an industry which has been in operation for decades.

From: Regulatory Affairs Professional Society

FDA Withdraws Document Calling on Biosimilar Developers to Submit 10 Random Suffixes

By Zachary Brennan

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday withdrew a document submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that offered new details on how biosimilar developers would submit an ordered list of 10 random suffixes as part of the naming process for biologics and biosimilars.

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Other comments on the draft guidance, according to the document submitted to OMB, suggested a higher burden related to coming up with the proposed non-proprietary names so FDA revised its “estimate upward to account for burden associated with creating and submitting up to 10 proposed suffixes for designation.”