Introduction to the Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of Federal – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires that agencies publish semiannual regulatory agendas in the Federal Register describing regulatory actions they are developing that may have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities (5 U.S.C. 602). Executive Order 12866 ``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' signed September 30, 1993 (58 FR 51735) and Office of Management and Budget memoranda implementing section 4 of that Order establish minimum standards for agencies' agendas, including specific types of information for each entry. Section 4 of Executive Order 12866 also directs that each agency prepare, as part of its submission to the fall edition of the Unified Agenda, a regulatory plan of the most important significant regulatory actions that the agency reasonably expects to issue in proposed or final form during the upcoming fiscal year. The Regulatory Plan (Plan) and the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (Unified Agenda) help agencies fulfill these requirements.