Summary: In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) rulemaking process to determine: (1) how EPA used standard industrial classification (SIC)-coded data in developing regulations; (2) whether EPA identified the impact of regulations on small industries; and (3) whether the EPA regulatory process had an adverse impact on the handmade glass industry. GAO also provided information on the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs' (OIRA) responsibilities under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980.
GAO found that: (1) EPA used SIC-coded data to identify the number and location of firms that were subject to regulation; (2) SIC-coded data did not provide the information on production materials and processes that EPA needed to develop regulations; (3) EPA would not be able to attribute the impact of a changed regulation to a specific data source; and (4) because the handmade glass industry believes that an EPA regulation that did not distinguish between handmade and automated glass could have been harmful to its industry, it also believes that it should have a separate SIC code. GAO also found that OIRA is responsible for carrying out paperwork management objectives assigned to OMB, such as performing regulatory reviews to assess agency compliance with the act's objectives before publication, and reducing the burden of existing and proposed regulations.
