Browse regulations

Federal regulation requiring juice processors to implement HACCP systems to prevent foodborne illness through sanitation controls, hazard analysis, and critical control point monitoring, with phased compliance deadlines for small businesses.

This regulation creates a $2+ billion compliance burden that disproportionately harms small businesses while providing minimal public health benefits - most juice-related illnesses occur from improper home handling, not commercial processing. The 185,000-page CFR already contains sufficient food safety provisions, and state/local authorities can handle juice safety without federal overreach.

The Ticket to Work program provides disabled Social Security beneficiaries with vocational rehabilitation services through private employment networks or state agencies, with payments tied to employment milestones and outcomes to encourage self-sufficiency and reduce dependency on disability benefits.

Creates complex bureaucratic structure that distorts incentives, increases administrative costs, and interferes with natural market mechanisms for employment services. The payment-by-milestone system adds unnecessary complexity while state vocational agencies already provide similar services without federal oversight.

Regulation governs SSA employee testimony and records disclosure in legal proceedings. Requires Commissioner authorization for testimony, 30-day advance written applications with detailed justification, fee reimbursement, and considers burden/public interest factors. Exempts certain proceedings like DOJ requests and SSA's own cases.

Deleting this would expose SSA to constant discovery demands, forcing employees to spend taxpayer-funded time on private litigation rather than core missions. It protects sensitive data from routine disclosure and ensures costs are borne by requesting parties. This balance would be difficult to achieve through ad-hoc litigation, leading to wasted resources and privacy violations.

Prohibits unauthorized use of the Railroad Retirement Board seal, delegates permission authority to the Director of Administration, outlines application requirements, and specifies situations where use is inappropriate due to appearance of government endorsement. Violations may result in criminal prosecution.

Without this regulation, private entities could misuse the RRB seal to falsely imply government endorsement of commercial services (e.g., retirement planning seminars, merchandise), misleading railroad workers and retirees who may trust the seal as a mark of legitimacy. This creates a high risk of fraud targeting a vulnerable population that relies on accurate information about their benefits. The regulation prevents deception at minimal compliance cost by establishing a simple permission process; removing it would require reactive enforcement under more expensive false advertising laws after harm occurs.

Financial privacy regulation requiring financial institutions to disclose privacy policies, obtain customer consent for sharing nonpublic personal information with nonaffiliated third parties, and provide opt-out mechanisms for data sharing.

Imposes costly compliance burdens on financial institutions that disproportionately harm small businesses while providing minimal consumer benefit in an era where data privacy is better handled through market competition and state-level protections.

This regulation defines terms and establishes procedural requirements for security futures products, including definitions of trading terms, narrow-based security index criteria, eligibility requirements for futures contracts, and certification procedures for designated contract markets. It creates a complex regulatory framework governing the trading, clearing, and oversight of security futures products.

This regulation creates an unnecessary bureaucratic maze that protects incumbent financial institutions through regulatory complexity. The compliance costs for these definitions and procedures exceed their benefits, while the revolving door between regulators and exchanges ensures rules serve industry insiders rather than investors. The intricate criteria for what constitutes a 'narrow-based security index' and the extensive certification requirements create barriers to entry that stifle competition and innovation in financial markets.

Regulation governs designated contract markets (derivatives exchanges) under CFTC jurisdiction, detailing application procedures, core principles compliance, rule certification/approval processes, surveillance requirements, staffing standards, and operational mandates for market integrity and monitoring.

Imposes heavy compliance costs that protect incumbents and stifle competition; market integrity and systemic risk mitigation can be achieved more efficiently through private governance, contractual frameworks, and existing fraud laws without federal oversight, avoiding the hidden tax burden and regulatory capture endemic to such regimes.

This regulation provides interpretive guidance on classifying specific items under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). It clarifies classification criteria for anti-friction bearings, parts vs complete machines, telecommunications equipment, numerical control systems, scrap materials, precursor chemicals, computers, encryption items, unfinished commodities, and integrated circuits used by the U.S. Government. The guidance specifies when licenses are required, documentation standards, and jurisdictional boundaries between Commerce and State Departments.

These interpretations impose significant compliance burdens on exporters, requiring detailed knowledge of specific classifications. They contribute to the regulatory labyrinth that makes the law unknowable and disproportionately harm small businesses. The detailed classifications often over-control items with legitimate commercial uses, restricting voluntary trade, raising consumer costs, and reducing U.S. competitiveness. The unseen costs include stifled innovation, broken supply chains, and resource diversion from productive enterprise to regulatory compliance. The guidance attempts to centrally plan complex technical classifications, a task impossible to perform efficiently given dispersed market knowledge, leading to arbitrary and counterproductive outcomes.

Special reporting requirements for exports of dual-use items, computers, thermal imaging cameras, and defense-related technology to monitor sensitive technology transfers and ensure compliance with international arms control agreements.

Creates massive bureaucratic burden on businesses with $2+ trillion in compliance costs, enables regulatory capture, and violates principles of limited government and federalism by imposing federal oversight on what should be private sector information sharing.

This regulation establishes procedures for NVLAP, a voluntary federal laboratory accreditation program operated by NIST. It sets requirements for application, assessment, proficiency testing, accreditation granting, renewal, monitoring, and suspension/revocation processes. Laboratories pay fees to participate and must comply with technical criteria in referenced handbooks to demonstrate competence in testing and calibration.

NVLAP competes with numerous private accreditation bodies (A2LA, IAS, CCRL, etc.) that operate efficiently in the free market. As a government program, it enjoys an unfair competitive advantage using taxpayer resources while crowding out private enterprise. Despite being 'voluntary,' its federal status creates risk of regulatory capture, mission creep, and eventual de facto mandates. Taxpayers fund a service better provided by market competition subject to consumer discipline, not bureaucratic authority.

Regulation implements Executive Order 13526 for classifying and declassifying national security information within the Department of Commerce, establishing authority levels, time limits, review processes, and access procedures for contractors and researchers.

Deletion would eliminate standardized safeguards for national security information related to commerce, trade, and technology, risking inadequate protection of sensitive data that could compromise American economic and security interests.

This regulation establishes procedures for the Department of Commerce to comply with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), including how to make records publicly available, process requests, handle exemptions, and provide information through electronic libraries and reading rooms.

Americans would be worse off if deleted because this regulation ensures government transparency and accountability by codifying public access to federal records, preventing arbitrary withholding of information, and providing structured procedures for citizens to obtain government documents.

Regulation establishes the Air Transportation Stabilization Board to guarantee up to $10 billion in loans to air carriers following 9/11, with specific eligibility criteria, application procedures, and oversight mechanisms. Program had a June 28, 2002 application deadline and was a temporary emergency response to stabilize the airline industry after terrorist attacks.

Expired emergency program (application deadline June 28, 2002) that represents everything wrong with big government: corporate welfare using taxpayer risk, market distortion by picking winners/losers, massive regulatory burden, and constitutional overreach with no enumerated power for federal loan guarantees. Even if still active, it would violate free market principles by substituting bureaucratic judgment for private lending decisions, creating moral hazard, and imposing hidden compliance costs on participating airlines and lenders. The entire framework assumes central planners can outperform markets in determining business viability—precisely the error Mises, Hayek, and Friedman warned against.

Establishes administrative procedures for civil penalties in commercial space transportation, including notice procedures, hearing rights, and appeal processes under 51 U.S.C. 50917(c).

Creates an unnecessary administrative bureaucracy for space-related civil penalties that could be handled through existing federal court systems. The multi-stage process (notice, final notice, hearing, appeal) adds compliance costs without clear public benefit, and duplicates judicial functions that already exist.

This regulation establishes procedures for the FAA to protect from disclosure safety and security information submitted voluntarily by individuals, companies, or organizations. It creates a framework where the FAA can designate certain voluntarily-provided information as protected from FOIA requests and other disclosures, while maintaining the ability to share it with other agencies for safety/security purposes and to disclose it when public safety requires.

Americans would be worse off if this regulation was deleted because it enables the collection of critical safety and security information that airlines, manufacturers, and other aviation stakeholders would not provide without confidentiality protections. The regulation balances public safety needs with privacy concerns by allowing the FAA to obtain voluntary safety reports that help prevent accidents and security threats while maintaining appropriate disclosure limits.