Browse regulations

The Trade Remedy Assistance Office provides general information to the public and technical assistance (including informal legal advice) to eligible small businesses seeking trade remedies under seven major trade laws covering antidumping duties, countervailing duties, Section 232 national security tariffs, Section 337 unfair practices, and various adjustment assistance programs. Eligibility is determined by SBA size standards and the office coordinates with multiple agencies including Commerce, Labor, and USTR.

This office subsidizes protectionist trade laws that distort markets, raise consumer prices, and invite retaliation against American exporters. The 'technical assistance' includes informal legal advice, creating a conflict of interest as government helps private parties petition for trade restrictions that harm other businesses and consumers. Free markets, not government-facilitated protectionism, align with liberty and limited government. If trade laws were necessary (they're not), private lawyers and trade associations already provide these services—taxpayer funding is an unjustified subsidy that entrenches the regulatory state.

Regulation mandates export procedures for used self-propelled vehicles requiring documentation (titles, ownership proofs), 72-hour advance notice to Customs, in-person vehicle presentation, and establishes penalties of $500-$10,000 for violations. Governs Automated Export System (AES) filing requirements and post-departure filing option procedures.

Heavy compliance burden imposes massive transaction costs on ordinary citizens exporting personal property. $500 minimum penalty for procedural errors is disproportionate. Mandatory in-person inspection and 72-hour advance requirement treat all exporters as suspects, violating presumption of innocence. Unconstitutional federal overreach into state-domain property transfers. Benefits of preventing stolen vehicle exports achievable through targeted enforcement without universal prior restraint.

Regulation establishes special customs clearance procedures for approved express carriers, requiring facility approval, bonds, fees, and electronic manifest filing. Provides streamlined entry for low-value shipments but privileges approved carriers over competitors.

Discretionary facility approval and requirement to provide free government office space erect barriers protecting incumbent carriers. The beneficial de minimis exemptions should extend to all carriers, making this preferential regime unnecessary and harmful to competition, ultimately raising shipping costs for American consumers and businesses.

This FERC regulation governs the procedural requirements for licensing hydroelectric projects. It mandates: 1) licensees must notify FERC 5 years before license expiration about intent to relicense; 2) extensive public disclosure of project documents and data (construction details, environmental studies, generation data, etc.); 3) mandatory multi-stage consultation with dozens of federal/state agencies, Indian tribes, and the public before filing applications; 4) joint meetings and site visits; 5) dispute resolution via the Director of Energy Projects who can mandate studies; 6) access requirements to project facilities for potential applicants; 7) publication of expiring licenses.

This regulation imposes massive hidden costs on hydroelectric development without commensurate benefit. The mandatory consultation process creates a multi-year bureaucratic gauntlet involving dozens of agencies, tribes, and public participation requirements that delay projects, increase legal costs, and favor incumbent utilities who can absorb compliance expenses over new entrants. The Director's dispute authority creates unchecked power to mandate expensive studies. The extensive information disclosure requirements force licensees to compile and make publicly available sensitive operational data dating back decades. The access requirements allow potential competitors onto private property. These procedural burdens increase costs for all electricity consumers and reduce the competitiveness of clean, renewable hydropower—directly contradicting America's energy security and environmental goals. The process exemplifies regulatory capture where the rules empower already-licensed operators to use complexity as a barrier to entry while appearing to promote public participation. The legitimate federal interest in regulating navigable waters does not require this labyrinth of process requirements that have grown through agency mission creep.

This regulation establishes procedures for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to indemnify its current and former employees for personal liability arising from actions taken within the scope of employment. It allows the Commission to pay verdicts, judgments, or settlements from available funds if deemed in the interest of the United States, subject to Commission approval after review by the General Counsel and Department of Justice.

This indemnification creates moral hazard by shielding government employees from personal financial consequences for official acts, uses taxpayer funds to provide a special privilege unavailable to private citizens, and reduces accountability for regulatory actions. Qualified personnel can be attracted through competitive compensation without indemnification; employees should bear their own professional risks or obtain insurance like private actors. The regulation represents an improper transfer of risk from government actors to the public they serve.

Establishes NOAA's authority to issue permits for commercial recovery of deep seabed hard minerals, requiring financial capability, technical expertise, environmental safeguards, and U.S. processing with exceptions for national interest.

Creates a costly regulatory bureaucracy for an industry that doesn't exist, imposing compliance burdens on speculative mining ventures while federalizing what should be state/foreign jurisdiction under the Commerce Clause.

Establishes a federal program to promote space education through partnerships with colleges, fellowships, and regional consortia, creating a network of institutions focused on space-related research, training, and public service.

Federal involvement in higher education and research creates market distortions, crowds out private alternatives, and violates constitutional federalism - states and private institutions should determine their own educational priorities without federal subsidy and bureaucratic oversight.

This regulation establishes special flight rules for aircraft operating in the Grand Canyon National Park area, including flight-free zones, minimum altitude requirements, and specific corridors for air traffic to protect the natural environment and visitor experience.

This regulation imposes unnecessary restrictions on air travel in a vast area of airspace, creating artificial flight corridors and minimum altitudes that limit freedom of movement. The costs to aviation efficiency and economic activity from these restrictions far outweigh any benefits, as modern technology allows for safe air travel without such heavy-handed federal micromanagement of airspace that should be governed by general aviation rules.

The Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) provides fee-shifting to eligible individuals and small entities who prevail in FAA adversary adjudications, unless the agency's position was substantially justified. Eligibility is limited to those with net worth under $2M (individuals) or $7M (organizations) and fewer than 500 employees. The Act levels the playing field between regulated parties and the federal government by awarding reasonable attorney fees and expenses to prevailing parties.

Americans would be far worse off without EAJA. The federal government has virtually unlimited taxpayer-funded legal resources, creating an immense power imbalance that effectively bars ordinary citizens and small businesses from challenging even clearly unjustified agency actions. Without fee-shifting, the government can bring weak cases knowing opponents will succumb to the costs of defense, even when the government's position lacks merit. This would eliminate the primary deterrent against regulatory overreach and abuse of power, effectively immunizing agency actions from meaningful judicial review. EAJA's 'substantially justified' standard ensures awards are only granted when agencies act unreasonably, making it a narrowly tailored constraint on government power that protects liberty while preserving legitimate enforcement. No alternative mechanism adequately addresses this resource asymmetry—private attorney general statutes, while helpful, don't specifically target administrative overreach, and ordinary judicial review remains inaccessible to most without fee-shifting. Deleting EAJA would dramatically expand federal power at the expense of individual liberty and the rule of law.

NCUA FOIA procedures for public access to records, including exemptions, fees, processing times, and appeal rights

Federal regulatory compliance costs exceed $2 trillion annually - this FOIA regulation creates bureaucratic overhead, delays transparency, and imposes compliance costs on both NCUA and requesters without meaningfully protecting liberty or free enterprise

Regulation governing Farm Credit System's debt issuance, collateral requirements, and investment management. Establishes the Federal Farm Credit Banks Funding Corporation as primary funding agent, sets collateral standards (loans, government securities), imposes investment limits (max 35% of loans), diversification requirements, and mandates board oversight, due diligence, and quarterly stress testing for these government-sponsored agricultural lenders.

Regulates a New Deal-era GSE that distorts agricultural credit markets, creates unfair competition with private lenders, and substitutes bureaucratic 'safety' for market discipline. The Farm Credit System's government sponsorship advantages farmers while exposing taxpayers to risk, violating limited government and free enterprise principles. The unseen costs include crowded-out private capital, moral hazard, and century-old market distortions that harm consumers and non-agricultural borrowers.

FDIC assessment regulations governing quarterly certified statements, payment schedules, risk-based assessments, and asset calculation methods for insured depository institutions, including specialized rules for banker's banks, custodial banks, and foreign bank branches.

This regulatory framework imposes massive compliance costs on banks while creating a complex bureaucracy that serves no market function. The FDIC's role in assessing banks could be fulfilled through simpler, market-based mechanisms without requiring thousands of pages of rules, quarterly reporting, and specialized asset calculations. The unseen costs include distorted banking decisions, barriers to entry for smaller institutions, and the moral hazard of federal insurance that encourages risky behavior.

Establishes procedural rules for DOE authorizations of natural gas imports/exports under the Natural Gas Act, including filing requirements, public notice procedures, and administrative hearings.

Creates unnecessary federal bureaucracy for energy transactions that could be handled by market mechanisms and state-level oversight, imposing compliance costs while duplicating existing regulatory functions.

NRC regulation establishing emergency access procedures for low-level radioactive waste disposal when generators are denied access to regional or non-federal facilities. Requires demonstration of immediate threat to public health/safety or national security, considers alternatives, and grants temporary access up to 180 days.

Deleting eliminates the federal backstop when state/regional disposal systems fail, risking catastrophic consequences: halted cancer treatments, stopped vital research, or unsafe waste storage during genuine emergencies. The narrow triggers, temporary duration, and rigorous alternatives analysis ensure access only when absolutely necessary, with minimal administrative burden relative to the public safety benefits.

Regulation establishes NRC-specific procedures implementing the Federal Advisory Committee Act, requiring advisory committees be minimal in number and size, established only when essential, balanced in membership, open to the public, and terminated when objectives are met or costs exceed benefits.

Deletion would remove hard constraints preventing unnecessary advisory committees, ensuring cost-effectiveness, transparency, and balanced representation. The regulation embeds crucial guardrails against bureaucratic expansion and regulatory capture that would be difficult to sustain without binding rules, protecting taxpayer resources and public oversight of nuclear safety advice.