Regulatory Relief To Support Economic Recovery

This executive order directs federal agencies to use emergency authorities to rescind, modify, waive, or exempt businesses from regulations that may hinder economic recovery from COVID-19. It also requires agencies to provide compliance assistance, issue pre-enforcement rulings, adopt fairness principles in enforcement, and review temporary regulatory flexibilities for possible permanent adoption.

Federal Register Open PDF 85 FR 31353

Impact dates

Date TBD
OMB Director may set deadlines for reviews and reports required under section 7

Key directives

Agency heads shall use emergency authorities to fullest extent possible to support economic response
Agency heads shall identify regulatory standards inhibiting economic recovery and consider rescinding, modifying, waiving, or exempting persons/entities
Agency heads (excluding DOJ) shall accelerate pre-enforcement ruling procedures under EO 13892, waiving section 6(a) requirements
Agency heads shall consider formulating and publishing enforcement discretion policies for good-faith compliance
Non-adherence to CDC/HHS guidance shall not by itself form basis for enforcement action
Agency heads shall consider fairness principles in administrative enforcement and adjudication and revise procedures accordingly
Agency heads shall review temporary regulatory flexibilities and report to OMB, Domestic Policy, and Economic Policy assistants which could be made permanent
OMB Director may issue implementation memoranda including deadlines for section 7 reviews and reports

Who is ordered

Timeline

Immediate

Agencies directed to use emergency authorities for economic relief
Agencies encouraged to promote recovery through non-regulatory actions

Near term (90d)

Agencies to identify and act on regulatory standards inhibiting recovery
Accelerated pre-enforcement ruling procedures
Enforcement discretion policies to be considered and made public

Long term

Review of temporary regulatory flexibilities for permanent adoption
Potential permanent rescission or modification of regulations
Structural changes to administrative enforcement practices

Risks & tensions

Vague 'consistent with applicable law' qualifier appears throughout, creating uncertainty about actual scope of deregulatory actions
No mandatory deadlines for agency actions; section 8 gives OMB discretionary authority to set deadlines later
Section 7 review of permanent flexibilities lacks fixed timeline, leaving economic impact indeterminate
Fairness principles in section 6 are framed as considerations ('shall consider') rather than binding requirements
Exclusion of foreign/military/national security matters (sec. 9(c)) limits scope but creates boundary ambiguity for homeland security procurement
Tension between rapid economic reopening and 'protection of public health and safety' stated in section 1