15 U.S.C. § 57b–3 — Rulemaking process

(a) Definitions. "Rule" means a rule the Commission makes under section 46 or section 57a — but not interpretive rules, rules about Commission staffing or management, general policy statements, or rules about the Commission's own organization or procedure. An amendment to a rule only counts as a "rule" under this section if the Commission expects it to affect the national economy by $100,000,000 or more a year, expects it to substantially change the cost or price of goods or services used heavily by certain industries, sold heavily in certain regions, or bought in large amounts by government, or otherwise decides it will significantly affect the people it regulates and consumers. "Rulemaking" means any Commission process for creating or amending a rule. (b) Notice of proposed rulemaking; regulatory analysis. Whenever the Commission proposes a rule, it must first issue a preliminary regulatory analysis containing: a short statement of why the rule is needed and what it aims to do; a description of reasonable alternatives that could meet that goal legally; and, for the proposed rule and each alternative, a preliminary look at the expected benefits, harms, other effects, and how well each option would meet the goal. When the Commission finalizes a rule, it must issue a final regulatory analysis containing: the same need-and-objectives statement; a description of the alternatives it actually considered; an analysis of the final rule's benefits, harms, and other effects; an explanation of why the Commission believes the rule meets its goals lawfully and why it picked that option; and a summary of the significant public comments received and how the Commission responded to them. To avoid duplicated work, the Commission can treat a group of closely related rules as one rule for this section, can fold this analysis into the statement of basis and purpose required elsewhere, and can incorporate information by reference between these documents. Every notice of a proposed rule, and every published final rule, must explain how the public can get copies of the regulatory analyses; the Commission can charge a reasonable copying and mailing fee, but must waive or reduce it when doing so serves the public interest. The Commission can skip or delay these requirements, up until the date it publishes the final rule, by publishing in the Federal Register a finding — with reasons — that an emergency makes following this subsection impractical. None of this subsection changes the substantive legal standards for Commission action, or any procedural standard that otherwise applies. (c) Judicial review. A court generally cannot review the content or adequacy of a regulatory analysis, or how it was prepared, at all — except that a court reviewing a rule under section 57a(e) can strike the rule down if the Commission completely failed to prepare a regulatory analysis. Other than that one exception, no Commission action can be invalidated, sent back, or otherwise affected by a court for failing to comply with this section. This subsection does not change any other substantive or procedural standard that applies to judicial review of Commission action. (d) Regulatory agenda. At least twice a year, the Commission must publish a regulatory agenda listing rules it plans to propose or finalize in the next 12 months. Every first Monday in October, it must publish in the Federal Register the dates that year's agendas will come out. For each listed rule, the agenda must describe the rule, state its goals and legal basis, and give any expected dates for its advance notice, proposed-rule notice, and final action. Each agenda must also list the name, office address, and phone number of the Commission staffer responsible for questions about each listed rule. The Commission cannot propose or finalize a rule that wasn't on a regulatory agenda unless it publishes, along with the rule, an explanation of why the rule was left off the agenda.