Trump Orders Limit Effect of Agency Guidance on Industry (1)

President Donald Trump signed a pair of executive orders intended to reduce the impact of agency guidance the White House believes has become a back-door means of regulation.

Industries often seek guidance from agencies to help them comply with complex rules. These agency policy statements—memorandums, circulars, bulletins, and letters—aren’t legally binding but often can serve as the basis for enforcement. Critics view such guidance as an improper shortcut around formal rulemaking.

“For many decades, federal agencies have been issuing thousands of pages of so-called guidance documents—a pernicious kind of regulation imposed by unaccountable bureaucrats in the form of commentary ...