^®: CRE Regulatory Action of the Week

U.S. District Court Rules HHS Data Quality Petition Denial is Not Judicially Reviewable
On Nov. 15, 2004, Judge Lee of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia dismissed the suit brought by the Salt Institute and the Chamber of Commerce of the United States which sought judicial review of alleged violations of the Data Quality Act and the Shelby Amendment by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute ("NHLBI") of the Dept. of Health and Human Services.

Plaintiffs alleged that NHLBI had violated the DQA by disseminating information that reduction in salt intake would improve the health of all members of the public without providing the underlying data and calculations for its recommendations. Plaintiffs also claimed that NHLBI was required to provide them with the underlying data pursuant to the Shelby Amendment because the data had been developed with government funds.

The court concluded that the plaintiffs had failed to establish that they had legal standing to bring the suit and that there was no reviewable final agency action for the Data Quality portion of the suit.