TheCRE.com
CRE Homepage About The CRE Advisory Board Newsletter Search Links Representation Comments/Ideas
Data Access
Data Quality
Regulation by Litigation
Regulation by Appropriation
Special Projects
CRE Watch List
OMB Papers
Abstracts and Reviews
Regulatory Review
Voluntary Standards Program
CRE Report Card
Public Docket Preparation
Consumer Response Service
Site Search

Enter keyword(s) to search TheCre.com:

Reg Week®: CRE Regulatory Action of the Week

Federal Court Requires That Agency Risk Assessments Be Reproducible And Transparent
In an important recent opinion, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California suspended rules issued by the Department of Agriculture in part because the risk assessment underlying the rules was not reproducible and transparent. Harlan Land Company v. Dept. of Agriculture, CV-00-6106 (Sept. 21, 2001). The Court's opinion at page 33 explained:

One of the principles of risk assessment is the complete and transparent documentation of data used in the assessment. "Any kind of analysis requires a complete and transparent documentation of data considered and used, models and their assumptions and results, sources and justification of parameter values and all other relevant facts.... In all cases, the standard should be that anyone could understand and reproduce an analysis based on its documentation." Gray et al., "Principles for Conduct of Pest Risk Analysis: Report of an Expert Workshop," 18 Risk Analysis 779 (Society of Risk Analysis, Nov. 6, 1998).

The standard applied by the Court is remarkably similar to that required by OMB's new Data Quality Act guidelines, which now apply to all federal agencies.

  • Click to read entire opinion (PDF Document - 121 KB)
  • Comment on Item
  • View past CRE Regulatory Action of the Week items