^®: CRE Regulatory Action of the Week

OIRA Requires that Federal Forms be Tested Before They're Used
On August 9, 2012, the Administrator of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs issued a Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, and of the Independent Regulatory Commissions, entitled "Testing and Simplifying Federal Forms." This OIRA memorandum requires that:

"From now on, agencies will be asked to test complex or lengthy forms in advance, by seeing if people can actually understand them. Advance testing can take many forms. Agencies might use focus groups. They might use web-based experiments. They might try in-person observations of how users understand the forms. From those tests, agencies will be better able to identify the likely burdens on members of the public and to find ways to increase simplification and ease of comprehension."