On January 18, 2007, the President issued Executive Order 13422, "Amendment to Executive Order 12866 for Regulatory Planning and Review." On that same day, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a final Bulletin entitled, "Agency Good Guidance Practices." The primary focus of the Executive Order and Bulletin is to increase the quality and transparency of agency guidance practices and the significant documents produced through them.
The term "guidance document" means an agency statement of general applicability and future effect, other than a regulatory action, that sets forth a policy on a statutory, regulatory or technical issue or an interpretation of a statutory or regulatory issue. A discussion of this definition and various types of guidance documents and other background information is available at the following sites:
By August 23, 2007, in accordance with OMB's Final Bulletin for Agency Good Guidance Practices, USDA will make available to the public a list of significant guidance documents and invite public comment on those documents.
