Review of Federal Aviation Regulations Aimed at Cutting Red Tape Begins

The FAA recently complied with President Donald Trump's February executive order for federal agencies to begin comprehensive regulatory reforms. The order was a fulfillment of his campaign promise to "reduce the regulations that are crushing our economy," as he ordered every federal agency to create a task force to examine existing regulations and identify those that should be eliminated or altered.

That might be an easier task for the FAA than other agencies, due to the overabundance of unnecessary and outdated regulations. As such, the FAA’s Regulatory Reform Task Force (RRTF) will not only make its own recommendations for repealing and modifying existing regulations, but it is also accepting recommendations from the “broad spectrum of entities” affected by regulations they deem “outdated, unnecessary, or ineffective.” Additionally, the task force will identify regulations that “eliminate jobs or inhibit job creation,” as well as any that “create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with regulatory reform initiatives and policies.”

The Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC) requires that these entities submit two recommendation reports: an initial report due by June 1 and then an addendum report due by August 31. ARAC will then make its considerations for approval ahead of its September 14 meeting. The reports will feature an explanation of the recommendation, including details of how the regulation is wasteful and/or impacts jobs, and also any data on the costs and benefits of repealing, replacing or modifying the regulations.

Also known as the "two-for-one" rule, the executive order requires that two regulations be removed before any single new regulation can be introduced. However, entities submitting regulations for consideration are not required to include replacements or new regulation ideas. The full breakdown of requirements is available here.