Paperwork Reduction Act - Glossary

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Paperwork Reduction Act

This Act created the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within OMB and gave it a number of very specific assignments, which included meeting annual paperwork reduction goals, review of every agency's information management activities, and improvements in federal information policy. Despite this broad mandate, the heart of the law turned out to be the paperwork clearance process resurrected from the 1942 Federal Reports Act, minus the exemptions that had cropped up over the years.

The basic requirements of the paperwork clearance process are very simple. OIRA reviews all activities of federal agencies, including the independent regulatory agencies, that involve collecting information from ten or more persons. This includes application forms, questionnaires, surveys, and reporting or recordkeeping requirements. Thus, everything from tax forms to health research questions must be approved by OMB.