OMB proposes draft peer refer standards for regulatory science

OMB proposes draft peer refer standards for regulatory science

The Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) proposes a standardized process by which all significant regulatory-science documents will be subjected to peer review by qualified specialists in appropriate technical disciplines. Although some federal agencies already practice peer review, there are no minimum, government-wide standards for peer review. OMB’s purpose is to further engage the scientific community in the regulatory process in order to make regulatory science more competent and credible and advance the Administration's "smart-regulation" agenda with the goal of fewer lawsuits and a more consistent regulatory environment.

For the most significant regulatory information, the draft Bulletin: (a) establishes uniform government-wide standards for the peer review, (b) focuses on the role of public participation in peer review activities, the content of peer review reports, and the agency's responsibilities to respond to the comments of peer reviewers, and (c) requires disclosure of a peer review panel.

In order to conserve scarce agency resources, the proposed Bulletin authorizes agencies to tailor the intensity of the peer review to the importance of the document. If information has already been subject to adequate peer review (e.g., by a respected scientific journal), the Bulletin permits agencies to use that peer review to satisfy the requirements of the Bulletin.

Comments on the draft are due to OIRA by October 28 and the final Bulletin should take effect in February, according to the OMB statement. The Bulletin would apply to information to be disseminated after January 1, 2004. The draft Bulletin can be downloaded from the OMB web site at www.whitehouse.gov/omb/pubpress/2003-34.pdf.

Source: OMB press release, August 29, 2003