WASHINGTON — As the new Obama Administration officially took the reigns in governing the U.S. on Jan. 20, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel issued a memorandum later that day to all federal agencies placing a "hold" on certain aspects of federal rulemaking until further review, relays the American Meat Institute.

Key points regarding the memo include:

1) No proposed or final rules are to be sent to the Federal Register until they have been reviewed and approved by an agency or department head appointed or designated by President Obama (there are certain exceptions for Defense Department matters).

2) Proposed or final rules at the Federal Register are to be withdrawn until they can be approved or reviewed as described above.

3) The memorandum directs agencies and departments to consider extending for 60 days the effective date of regulations that have been published but have not yet taken effect "for purposes of reviewing questions of law and policy raised by those regulations." If that extension is provided, the memorandum directs the agency/department to reopen the comment period for 30 days.

4) These directions do not apply to regulations subject to statutory or judicial deadlines.

The term regulation in the memorandum adopts the language found in Executive Order 12866, section 3(e): "Regulatory action means any substantive action by an agency [normally published in the Federal Register] that promulgates or is expected to lead to the promulgation of a final rule or regulation, including notices of inquiry, advance notices of proposed rulemaking, and notices of proposed rulemaking."

The new Country-of-Origin Labeling rule is among pending regs being blocked. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel stated in a memo on Aug. 20 to federal departments and agencies, "It is important that President Obama’s appointees and designees have the opportunity to review and approve any new or pending regulations."

To view the memorandum, click here: http://www.meatami.com/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/45546.

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