§5.37. Definitions of “significant guidance document” and guidance documents that are “otherwise of importance to the Department's interests.” — Inbound Citations

(a) For guidance proposed to be issued by an OA, if there is a reasonable possibility the guidance may be considered “significant” or “otherwise of importance to the Department's interests” within the meaning of § 5.37 or if the OA is uncertain whether the guidance may qualify as such, the OA should email a copy of the proposed guidance document (or a summary of it) to the Office of Regulation and Legislation for review and further direction before issuance. Each proposed DOT guidance document determined to be significant or otherwise of importance to the Department's interests must be approved by the Secretary before issuance. In such instances, the Office of Regulation and Legislation will request that the proposing OA or component of OST obtain a Z-RIN for departmental review and clearance through the New Environment for Information and Leadership on Rules (NEIL Rules), or a successor data management system, and OGC will coordinate submission of the proposed guidance document to the Secretary for approval.

(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, all proposed DOT guidance documents determined to be a “significant guidance document” within the meaning of § 5.37 shall be subject to the following informal notice-and-comment procedures. The issuing OA or component of OST shall publish a notice in the Federal Register announcing that a draft of the proposed guidance document is publicly available, shall post the draft guidance document either in the Federal Register or on its website, shall invite public comment on the draft document for a minimum of 30 days, and shall prepare and post a public response to major concerns raised in the comments, as appropriate, either in the Federal Register or on its website, either before or when the guidance document is finalized and issued.

Unless otherwise determined in writing by OGC, it is the policy of the Department that upon issuing a guidance document determined to be “significant” within the meaning of section 5.37, the issuing OA or component of OST will submit a report to Congress and GAO in accordance with the procedures described in 5 U.S.C. 801 (the “Congressional Review Act”).