President Bush recently issued an executive order that gives the White House more authority over the regulations and the guidance documents developed by federal agencies.

The directive requires that each agency establish a regulatory policy officer who is a presidential appointee. Unless specifically authorized by the head of the agency, no rulemaking will be able to begin without the approval of the agency's regulatory policy officer.

Executive Order 13422 calls for each agency to identify in writing the specific market failure or other specific problem that it intends to address with a new regulation. The executive order also requires agencies to provide an estimate of the combined aggregate costs and benefits of all its regulations planned for that calendar year.

The directive also requires agencies to submit any significant guidance documents (defined as those that have an annual effect of $100 million or more) to the Office of Management and Budget for review.

Guidance documents establish an agency's policy on a statutory, regulatory, or technical issue or provide an interpretation of a statute or regulation.

Executive Order 13422 was published in the Federal Register on January 23, 2007.