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COMPLIANCE
ASSISTANCE INTRODUCTION
The Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002 requires
the Office of Management & Budget to publish in the Federal Register
a list of the compliance assistance resources available at Federal agencies
for small businesses. By law, the list must be available on the Internet,
too. With help from the Small Business Administration’s National
Ombudsman, OMB has listed compliance assistance resources now available.
SBPRA also requires OMB to list agency contacts who are
liaisons to small businesses on information collection and the control
of paperwork. Because it may help the public to have the list of agency
contacts together with the list of compliance assistance resources, the
OMB makes these lists available.
This effort is consistent with assistance to small businesses
begun by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996.
SBREFA called on Federal regulatory agencies to publish small business
guides that assist small firms in complying with and answer small businesses’
inquiries about Federal regulations.
SBREFA also created the SBA Office of the Small Business
and Agriculture Enforcement Ombudsman. The Ombudsman works with federal
agencies that regulate small businesses to create a small-business-friendly
regulatory environment. The Ombudsman accepts comments and concerns from
small businesses on federal regulatory agencies and reports this information
annually to Congress.
SBREFA and SBPRA are closely related. SBREFA focuses on
helping small businesses understand how to comply with Federal regulations.
SBPRA focuses on helping small businesses understand how to comply with
Federal information collection—completing forms, reporting information,
and keeping certain records. These requirements are related because Federal
agencies generally collect information, or mandate those regulated to
keep records. The information-related provisions are designed to help
the agency ensure compliance with its rules.
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