Status of GAO's Responsibilities Under the Federal Reports Act

On November 16, 1973, Congress amended the Federal Reports Act of 1942 and assigned to GAO, with reduced authority, certain review responsibilities relating to the information-gathering activities of independent federal regulatory agencies. GAO has 45 days to make advance clearance reviews of the information-collection plans and forms which the regulatory agencies propose to use in order to ensure that information is obtained with a minimum burden on respondents and unnecessary duplication of information collection among federal agencies is eliminated.