The President issued an executive order directing agencies to address the economic impact of COVID-19 by eliminating regulations, providing reopening guidance to businesses, and recognizing that regulatory compliance can be difficult in these circumstances.

Regulated businesses may benefit from these new directives:

• Regulatory relief. Agencies shall consider temporarily or permanently eliminating regulations that inhibit economic recovery and temporary enforcement discretion or extensions of time.
• Pre-enforcement rulings. Agencies shall enable businesses to obtain pre-enforcement rulings as to whether proposed conduct in response to COVID-19, including any response to economic stimulus actions, is consistent with law.
• Enforcement discretion. Agencies shall consider adopting enforcement discretion policies that decline enforcement against businesses that have attempted in reasonable good faith to comply with law, guidance, and any pre-enforcement ruling.
• Fairness in enforcement. Agencies shall consider principles of fairness in administrative enforcement and adjudication, consistent with Executive Order 13892.
• Regulatory review. Agencies shall consider permanently rescinding any regulations that were temporarily rescinded in response to COVID-19.

This new executive order builds on prior executive orders directing agencies to ensure transparency and fairness in policymaking and enforcement. See Jones Day's previous Alert.

Businesses in regulated industries should consider seeking regulatory relief to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19 on their business operations.