---
title: "To Do: Require OIRA to Incorporate a “Competitiveness Screen” in Regulatory Reviews"
summary: |-
  The White House or Congress should require OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs to review any new, nontrivial regulations to assess their impact on first-order competitiveness, placing the highest priority on reforming regulations that negatively affect traded sectors.
date: "2012-09-20"
issues: ["National Competitiveness", "Federal Strategy and Management"]
content_type: "Knowledge Base Articles"
canonical_url: "https://itif.org/publications/2012/09/20/to-do-require-oira-to-incorporate-a-competitiveness-screen-in-regulatory-reviews/"
---

# To Do: Require OIRA to Incorporate a “Competitiveness Screen” in Regulatory Reviews

# Recommendation

The White House or Congress should require OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs to incorporate a “competitiveness screen” in its review of federal regulations.

# Details

Before global trade intensified, the federal government could afford to impose new regulations and give little thought to their impact on competitiveness. But today, regulation can increase costs or impose rigidities to an extent that makes globally traded industries less competitive internationally. To remedy this, Congress or the White House should require OIRA to review any new, nontrivial regulations to assess their impact on first-order competitiveness, and OIRA should place the highest priority on reviewing and reforming existing regulations that negatively affect traded sectors.

**Keep reading:**

- Stephen Ezell and Robert D. Atkinson, “Fifty Ways to Leave Your Competitiveness Woes Behind: A National Traded Sector Competitiveness Strategy” (ITIF, September 2012), [https://itif.org/publications/2012/09/20/fifty-ways-leave-your-competitiveness-woes-behind-national-traded-sector](https://itif.org/publications/2012/09/20/fifty-ways-leave-your-competitiveness-woes-behind-national-traded-sector).

---
*Source: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)*
*URL: https://itif.org/publications/2012/09/20/to-do-require-oira-to-incorporate-a-competitiveness-screen-in-regulatory-reviews/*