Small Business Owners Invited To Submit Comments Before 4/2/07

After receiving requests from the Small Business Administration regarding proposed changes to the regulations affecting how production parts are approved for entry into service, the FAA Friday agreed to extend the comment period on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) until April 2.

From the Notice:

On October 5, 2006, the FAA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) entitled, Production and Airworthiness Approvals, Parts Marking, and Miscellaneous Proposals (71 FR 58915). The original, extended comment period for this NPRM closed on February 5, 2007.

The Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, on behalf of small businesses that may be adversely affected by the proposed rulemaking, asked the agency to allow additional time for small businesses to comment on the Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis associated with the NPRM. The analysis examines whether the proposed rulemaking would have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.

The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (RFA) establishes "as a principle of regulatory issuance that agencies shall endeavor, consistent with the objective of the rule and of applicable statutes, to fit regulatory and informational requirements to the scale of the business, organizations, and governmental jurisdictions subject to regulation." To achieve that principle, the Act requires agencies to solicit and consider flexible regulatory proposals and to explain the rationale for their actions.

The Act covers a wide range of small entities, including small businesses, not-for-profit organizations and small governmental jurisdictions.

Agencies must perform a review to determine whether a proposed or final rule would have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. If the determination is that it would, the agency must prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis as described in the Act.

However, if an agency determines that a proposed or final rule is not expected to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities, section 605(b) of the RFA provides that the head of the agency may so certify and a regulatory flexibility analysis is not required. The certification must include a statement providing the factual basis for this determination.

So, attention small aircraft shops... if the NPRM is going to hurt your operations, NOW is the time to tell the FAA how you feel about that...

FMI: Read The FAA Draft (.pdf)