REGULATORY FLEXIBILITY ANALYSES.

SEC. 241. REGULATORY FLEXIBILITY ANALYSES. (a) Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis.— (1) Section 603.— Section 603(a) of title 5, United States Code, is amended— (A) by inserting after “proposed rule”, the phrase “, or publishes a notice of proposed rulemaking for an interpretative rule involving the internal revenue laws of the United States”; and (B) by inserting at the end of the subsection, the following new sentence: “In the case of an interpretative rule involving the internal revenue laws of the United States, this chapter applies to interpretative rules published in the Federal Register for codification in the Code of Federal Regulations, but only to the extent that such interpretative rules impose on small entities a collection of information requirement.”. (2) Section 601.— Section 601 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by striking “and” at the end of paragraph (5), by striking the period at the end of paragraph (6) and inserting “; and”, and by adding at the end the following: “(7) the term ‘collection of information’— “(A) means the obtaining, causing to be obtained, soliciting, or requiring the disclosure to third parties or the public, of facts or opinions by or for an agency, regardless of form or format, calling for either— “(i) answers to identical questions posed to, or identical reporting or recordkeeping requirements imposed on, 10 or more persons, other than agencies, instrumentalities, or employees of the United States; or “(ii) answers to questions posed to agencies, instrumentalities, or employees of the United States which are to be used for general statistical purposes; and “(B) shall not include a collection of information described under section 3518(c)(1) of title 44, United States Code. “(8) Recordkeeping requirement.— The term ‘recordkeeping requirement’ means a requirement imposed by an agency on persons to maintain specified records.”. (b) Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis.— Section 604 of title 5, United States Code, is amended— (1) in subsection (a) to read as follows: “(a) When an agency promulgates a final rule under section 553 of this title, after being required by that section or any other law to publish a general notice of proposed rulemaking, or promulgates a final interpretative rule involving the internal revenue 110 STAT. 865laws of the United States as described in section 603(a), the agency shall prepare a final regulatory flexibility analysis. Each final regulatory flexibility analysis shall contain— “(1) a succinct statement of the need for, and objectives of, the rule; “(2) a summary of the significant issues raised by the public comments in response to the initial regulatory flexibility analysis, a summary of the assessment of the agency of such issues, and a statement of any changes made in the proposed rule as a result of such comments; “(3) a description of and an estimate of the number of small entities to which the rule will apply or an explanation of why no such estimate is available; “(4) a description of the projected reporting, recordkeeping and other compliance requirements of the rule, including an estimate of the classes of small entities which will be subject to the requirement and the type of professional skills necessary for preparation of the report or record; and “(5) a description of the steps the agency has taken to minimize the significant economic impact on small entities consistent with the stated objectives of applicable statutes, including a statement of the factual, policy, and legal reasons for selecting the alternative adopted in the final rule and why each one of the other significant alternatives to the rule considered by the agency which affect the impact on small entities was rejected.”; and (2) in subsection (b), by striking “at the time” and all that follows and inserting “such analysis or a summary thereof.”.