The U.S. Small Business Administration
Regulatory Fairness for Small Business
If excessive fines, penalties or unfair regulatory enforcement byfederal agencies are problems for your small business, you have a voice in Washington, D.C., through the U.S. Small BusinessAdministration’s Office of the National Ombudsman.The National Ombudsman assists small businesses with unfair and excessive regulatory enforcement by federal agencies including repetitive audits or investigations, excessive fines, penalties, retaliation or other unfair regulatory enforcement action. Acting as a “troubleshooter” between small businesses and federal agencies, the National Ombudsman receives comments and complaints from small business. The comments and complaints are then directed to the appropriate federal agency for a high-level review.
The National Ombudsman can help if:•
You are or represent a small business, small government entity (population 50,000 or less) or a small nonprofit organization;
• Your comments or complaints are directly related to a federal agency that has regulatory authority over small businesses; and
Looking Out for Small Business Each year the National Ombudsman files a report with the U.S. onhow federal agencies have treated small business. Agencies are given a grade on their timeliness and quality of responsiveness to smallbusiness concerns. The Ombudsman also coordinates 10 regionalregulatory fairness boards which meet regularly to receive comments about federal regulations affecting small businesses.Regulatory burdens are much greater for small firms than they are for those with 500 employees or more:
• The cost of federal regulations totals $1.1 trillion.
• Small Firms with fewer than 20 employees spend $7,647 per year per employee, 45 percent more than larger firms, to comply with federal regulations.
• Small Firms spend four and a half times as much per employee to comply with environmental regulations• Small Firms spend 67 percent more per employee on tax compliance
For more information go to www.sba.gov. Government forms are available at www.forms.gov.
Complianceassistance is located at www.business.gov. To contact SBA’s toll-free answer desk, call 1-880-U ASK SBA.
excessive or unfairregulatory enforcement:
Complete the Federal AgencyComment Form found online atwww.sba.gov/ombudsman. Submit the form online, by mail orfax: U.S. Small Business Administration Office of the National Ombudsman 409 3rd Street SW, MC 2120 Washington, DC 20416-0001Toll-Free: 888-REG-FAIR, (734-3247)Fax: 202-481-5719
What to includein your comment form:
• Describe the enforcement or com- pliance action, inspection or review activity and its results; • Provide documentation of any enforcement action taken by the federal agency (i.e. correspondence, citations, or notice, etc.); and• Briefly explain how the federal agency could have served your business better.We will review your comment and may request additional documentation to substantiate your comment as needed.SBA programs and services are provided on a nondiscriminatory basis. October 2007
Office of the National Ombudsman www.sba.gov
