[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 78 (Wednesday, April 23, 1997)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 19885-19888]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-10695]



[[Page 19883]]

_______________________________________________________________________

Part V





The President





_______________________________________________________________________



Executive Order 13045--Protection of Children From Environmental Health 
Risks and Safety Risks
 
 
                         Presidential Documents 
 
 

  Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 78 / Wednesday, April 23, 1997 / 
Presidential Documents  

 ___________________________________________________________________

 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 19885]]

                Executive Order 13045 of April 21, 1997

                
Protection of Children From Environmental Health 
                Risks and Safety Risks

                By the authority vested in me as President by the 
                Constitution and the laws of the United States of 
                America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

                Section 1. Policy.

                1-101. A growing body of scientific knowledge 
                demonstrates that children may suffer 
                disproportionately from environmental health risks and 
                safety risks. These risks arise because: children's 
                neurological, immunological, digestive, and other 
                bodily systems are still developing; children eat more 
                food, drink more fluids, and breathe more air in 
                proportion to their body weight than adults; children's 
                size and weight may diminish their protection from 
                standard safety features; and children's behavior 
                patterns may make them more susceptible to accidents 
                because they are less able to protect themselves. 
                Therefore, to the extent permitted by law and 
                appropriate, and consistent with the agency's mission, 
                each Federal agency:

                    (a) shall make it a high priority to identify and 
                assess environmental health risks and safety risks that 
                may disproportionately affect children; and
                    (b) shall ensure that its policies, programs, 
                activities, and standards address disproportionate 
                risks to children that result from environmental health 
                risks or safety risks.

                1-102. Each independent regulatory agency is encouraged 
                to participate in the implementation of this order and 
                comply with its provisions.

                Sec. 2. Definitions. The following definitions shall 
                apply to this order.

                2-201. ``Federal agency'' means any authority of the 
                United States that is an agency under 44 U.S.C. 3502(1) 
                other than those considered to be independent 
                regulatory agencies under 44 U.S.C. 3502(5). For 
                purposes of this order, ``military departments,'' as 
                defined in 5 U.S.C. 102, are covered under the auspices 
                of the Department of Defense.

                2-202. ``Covered regulatory action'' means any 
                substantive action in a rulemaking, initiated after the 
                date of this order or for which a Notice of Proposed 
                Rulemaking is published 1 year after the date of this 
                order, that is likely to result in a rule that may:

                    (a) be ``economically significant'' under Executive 
                Order 12866 (a rulemaking that has an annual effect on 
                the economy of $100 million or more or would adversely 
                affect in a material way the economy, a sector of the 
                economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the 
                environment, public health or safety, or State, local, 
                or tribal governments or communities); and
                    (b) concern an environmental health risk or safety 
                risk that an agency has reason to believe may 
                disproportionately affect children.

                2-203. ``Environmental health risks and safety risks'' 
                mean risks to health or to safety that are attributable 
                to products or substances that the child is likely to 
                come in contact with or ingest (such as the air we 
                breath, the food we eat, the water we drink or use for 
                recreation, the soil we live on, and the products we 
                use or are exposed to).

                 Sec. 3. Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and 
                Safety Risks to Children.

[[Page 19886]]

                3-301. There is hereby established the Task Force on 
                Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children 
                (``Task Force'').

                 3-302. The Task Force will report to the President in 
                consultation with the Domestic Policy Council, the 
                National Science and Technology Council, the Council on 
                Environmental Quality, and the Office of Management and 
                Budget (OMB).

                 3-303. Membership. The Task Force shall be composed of 
                the:

                     (a) Secretary of Health and Human Services, who 
                shall serve as a Co-Chair of the Council;
                     (b) Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
                Agency, who shall serve as a Co-Chair of the Council;
                     (c) Secretary of Education;
                     (d) Secretary of Labor;
                     (e) Attorney General;
                     (f) Secretary of Energy;
                     (g) Secretary of Housing and Urban Development;
                     (h) Secretary of Agriculture;
                     (i) Secretary of Transportation;
                     (j) Director of the Office of Management and 
                Budget;
                     (k) Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality;
                     (l) Chair of the Consumer Product Safety 
                Commission;
                     (m) Assistant to the President for Economic 
                Policy;
                     (n) Assistant to the President for Domestic 
                Policy;
                     (o) Assistant to the President and Director of the 
                Office of Science and Technology Policy;
                    (p) Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers; and
                     (q) Such other officials of executive departments 
                and agencies as the President may, from time to time, 
                designate.

                Members of the Task Force may delegate their 
                responsibilities under this order to subordinates.

                3-304. Functions. The Task Force shall recommend to the 
                President Federal strategies for children's 
                environmental health and safety, within the limits of 
                the Administration's budget, to include the following 
                elements:

                    (a) statements of principles, general policy, and 
                targeted annual priorities to guide the Federal 
                approach to achieving the goals of this order;
                    (b) a coordinated research agenda for the Federal 
                Government, including steps to implement the review of 
                research databases described in section 4 of this 
                order;
                    (c) recommendations for appropriate partnerships 
                among Federal, State, local, and tribal governments and 
                the private, academic, and nonprofit sectors;
                    (d) proposals to enhance public outreach and 
                communication to assist families in evaluating risks to 
                children and in making informed consumer choices;
                    (e) an identification of high-priority initiatives 
                that the Federal Government has undertaken or will 
                undertake in advancing protection of children's 
                environmental health and safety; and
                    (f) a statement regarding the desirability of new 
                legislation to fulfill or promote the purposes of this 
                order.

                3-305. The Task Force shall prepare a biennial report 
                on research, data, or other information that would 
                enhance our ability to understand, analyze,

[[Page 19887]]

                and respond to environmental health risks and safety 
                risks to children. For purposes of this report, cabinet 
                agencies and other agencies identified by the Task 
                Force shall identify and specifically describe for the 
                Task Force key data needs related to environmental 
                health risks and safety risks to children that have 
                arisen in the course of the agency's programs and 
                activities. The Task Force shall incorporate agency 
                submissions into its report and ensure that this report 
                is publicly available and widely disseminated. The 
                Office of Science and Technology Policy and the 
                National Science and Technology Council shall ensure 
                that this report is fully considered in establishing 
                research priorities.

                3-306. The Task Force shall exist for a period of 4 
                years from the first meeting. At least 6 months prior 
                to the expiration of that period, the member agencies 
                shall assess the need for continuation of the Task 
                Force or its functions, and make appropriate 
                recommendations to the President.

                Sec. 4. Research Coordination and Integration.

                4-401. Within 6 months of the date of this order, the 
                Task Force shall develop or direct to be developed a 
                review of existing and planned data resources and a 
                proposed plan for ensuring that researchers and Federal 
                research agencies have access to information on all 
                research conducted or funded by the Federal Government 
                that is related to adverse health risks in children 
                resulting from exposure to environmental health risks 
                or safety risks. The National Science and Technology 
                Council shall review the plan.

                4-402. The plan shall promote the sharing of 
                information on academic and private research. It shall 
                include recommendations to encourage that such data, to 
                the extent permitted by law, is available to the 
                public, the scientific and academic communities, and 
                all Federal agencies.

                Sec. 5. Agency Environmental Health Risk or Safety Risk 
                Regulations.

                5-501. For each covered regulatory action submitted to 
                OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs 
                (OIRA) for review pursuant to Executive Order 12866, 
                the issuing agency shall provide to OIRA the following 
                information developed as part of the agency's 
                decisionmaking process, unless prohibited by law:

                    (a) an evaluation of the environmental health or 
                safety effects of the planned regulation on children; 
                and
                    (b) an explanation of why the planned regulation is 
                preferable to other potentially effective and 
                reasonably feasible alternatives considered by the 
                agency.

                5-502. In emergency situations, or when an agency is 
                obligated by law to act more quickly than normal review 
                procedures allow, the agency shall comply with the 
                provisions of this section to the extent practicable. 
                For those covered regulatory actions that are governed 
                by a court-imposed or statutory deadline, the agency 
                shall, to the extent practicable, schedule any 
                rulemaking proceedings so as to permit sufficient time 
                for completing the analysis required by this section.

                5-503. The analysis required by this section may be 
                included as part of any other required analysis, and 
                shall be made part of the administrative record for the 
                covered regulatory action or otherwise made available 
                to the public, to the extent permitted by law.

                Sec. 6. Interagency Forum on Child and Family 
                Statistics.

                6-601. The Director of the OMB (``Director'') shall 
                convene an Interagency Forum on Child and Family 
                Statistics (``Forum''), which will include 
                representatives from the appropriate Federal statistics 
                and research agencies. The Forum shall produce an 
                annual compendium (``Report'') of the most important 
                indicators of the well-being of the Nation's children.

                6-602. The Forum shall determine the indicators to be 
                included in each Report and identify the sources of 
                data to be used for each indicator. The

[[Page 19888]]

                Forum shall provide an ongoing review of Federal 
                collection and dissemination of data on children and 
                families, and shall make recommendations to improve the 
                coverage and coordination of data collection and to 
                reduce duplication and overlap.

                6-603. The Report shall be published by the Forum in 
                collaboration with the National Institute of Child 
                Health and Human Development. The Forum shall present 
                the first annual Report to the President, through the 
                Director, by July 31, 1997. The Report shall be 
                submitted annually thereafter, using the most recently 
                available data.

                Sec. 7. General Provisions.

                7-701. This order is intended only for internal 
                management of the executive branch. This order is not 
                intended, and should not be construed to create, any 
                right, benefit, or trust responsibility, substantive or 
                procedural, enforceable at law or equity by a party 
                against the United States, its agencies, its officers, 
                or its employees. This order shall not be construed to 
                create any right to judicial review involving the 
                compliance or noncompliance with this order by the 
                United States, its agencies, its officers, or any other 
                person.

                7-702. Executive Order 12606 of September 2, 1987 is 
                revoked.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    April 21, 1997.

[FR Doc. 97-10695
Filed 4-22-97; 8:49 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P