Federal Register for publication tomorrow is a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Final Rule changing the effective date of the Revisions to the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs (Mandatory Guidelines) from May 1, 2010, to October 1, 2010. The document is available at the Federal Register’s website: http://www.federalregister.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2010-10118_PI.pdf or can be viewed by downloading the attachment. The purpose of the HHS Final Rule is to notify participants in Federal and federally-regulated workplace drug testing programs as soon as possible that they will not be expected to implement the revisions to the Mandatory Guidelines on May 1, 2010, so that they do not unnecessarily expend resources to comply on May 1, or risk compliance problems by prematurely implementing new provisions. As you know, on February 4, 2010 the Department of Transportation issued Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing to align our regulated-industry drug testing with the HHS laboratory drug testing requirements. The 60-day public comment period for the NPRM officially ended on April 5, 2010, with late filed comments considered to the extent practicable. The comments to our NPRM are very important to us, and we review and consider each and every one of them very carefully. That process takes some time, as does the process of deciding upon and writing the contents of a final rule. The HHS decision to change the effective date of the Mandatory Guidelines should enable us to issue our rulemaking in time to meet the October 1st date.
Jim L. Swart Director Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance U.S. Department of Transportation
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