The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) establishes policies and procedures for controlling paperwork burdens imposed by Federal agencies on the public. Several goals of the PRA are to:

Minimize the Federal paperwork burden on individuals, small businesses, and State and local governments;

Maximize the usefulness of information collected by the Federal government; and

Minimize the cost to the Federal government of collecting, maintaining, using, and distributing information.

Federal agencies are prohibited from enforcing paperwork requirements that are not approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) or that do not display the OMB approval number.