News Notes: Contractor Responsibility Rule Revoked

The Bush administration has thrown out a Clinton-era rule governing contractor responsibility. The rule had banned the award of federal government contracts to businesses that had criminal or civil violations of federal labor and employment, safety, environmental, tax, antitrust or consumer protection laws in the preceding three years. Enforcement of the rule—which the business community had dubbed the “Blacklisting Rule”—had been suspended in March 2001, and the measure was formally revoked at the end of 2001.