A Final Rule was published by HHS and 16 other federal departments and agencies to delay the general compliance date of the revised Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects (also known as the Common Rule) for an additional 6 months.

The Final Rule adopts a previous proposal published in April 2018 to allow regulated entities to take advantage of three burden-reducing provisions of the 2018 Requirements during the delay period. The Final Rule delays the general compliance date of the 2018 Requirements for an additional 6-month period until January 21, 2019. The transition provision in the Final Rule is structured so that regulated entities cannot implement the revised Common Rule in its entirety, in lieu of compliance with the current version of the Common Rule, until the general compliance date of January 21, 2019.

As a result of this delay to the general compliance date, regulated entities will be required, with an exception, to continue to comply with the requirements of the pre-2018 version of the Common Rule until January 21, 2019. The exception to this general rule is that institutions will be permitted (but not required) to implement, for certain studies, three burden-reducing provisions of the 2018 Requirements during the delay period (July 19, 2018 through January 20, 2019). The three provisions are:

(1) The revised definition of “research,” which deems certain activities not to be research;

(2) The allowance for no annual continuing review of certain categories of research; and

(3) The elimination of the requirement that institutional review boards review grant applications or other funding proposals related to the research.

If these three burden-reducing provisions are implemented for particular studies, such studies will be subject to the 2018 Requirements beginning on January 21, 2019.

Please see our dedicated webpages for additional information on changes to the Common Rule. The Final Rule has been put on public display by the Office of the Federal Register.