---
id: "coronavirus-smarter-crowdsourcing:strategies/Waive-regulatory-barriers.-Governments-should-cons"
type: "GovLab policy strategy"
title: "Waive regulatory barriers."
url: "https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/strategies/waive-regulatory-barriers.-governments-should-cons"
summary: "Waive regulatory barriers. Governments should consider ways to adjust regulations that restrict innovation pertaining to pooled testing schemes."
source: "The GovLab (coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org)"
licence: "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)"
---

# Waive regulatory barriers.

Waive regulatory barriers. Governments should consider ways to adjust regulations that restrict innovation pertaining to pooled testing schemes.

- Timeframe: 3-6 Months (medium)
- Audience: Government Workers
- Type: Policy/Legislative/Regulatory, Technology/Innovation
- Recommendation: [Pooled Testing](https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/recommendations/pooled-testing)
- Part of: [Smarter Crowdsourcing in the Age of Coronavirus](https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/)

## Actions governments should take

1. Identify key legal and regulatory bottlenecks restricting pooled testing
2. [Review legislation and regulatory statutes that may restrict innovation pertaining to implementing pooled testing schemes](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/what-is-pool-testing-and-how-does-it-work/2020/06/26/33eee7ea-b7e4-11ea-a510-55bf26485c93_story.html)
3. Consider policy actions, such as waivers or emergency use authorizations that will allow for temporary approvals to implement pooled testing schemes

## Examples from around the world

1. The United States has issued an emergency use authorization for [Quest Diagnostics to conduct pooled testin](https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-issues-first-emergency-authorization-sample-pooling-diagnostic)g in diagnostic testing, which will allow for pooled samples containing up to four individual swab specimens, thus bypassing normally slow regulatory procedures. [Stanford University](https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2020/04/testing-pooled-samples-to-track-early-spread-of-virus.html) and the [State of Nebraska](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/07/06/886886255/pooling-coronavirus-tests-can-spare-scarce-supplies-but-theres-a-catch) have been conducting pooled testing since before July 2020.