Waivers or Variances of Administrative Rules

There are several ways the Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) can assist businesses with ensuring that they are operating legally.  Businesses can request waivers or variances from the administrative rules we administer. A waiver allows you to not comply with a rule, a variance allows you to achieve the purpose of the rule by another method. 

A “waiver” is “a decision by an agency not to apply all or part of a rule to a person who is subject to the rule.

A “variance” is “a decision by an agency to grant a modification to all or part of the literal requirements of an agency to a person who is subject to the rule.

Your petition must contain:

  1. A statement about which action you are requesting- a waiver or a variance.
  2. Your name, address, telephone number, and email address if available.
  3. If you are represented by an attorney, their name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address.
  4. The rule (exact citation required) that you are requesting a variance or waiver from.
  5. The statute (exact citation required) the rule is addressing.
  6. The facts that demonstrate a substantial hardship or violation of principles of fairness that would justify a variance or waiver.
  7. How the variance or waiver serves the purpose of the underlying statute.
  8. Whether the variance or waiver is permanent or temporary. If temporary, the petition should state the dates showing the length of time of the requested variance or waiver.

To receive one of these, you must show that:

You must show that complying with the rule would create a substantial hardship or violate the principles of fairness.  You must also show that the purpose of the statute can be can being achieved through alternative means.

You should file your request with the OFR’s Agency Clerk. 

Applicable Statute and Rule

Chapter 120.542, Florida Statutes 

Rule 28-104.002, Florida Administrative Code