FDA's Commissioning Program

Purpose of Commissions

FDA's Commissioning Program was developed to delegate the authority of federal law to state and local officials in order to promote public health. FDA is authorized to conduct examinations and investigations for the purposes of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act through health, food, or drug officers or employees of state and local governments who are commissioned by FDA as an officer of FDA. As such, commissioned officials may conduct inspections and collect samples on behalf of FDA (including under contract with FDA) under the FD&C Act. The program aims to make interagency cooperation more effective, improve state and local agencies' abilities to perform work under contract, and increase the efficiency with which FDA and its partners respond to public health emergencies.

As a part of our administrative responsibilities, it is necessary to periodically validate and confirm an individual's need for an FDA commission to perform their work with the FDA.

Please download the form from the link below and provide the required commissioning information.

FDA Commissioning Validation Form

After you have filled out all required fields, please select File from the top ribbon, then select Send File, and enter [email protected] in the 'To' field to submit/send this electronic response.

If you are having difficulty, please save a copy of the file and send it as an attachment. Please note, scanned or photo copied images will not be accepted.

NOTE: Credentials are considered federal government property. All pocket credentials must be returned to FDA if the commissioned official leaves the state or local agency or otherwise no longer has a need for the credential.